Francisco Torres Herrador

I hold double PhD in Mechanical and Chemical Engineering from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Ghent University, respectively. During my doctoral research, I worked at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI, Belgium). Currently, I serve as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, USA).

My research centers on the behavior of materials under extreme heat conditions, particularly during spacecraft re-entry. Specifically, I characterize material degradation and the process of pyrolysis for carbon/phenolic ablator materials. I apply multi-scale modeling techniques and a combination of experimental and numerical studies in my work.

Driven by a passion for exploration, I am continually seeking to expand my understanding of hypersonics and material sciences.

Don’t hesitate to reach out for further discussions.