Hypersonic Materials Testing
PSI's Hypersonic Materials Testbed provides accessible screening to evaluate thermal protection system (TPS) materials under high temperature, high heating rate, and strongly oxidizing reentry/hypersonic environmental conditions. This unique capability enables subscale testing of TPS materials and measurement of oxidation /erosion rate, changes in surface and bulk material properties and optical signatures enabling rapid material assessments and verification of CFD microphysics models.
Thermal Protection Material Testing
Lab-scale: Rapid, low cost testing of material Thermal/Mechanical/Chemical response to high-enthalpy, high Mach number air flow
Clean: Microwave Jet: No electrode erosion/contamination
Relevant Enthalpies: 1-13 MJ/kg (Air) producing 0.2 – 1 kW/cm2 heating
Simulated Air Speed: Mach 3 to 16
Simulated Altitude: 15 – 70 km
Characterize the impact of the simulated hypersonic environment on material properties: Erosion/Ablation rate, surface and bulk properties, optical properties
Spatially and spectrally resolve signatures produced hypersonic materials: UV – Long Wave IR (LWIR)
Coming in Summer 2023: In-situ mechanical strength measurements of sample under test.
PSI offers materials testing services and sales of the hypersonic materials testbed.
For more information, contact: oakes@psicorp.com
To download more information on the Hypersonic Materials Testbed, click on the following PDF: