Robust Cryogenic Compatible Turbo-machinery and Liquid Rocket Engine coatings

ABSTRACT: The goal of the Phase II is to extend an ICME-based approach to the design of thermal barrier coating architectures and processes to guide the design and selection of a newly defined material/coating system, and to validate this system by testing in an environment representative of a reusable oxygen rich staged combustion engine turbine via a test protocol and apparatus that is suitable for TBC screening and modeling system validation. The proposed apparatus and protocol are intended to provide a direct relationship between the coating design system, the coating system screening tests and in-engine performance, to ensure a high degree of confidence in the coating system, enabling predictable performance of these systems in the engine. BENEFIT: The U.S. Air Force's current ATLAS launch system relies on Russian-made RD-180 engines. It is of clear importance that the U.S. develop a capability to design and manufacture LOX-Hydrocarbon, LOX-rich staged-combustion engines for use in a variety of missions, to relieve this dependence, and to establish reusable propulsion systems based on this technology. The tools and methods to be developed under this Phase II contribute to the risk reduction efforts for the design of engines that operate in high-pressure, oxygen-rich environments by providing physics-based analytical models in a scalable design system.