Facilities
Space Environment Simulation
- Atomic Oxygen
- Atomic oxygen directed beam system
- Atomic oxygen hyperthermal energy chamber
- Atomic oxygen thermal energy chamber
- Large area atomic oxygen exposure facility
- Heated ozone cleaning and sterilization
- Surface texturing of materials
- Vacuum and near ultraviolet exposure bell jar
- Low temperature soak and thermal cycling chamber with electronics performance evaluation
Planetary Environments
- Lunar dust adhesion bell jar
- Martian atmospheric chemistry simulator (MACS)
Coatings
- Dual ion beam facility
- Sputter deposition and erosion
- Surface texturing of materials
- Electron beam evaporator system
- Slurry coating lab
-
- Ability to prepare / mill powders with finely tuned chemistries
- Powders are mixed with slurry solution containing alcohol, binder, and dispersant
- Slurry coatings deposited on substrates via dipping, spinning, spraying
- Relevant papers:
- Plasma spray-physical vapor deposition facility / VaPER Facility
- Thermal and environmental barrier coatings
- 6,000-10,000 K plasma
- High throughput, ~0.5 m2 area, 10 µm layer in < 60 seconds
- High speed or reentry conditions testing
- Relevant papers:
Thermal and Optical Properties Characterization
- Cary 5000 UV-VIS-NIR Spectrophotometer
- Nicolet FT-IR Spectrophotometer
- SOC -400T Portable Infrared Reflectometer
- DB100 Room Temperature Emittance Measurement
- Portable Emissometer
Surface Texturing of Materials
- Arc Texturing Facility
- Electro-chemical Texturing
Atmospheric Steam Oxidation Furnaces
- Continuous cycling of samples in an isothermal steam environment
- Flexible to gas mixtures and compositions
- Relevant Papers:
CE-5 Materials Test Section
-
- Modular materials test leg in CE-5 combustion test facility
- Various airfoil and material test size and shapes
- 3000°F+ combustion gas temperature capability
- 300 psig+ pressure and 40+ m/s velocity
- Relevant Papers:
- Modular materials test leg in CE-5 combustion test facility
High Temperature Thermochemistry Lab
- World-Class Mass Spectrometry
- Knudsen effusion mass spectrometers
- High pressure mass spectrometer (up to 2000°C)
- Thermogravimetry (TGA)
- Operation up to 1,650°C in air or corrosive gases, and 3,000°C in vacuum
- Differential Thermal Analysis and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DTA / DSC)
- Two simultaneous thermal analyzers capable of operating up to 1650°C and 2400°C
- DSC capable of operating up to 1650°C
- Levitation Calorimetry
- Drop and catch (DnC) calorimeter capable of operating up 4000°C
- Oxide Melt Drop Solution Calorimetry
- Isoperibol Tian-Calvet Twin calorimeter
Burner Rigs
- Mach 0.3 burner rig facility
- Jet-fueled combustors used to subject aircraft engine and airframe materials to a simulated operating environment at atmospheric pressure
- Simulate corrosion, erosion, and impact damage
- Mach 0.3 burner rig
- Single Beacon Burner Rig
- Natural Gas / Oxygen Burner Rig
- Subject advanced materials to the high-temperature, high-velocity combustion environment of gas turbine engines at atmospheric pressure
High Heat Flux Laser Lab
- Suite of high-powered lasers used to subject advanced materials to a simulated thermal profile for aeronautics and space propulsion systems.
- 2kW Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Laser (10.6 µm wavelength)
- 4kW Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Laser (10.6 µm wavelength)
- 5kW Ytterbium Fiber Laser (1.07 µm wavelength)
- Used in conjunction with mechanical test frames to simulate thermo-mechanical behavior, and a vacuum chamber for space environments testing.
