MAGNESIUM COMPOSITE MATERIAL FOR ADVANCED ROTARY AIRCRAFT

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROGRAM IS TO DEVELOP AN AUTOMATED HOLOGRAPHIC DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUE TO BE USED IN OBTAINING THE BASIC DATA NEEDED TO ASSESS AND VALIDATE NASA'S PREDICTIVE COMPUTER CODES. PHASE I IS TO SHOW THAT AUTOMATEDINTERPRETATION OF HOLOGRAPHIC DOUBLE PULSED RECORDS IS FEASIBLE AND THAT THE RESULTING DATA SUFFICES TO GIVE THE CRITICAL COMBUSTION PARAMETERS NEEDED BY NASA. DURING PHASE II, A DOUBLE-PULSED HOLOGRAPHIC DETECTOR IS ASSEMBLED TESTED AND CALIBRATED USING STANDARD PARTICLE SPRAYS. THE ADVANCED ROTARY ENGINE HAS THE THE POTENTIAL FOR HIGH EFFICIENCY AND DURABILITY DUE TO ITS LOW NUMBER OF MOVABLE PARTS, COMPACTNESS, AND EXTREMELY HIGH HORSEPOWER- TO-WEIGHT RATIO. THIS PROJECT ASSUMES THAT AN AUTOMOTIVE VERSION OF THE ROTARY ENGINE CAN BE MODIFIED AND DEVELOPED FOR USE IN BUSINESS AIRCRAFT APPLICATIONS. THE APPROACH IS TO MODIFY AN ENGINE BY REPLACING ENGINE HOUSING MATERIALSNOW PRODUCED FROM CAST IRON WITH A NEW LIGHTWEIGHT YET STRONG, GRAPHITE-REINFORCED-MAGNESIUM (GR.MG) COMPOSITE MATERIAL. A METHOD TO DIRECTLY CAST GR/MG IN NEAR-NET MAKINGCOMPARABLE COMPOSITE PARTS USING TRADITIONAL METAL MATRIX COMPOSITE FABRICATION PROCESSING METHODS. DEVELOPMENT AND MANUFACTURE OF A GENERIC GR/MG MIDDLE HOUSING SECTION FOR A TWO-ROTOR ENGINE IS INVESTIGATED, AND THIS PART IS DELIVERED TO NASA FOR SUBSEQUENT TESTING IN ITS ROTARY TEST FACILITY.