Spallation particle size analysis resulting from arc-jet experiments

Experiments were conducted using a hypersonic arc-jet facility to investigate spallation of solid particles ejected off of an ablative thermal protection system material. To do this, samples with different geometries were exposed to high enthalpy environments with different gas concentrations at the same cold-wall heat flux. Particles ejected from the samples were quantified and tracked using particle tracking velocimetery and the results analyzed to assess the approximate size of these particles.