Location
Cocoa Beach, Florida
Start Date
3-4-1967 12:00 AM
Description
Because of its high strength-to-weight ratio and other desirable features, graphite is desirable for use as structural components that are to be exposed to a high-temperature environment. At elevated temperatures, however, graphite reacts with oxidizing atmospheres, and smooth surfaces having specific engineering properties are degraded into eroded surfaces of lower efficiency.
It has been demonstrated that iridium can be used to protect graphite in air at temperatures to 3600 F for 1 hour or more. Battelle has been conducting a program for the Air Force Materials Laboratory to study the application of iridium and iridium-alloy coatings to graphite, based on a comb ined plasma-arc deposition and gas-pressure bonding process. A comprehensive prog ram involving the development, fabrication, and testing of these coatings is described.
Iridium Coatings for the Protection of Graphite Re-Entry Structures
Cocoa Beach, Florida
Because of its high strength-to-weight ratio and other desirable features, graphite is desirable for use as structural components that are to be exposed to a high-temperature environment. At elevated temperatures, however, graphite reacts with oxidizing atmospheres, and smooth surfaces having specific engineering properties are degraded into eroded surfaces of lower efficiency.
It has been demonstrated that iridium can be used to protect graphite in air at temperatures to 3600 F for 1 hour or more. Battelle has been conducting a program for the Air Force Materials Laboratory to study the application of iridium and iridium-alloy coatings to graphite, based on a comb ined plasma-arc deposition and gas-pressure bonding process. A comprehensive prog ram involving the development, fabrication, and testing of these coatings is described.
