Arc-jet wind tunnel characterization of ultra-high-temperature ceramic matrix composites

Abstract

Two samples of Ultra-High-Temperature Ceramic Matrix Composites, with carbon fibers in a ZrB2-SiC matrix, were exposed to supersonic dissociated air flow, simulating the atmospheric re-entry environment, in an arc-heated facility at specific total enthalpies up to 20 MJ/kg. Surface temperatures, exceeding 2400 K, were monitored by non-intrusive infrared equipment, which allowed detecting thermo-chemical surface instability phenomena. A zirconium oxide layer formed on the surface, below which the original material is perfectly preserved. Numerical simulations allowed describing the flow field around the samples and characterizing the materials behavior, in terms of thermal conductivity, catalycity and oxidation effects at high enthalpies.

Thermo-elastic properties in short fibre reinforced ultra-high temperature ceramic matrix composites: Characterisation and numerical assessment

“…[1,2] Recent performance assessment revealed that carbon short fibre reinforced ceramic composites can be successfully used for zero-erosion nozzles, throats and parts of combustion chamber of hypersonic vehicle engines. [3,4] Such a possibility of high temperature application of composites can be attributed to the ultra-refractory ceramic matrices, based on refractory metal diborides (HfB2 or ZrB2), and containing optimum silicon carbide or second phases. [5,6] This class of materials, known as Ultra High-Temperature Ceramics (UHTCs), is intended for operating temperatures over 2200°C, at Mach > 5 flight conditions, in high altitude air environment.…”

The Versatility of HVOF Burner Rig Testing for Ceramic Matrix Composite Evaluation

“…Adequate testing for these types of conditions is a challenge in and of itself. Current test facilities [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] consist of combustion, arc-plasma, laser or combinations thereof to generate the temperatures, velocities and/or environments of interest (Table 1). Most of these rigs can effectively evaluate two or, at most, three of the above conditions.…”

“…Related to this is the need for diagnostic techniques to measure thermal gradients and local strain as well as health-monitoring techniques to assess the progressive damage that occurs during the test. [3] Jet fuel combustion 0.1 1550 AFIT HVOF [4] Combustion 1 2500 HYMETS [5][6][7] Arc-plasma 5 2480 NASA Combustion Scramjet * [8] Combustion Scramjet 6 1400 NASA Arc-Heated Scramjet * [9][10][11] Arc-heated Scramjet 8 2600 GHIBLI [12] Arc-plasma 10 9700 SCIROCCO * [13][14][15][16] Arc-plasma 12 9700 Pprime MAATRE * [17] Burner Rig 1 1600 VKI Plasmatron * [18] and other plasma [19][20][21] Induction-Plasma 1 11,700 DRL HEG* [22,23] Free-Piston Shock Tunnel 10 1176 * Capable of large specimen size (>250 mm).…”

Ablation of C/SiC-HfC composite prepared by precursor infiltration and pyrolysis in plasma wind tunnel

“…The methods used for the evaluation of ablation performance of above mentioned materials mainly include laser beam [27,28], oxy-acetylene flame [17,25], arc-jet [29,30], and plasma wind tunnel [20,31]. Plasma wind tunnel technique offers the advantage of measuring the change of the surface temperature compared to laser beam and oxy-acetylene flame methods.…”