Hydrocarbon-fuel/combustion-chamber-liner materials compatibility. Final Report, 31 Oct. 1989 - 31 Mar. 1991

Technical Report · Mon Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5515644

Homer, G D

The results of dynamic tests using methane and NASA-Z copper test specimen under conditions that simulate those expected in the cooling channels of a regeneratively cooled LOX/hydrocarbon booster engine operating at chamber pressures up to 3000 psi are presented. Methane with less than 0.5 ppm sulfur contamination has little or no effect on cooling channel performance. At higher sulfur concentrations, severe corrosion of the NASA-Z copper alloy occurs and the cuprous sulfide Cu{sub 2}S, thus formed impedes mass flow rate and heat transfer efficiency. Therefore, it is recommended that the methane specification for this end use set the allowable sulfur content at 0.5 ppm (max). Bulk high purity liquid methane that meets this low sulfur requirement is currently available from only one producer. Pricing, availability, and quality assurance are discussed in detail. Additionally, it was found that dilute sodium cyanide solutions effectively refurbish sulfur corroded cooling channels in only 2 to 5 minutes by completely dissolving all the Cu{sub 2}S. Sulfur corroded/sodium cyanide refurbished channels are highly roughened and the increased surface roughness leads to significant improvements in heat transfer efficiency with an attendant loss in mass flow rate. Both the sulfur corrosion and refurbishment effects are discussed in detail.

• Research Organization: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Cleveland, OH (United States). Lewis Research Center
• OSTI ID: 5515644
• Report Number(s): N-91-21307; NASA-CR--187104; NAS--1.26:187104; KBQ-FR--2; CNN: NAS3-25070
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360105 -- Metals & Alloys-- Corrosion & Erosion
42 ENGINEERING
421000* -- Engineering-- Combustion Systems
ALKANES
ALLOYS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION CHAMBERS
COOLING
COPPER ALLOYS
COPPER BASE ALLOYS
COPPER COMPOUNDS
COPPER SULFIDES
CORROSION
CORROSIVE EFFECTS
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY TRANSFER
ENGINES
FLOW RATE
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDROCARBONS
METHANE
NONMETALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PROGRESS REPORT
ROCKET ENGINES
SULFIDES
SULFUR
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS