Extreme Environment Materials Testing: Thermochemical Life Prediction and Improved Material Design

Abstract:  

Structural materials are key for applications in extreme environments of propulsion and hypersonic leading edge systems. Materials development can be limited by lack of lab scale test capability that achieve relevant environments by economical “bench-top” means. In this presentation capabilities for studying materials thermochemical stability in propulsion and hypersonic environments are described. First, a steam jet furnace capable of temperatures, steam partial pressures, and gas velocities relevant for hot sections of aero turbine engines is described. Results for steam-induced material volatilization from binary oxides and complex oxides are presented demonstrating both improved engineering life prediction and fundamental science gains. Next a micro plasma resistive heating system with temperatures and dissociated oxygen contents relevant for hypersonic reentry environments is described. Oxidation results for selected transition metals and carbides in these extreme environments will be presented. Mechanistic understanding developed in both environments enables improved life prediction.

Bio: 

Elizabeth Opila is Chair and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, the Rolls-Royce Commonwealth Professor of Engineering at the University of Virginia with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. She is also the Director of the Rolls-Royce University Technology Center for Advanced Materials Systems at the University of Virginia. Prior to 2010, she held the position of Materials Research Engineer at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH for 19 years where she worked primarily on ceramics for applications in turbine engines, rocket engines, hot structures for thermal protections systems, and other power and propulsion applications. Her current research focus includes understanding thermodynamic and kinetic mechanisms for material degradation in extreme environments, development of life prediction methodology based on understanding of fundamental high temperature chemical reaction mechanisms, and materials development for protection of materials from extreme environments. She studies thermochemical stability of ceramic matrix composites, refractory metals and alloys, ultrahigh temperature ceramics, and environmental and thermal barrier coatings using a variety of specialized experimental approaches, materials characterization, and computational methods. Prof. Opila received her BS in Ceramic Engineering from the University of Illinois, her MS in Materials Science from the University of California Berkeley, and her PhD in Materials Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is Fellow of the American Ceramic Society and the Electrochemical Society and recipient of the 2021 American Ceramic Society’s Arthur L. Friedberg Award. She has approximately 150 publications, is editor of 10 proceedings volumes, and coinventor on seven patents.