Channel Wall Nozzle Manufacturing and Hot-Fire Testing Using a Laser Wire Direct Closeout Technique for Liquid Rocket Engines
No abstract available
Gradl, Paul↗
Engineering topics
Brandsmeier, Will
Publications and source records attributed to Brandsmeier, Will.
Channel Wall Nozzle Manufacturing and Hot-Fire Testing using a Laser Wire Direct Closeout Technique for Liquid Rocket Engines
No abstract available
Gradl, Paul↗
Channel Wall Nozzle Manufacturing and Hot-Fire Testing using a Laser Wire Deposition Closeout Technique for Liquid Rocket Engines
A regeneratively-cooled nozzle for liquid rocket engine applications is a significant cost of the overall engine due to the complexities of manufacturing a large thin-walled structure that must operate in extreme temperature and pressure environments. NASA has been investigating and advancing methods for fabrication of liquid rocket engine channel wall nozzles to realize further cost and schedule improvements. The methods being evaluated are targeting increased scale required for current NASA and commercial space programs. Several advanced rapid fabrication methods are being investigated for forming of the inner liner, producing the coolant channels, closeout of the coolant channels, and fabrication of the manifolds. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) completed process development and subscale hot-fire testing of a series of these advanced fabrication channel wall nozzle technologies to gather performance data in a relevant environment. The primary fabrication technique being discussed in this paper is Laser Wire Deposition Closeout (LWDC). This process has been developed to significantly reduce time required for closeouts of regeneratively-cooled slotted liners. It allows for channel closeout to be formed in place in addition to the structural jacket without the need for channel fillers or complex tooling. Additional technologies were also tested as part of this program including water jet milling and arc-based additive manufacturing deposition. Each nozzle included different fabrication features, materials, and methods to demonstrate durability in a hot-fire environment. The results of design, fabrication and hot-fire testing performance is discussed in this paper.
Gradl, Paul R.↗
Channel Wall Nozzle Manufacturing and Hot-Fire Testing Using a Laser Wire Direct Closeout Technique for Liquid Rocket Engines
A regeneratively-cooled nozzle for liquid rocket engine applications is a significant cost of the overall engine due to the complexities of manufacturing a large thin-walled structure that must operate in extreme temperature and pressure environments. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been investigating and advancing methods for fabrication of liquid rocket engine channel wall nozzles to realize further cost and schedule improvements over traditional techniques. The methods being evaluated are targeting increased scale required for current NASA and commercial space programs. Several advanced rapid fabrication methods are being investigated for forming of the inner liner, producing the coolant channels, closeout of the coolant channels, and fabrication of the manifolds. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has completed process development and subscale hot-fire testing of a series of these advanced fabrication channel wall nozzle technologies to gather performance data in a relevant environment. The primary fabrication technique being discussed in this paper is Laser Wire Direct Closeout (LWDC). This process has been developed to significantly reduce the time required for closeouts of regeneratively-cooled slotted liners. It allows for channel closeout to be formed in place in addition to the structural jacket without the need for channel fillers or complex tooling. Additional technologies were also tested as part of this program including water jet milling and arc-based additive manufacturing deposition. Each nozzle included different fabrication features, materials, and methods to demonstrate durability in a hot-fire environment. The results of design, fabrication, and hot-fire testing are discussed in this paper.
Gradl, Paul R.↗
Design, Development and Hotfire Testing of Monolithic Copper and Bimetallic Additively Manufactured Combustion Chambers
NASA and industry partners are working towards fabrication process development to reduce costs and schedules associated with manufacturing liquid rocket engine components with the goal of reducing overall mission costs. One such technique being evaluated is powder-bed fusion or selective laser melting (SLM) otherwise commonly referred to as additive manufacturing. The NASA Low Cost Upper Stage Propulsion (LCUSP) program was designed to develop processes and material characterization for the GRCop-84 copper-alloy commensurate with powder bed additive manufacturing, evaluate bimetallic deposition and complete testing of a full scale combustion chamber. As part of this development, the process has been transferred to industry partners to enable a long-term supply chain of monolithic copper combustion chambers. As a direct spin off of this program, NASA is working with industry partners to further develop the printing process for the GRCop-84 material in addition to the C-18150 (CuCrZr) material. To advance the process further and allow for optimization with multiple materials, NASA is also investigating the feasibility of bimetallic additively manufactured chambers. A 1.2k sized thrust-chamber was designed and developed to compare the printing process of the GRCop-84 and C-18150 SLM materials. A series of similar MCC liners also completed development with an Inconel 625 jacket bonded to the GRcop-84 liner evaluating direct metal deposition (DMD) laser and arc-based techniques. This paper describes the design, development, manufacturing and testing of these combustion chambers and associated lessons learned throughout the design and development process.
Gradl, Paul↗
Manufacturing Process Developments for Regeneratively-Cooled Channel Wall Rocket Nozzles
Regeneratively cooled channel wall nozzles incorporate a series of integral coolant channels to contain the coolant to maintain adequate wall temperatures and expand hot gas providing engine thrust and specific impulse. NASA has been evaluating manufacturing techniques targeting large scale channel wall nozzles to support affordability of current and future liquid rocket engine nozzles and thrust chamber assemblies. The development of these large scale manufacturing techniques focus on the liner formation, channel slotting with advanced abrasive water-jet milling techniques and closeout of the coolant channels to replace or augment other cost reduction techniques being evaluated for nozzles. NASA is developing a series of channel closeout techniques including large scale additive manufacturing laser deposition and explosively bonded closeouts. A series of subscale nozzles were completed evaluating these processes. Fabrication of mechanical test and metallography samples, in addition to subscale hardware has focused on Inconel 625, 300 series stainless, aluminum alloys as well as other candidate materials. Evaluations of these techniques are demonstrating potential for significant cost reductions for large scale nozzles and chambers. Hot fire testing is planned using these techniques in the future.
Gradl, Paul↗