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"Burn-Resistant Materials for High-Performance Reusable Rocket Engines"

by

Zack Cordero

Boeing Assistant Professor | Aeronautics and Astronautics | MIT

Thursday, April 20
3 - 4 p.m.
Location: Student Success Center, President’s Suite C

About the Seminar: 
High-performance reusable rocket engines are essential to proposed low-cost heavy lift launch vehicles that will enable next-generation space economics. Unlike expendable rocket engines, which are optimized for reliability, weight and fuel efficiency, reusable rocket engines must also consider the competing criteria of re-entry and launch cycle life (reusability). Current development efforts are focused on reusable oxidizer-rich and full-flow staged combustion engines, which offer advantages in fuel efficiency. However, these engines subject materials to extreme operating conditions, involving cryogenic temperatures, extreme temperature swings, high heat fluxes, and ultra-high-pressure oxygen. These conditions give rise to a host of catastrophic failure modes, from oxidation-assisted fatigue to strain-ratcheting induced creep rupture to metal fires. The success of these new reusable propulsion systems thus depends on advances in the processing, design, and application of advanced materials specifically tailored to withstand such extreme environments. In this talk, I will share insights from our investigation into the underlying mechanisms of frictional ignition, a source of metal fires in oxygen-rich turbopumps, the root cause of several recent launch failures (Sea Launch's NSS-8 and Orbital's Orb-3), and a key materials challenge limiting development of SpaceX's Raptor and Blue Origin's BE-4 engines. We have assessed the role of oxide tribolayer breakdown in frictional ignition using high-speed sliding experiments, post-mortem characterization of recovered specimens, and continuum mechanics modeling of sliding contacts. Our results reveal why certain superalloys are intrinsically resistant ignition, suggesting approaches to alloy design for the high-pressure oxygen environments in oxygen-rich turbines.

About the Speaker: 
Zack Cordero is the Boeing Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT where he leads the Aerospace Materials and Structures Laboratory. He received an SB in physics and a PhD in materials science and engineering from MIT. Prior to joining the MIT faculty, Zack held appointments as a postdoctoral fellow in the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and as an assistant professor in the Materials Science and NanoEngineering department at Rice University. Zack's research at MIT integrates materials processing, mechanics of materials, and structural design to develop new materials and structures for launch vehicles and spacecraft. In addition to his research, he is extremely passionate about hands-on education for engineering students and has developed courses that integrate machine design, materials selection, and manufacturing to train the next generation of aerospace engineers.