Graphite oxidation at low temperature in subsonic air.

Coupled mass loss and heat transfer was studied experimentally for thin two inch diameter graphite disks heated as high as 2800 F in a flow of ambient air at velocities of 97 to 717 ft/sec. Oxidation was predominately reaction rate controlled with rate constants which were determined experimentally for POCO AXF 5Q, ATJ, ATJS, and an AVCO 3D Orthogonal material. The specimen thermal response was used with an energy balance to obtain the influence of mass loss and chemical reactions on the heat transfer. Specimen heating due to exothermic reactions correlates qualitatively with an approximate theory.