Low Cost, Net Shape Fabrication of Rhenium and High Temperature Materials for Rocket Engine Components
Abstract
Vacuum Plasma Spray techniques (VPS) have been developed to reduce the cost and fabrication time of metal and ceramic rocket engine components. Refractory metals and ceramics such as Re, Hf, W, W/Re, HfC, and HfN are being used for their high melting temperatures and chemical stability. However, the difficulty of forming these materials into complex shapes has limited their application in the past. The VPS technique involves spraying material onto a mandrel of the desired shape and subsequently removing the mandrel. A primary advantage of VPS forming over other powder metallurgy techniques is that near-net-shape spray forming of components significantly simplifies and reduces the cost of fabrication due to the high material utilization and reduction of laborious machining. Rocket nozzles have been fabricated and successfully tested in advanced applications with zero erosion. Standard metallurgical techniques have been used to characterize the effect of processing parameters on the microstructure of spray formed deposits. The deposited materials have high density with fine grain microstructures.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADP011181
Entities
People
- Arvind Argarwal
- Robert R. Hickman
- Timothy N. Mckechnie