Experimental Investigation on Ablation Characteristic of EPDM Insulator in Different Gas Environment

Some ablation experiments of Ethylene-Propylene-Diene Monomer (EPDM) insulator were carried out in quasi-static low temperature gas environment, gas-phase environment, two-phase environment with Al2O3 grain and high concentration Al2O3 grain gas environments. Their charring ablation rate, thickness, surface morphology and main ingredient of the charring layer were analyzed. The experiment results show that the main influent factors for the charring ablation rate are the gas temperature, grain concentration and state of grain impact; the main influent factors for the charring layer thickness are the gas velocity and environment pressure; and the process of SiO2 migrating in the charring layer occur commonly in different gas environments. They provide a foundation for the ablation mechanism research and modeling of EPDM insulator.