Physics-Based Characterization of Fibrous Rigid Insulation Materials

The proposed research activity will be the development of empirical correlations for the effective thermal conductivity of fibrous insulation materials used in thermal protection systems (TPS) for re-entry vehicles. A comparative cut bar apparatus will be used to collect steady state thermal resistance measurements with varying temperature, environmental pressure, and sample thickness. The thermal resistance measurements will be used to determine the coefficients of a correlation that captures the temperature dependence of the both solid conduction and radiation through the material.