Ablation, as a physical phenomenon, refers to the progressive removal of material from a surface through processes such as vaporization, sublimation, melting, or mechanical erosion driven by an external energy or mass flux. It is characterized by the conversion of incident energy (thermal, radiative, or kinetic) into phase change and material loss, often accompanied by the formation of boundary layers, receding interfaces, and evolving surface morphology. In scientific contexts, ablation is quantitatively described by mass loss rates, energy balance equations, and material response functions, and is critical in modeling high-enthalpy flows, laser–matter interactions, and other environments with extreme heat or particle loads.
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