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Completed TRL 2 (started at 2, targeting 4)
Project Objective
The objective of this work was to take measurements of elastic and shear moduli as well as Poisson's ratio at temperatures relevant to nuclear thermal propulsion and greater than what current commercial equipment can provide, 2000°C and greater.
Project Description
Space nuclear power and propulsion technologies rely on materials in extreme temperature environments. Nuclear reactors for space applications operate at high temperatures. Particularly, nuclear thermal propulsion concepts baseline fuel temperatures approach 3000°C. Traditional methods for obtaining material properties are limited by material interactions with fixtures and furnace component temperature limitations. Few materials are stable above 2000°C, and most materials will interact at these temperatures. This work will test a novel approach to obtaining material properties above 2000°C. This work makes use of a Resonant Frequency & Damping Analyzer to ensure resonant frequencies and internal damping of a surrogate material representing nuclear fuel. This method can provide measurements of Young's Modulus, Shear Modulus, and Poisson's Ratio by measuring the damping of the acoustic signal. To obtain these measurements at high temperature, a pinpoint heating source is used to heat the sample material while limiting heat transfer to the test fixtures inside an inert, low-oxygen atmosphere. A pyrometer is used to measure sample temperature. Test setup is designed to provide maximum protection for supporting equipment through insulation and operation in a contained inert environment. Key performance parameters will be measurements of Young's Modulus, Shear Modulus, and Poisson's Ratio at temperatures greater than 2000°C. An analysis of the method including impacts on measurement quality and equipment durability will also be delivered.
Project Results and Conclusions
During the calendar year 2024 test components and supporting systems were assembled and tested. Calibration of the new radio frequency deployed assembly (RFDA) was also checked. The primary experiment was not executed due to unusually long delays in procurement (> 1 year) of an oxygen-controlling tool required to remove oxygen from the inert gas atmosphere. The samples of interest (refractory carbides) are highly oxygen sensitive. Oxidation changes the measurement results invalidating the test. The principal investigator (PI) intends to proceed with the experiment upon the eventual arrival of the oxygen-controlling device.
The objective is to test and demonstrate a novel method for measuring mechanical properties (Young's Modulus, Shear Modulus, and Poisson's Ratio) at temperature between 2000°C and 3000°C. Current methods are limited to below 2000°C. This limits our understanding and ability to predict material performance at higher temperatures, such as those in reactors or hypersonic systems. This supports the development of nuclear space reactors as well as hypersonic materials. This also supports capability gap 300 in testing materials for thermal protection systems. This capability is needed by space nuclear propulsion and any other application in which materials must perform at temperature above 2000°C. A lack of measurable data limits the accuracy of models and predictions. Property measurements will allow for better, safer designs and reduced costs through reduced system failure in system tests.
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