ablating
v. C1 Advanced ab·lat·ing
v. to wear away or remove a surface by using heat or friction. It is often used to describe how a material melts or burns off.
v. to remove or wear away a surface through the action of heat, friction, or chemical erosion. Often describes the process of a material melting or vaporising.
The heat from the sun is ablating the ice on the mountain.
Engineers designed the spacecraft to ablating its outer layer during re-entry to protect the crew from extreme temperatures.
The protective coating is ablating at a faster rate than expected, suggesting that the material may not withstand the high-velocity impact of the atmosphere for much longer.