Testing ultra-high-temperature ceramics for thermal protection and rocket applications

This work deals with experimental characterisation of ultra-high-temperature ceramic materials for aerospace applications. Current research activities are focused on development and testing of new-class ultra-high-temperature ceramic matrix composites for near-zero ablation Thermal Protection Systems and near-zero erosion rocket nozzles. To investigate materials behaviour in atmospheric re-entry conditions, relevant tests are carried out on samples with different shapes with a supersonic arc-jet facility, with specific total enthalpies higher than 20 MJ kg−1 and temperatures over 2000 K in a gas atmosphere with high concentration of atomic oxygen. The Aerospace Propulsion Laboratory allows investigating rocket components or subsystems manufactured in innovative materials, such as nozzles and nozzle inserts, but also small specimens exposed to the rocket exhaust plume, in highly relevant operating conditions. Computational models for numerical simulations of high-enthalpy flows, in both arc-jet and propulsion environments, and thermal analyses of the material samples are developed to support the experimental activities.