Ablative test of composites with epoxy resin and expanded perlite

Abstract The ablation research included epoxy-perlite composites of ten different proportions of phase components (from 0% to 32% of powder volume share). We used epoxy resin C.E.S R70 as well as the hardener C.E.S H72 and expanded perlite. The specimens of dimensions 25 × 35 × 10 mm were treated with mixture of hot combustion gases (65% propane and 35% butane) having a temperature of more than 1000 °C. The carbonization of the cross-linked matrix was observed. The maximal temperature on the surface of the rear wall of an ablative sample and the average relative ablative (erosive) loss of mass after 120 s of the heat flux exposition were analysed. With the increase in the expanded perlite volume share, there is a drop in the mass loss. Samples with perlite diffused in the top layer achieved higher temperature on the surface of the rear wall but they have lower ablative loss of mass than their counterparts, with perlite evenly distributed in volume.