The Open Aerospace Engineering Journal

2010, 3 : 20-31
Published online 2010 February 20. DOI: 10.2174/1874146001003010020
Publisher ID: TOAEJ-3-20

Arc-Jet Testing of Ultra-High-Temperature-Ceramics

Raffaele Savino , Mario De Stefano Fumo , Diego Paterna and Di Maso Andrea
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Aerospaziale, University of Naples “Federico II”, P.le V. Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy.

ABSTRACT

The article deals with arc-jet experiments on different Ultra High Temperature Ceramics models in high enthalpy hypersonic non equilibrium flow. Typical geometries for nose tip or wing leading edges of interest for hypersonic vehicles, as rounded wedge, hemisphere and cone are considered. Temperature measurements have been performed using pyrometers, an IR thermocamera and thermocouples. Spectral emissivity has been evaluated by suitable experimental techniques. The details of the experimental set-up, the tests procedure and the measurements are discussed in the text. The UHTC materials have been tested for several minutes to temperatures up to 2050 K showing a good resistance in extreme conditions. Fundamental differences between the various model shapes have been analysed and discussed. Numerical-experimental correlations have been carried out by a CFD code, resulting in good agreement with proper modelling. The numerical rebuilding also allowed to evaluate the catalytic efficiency and the emissivity of the materials at different temperature.

Keywords:

Atmospheric reentry, ultra-high temperature materials, arc-jet testing, aerothermodynamics, computational fluid dynamics.