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Hughes, T. A.

Publications and source records attributed to Hughes, T. A..

8 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1975

A study of molecular contamination

Contamination kinetics of typical space materials were studied using several techniques, including ellipsometry. Data were obtained on contaminant deposition rates, sticking coefficients, and reevaporation of the contamination. Materials studied included silicone sealants, a thermal control paint, and a graphite laminate as contaminant sources, and gold coated surfaces, a thermal control paint and a second surface mirror material as the contaminees. Both deposition and reevaporation rates were found to be nonlinear with time, and followed an exponential decay. A hypothesis is presented that the nonlinear behavior was a result of disproportionation of the molecular weight fractions of the polymers. The measured sticking coefficients were found to vary substantially with temperature over narrow ranges. Simulated space radiation was found to reduce the evaporation rates of contaminants by several orders of magnitude.

Allen, T. H.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Radiative contribution to the thermal conductivity of fibrous insulations

An approach is shown for using a simple two-flux model to interpret infrared transmission data for a variety of reuseable surface insulations materials and to calculate the radiation transmission. A description is given of preliminary experiments on mullite and silica-based materials. The calculated parameters are compared with the measured values of the total thermal conductivity, as determined on guarded hot plate equipment. It is pointed out that for many samples the newly developed four-flux model must be utilized because the scattering properties of the fibers are often dependent on the wavelength of the radiation.

Linford, R. M. F.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Radiant Heat Transfer in Reusable Surface Insulation

During radiant testing of mullite panels, temperatures in the insulation and support structure exceeded those predicted on the basis of guarded hot plate thermal conductivity tests. Similar results were obtained during arc tunnel tests of mullite specimens. The differences between effective conductivity and guarded hot plate values suggested that radiant transfer through the mullite was occurring. To study the radiant transport, measurements were made of the infrared transmission through various insulating materials and fibers of interest to the shuttle program, using black body sources over the range of 780 to 2000 K. Experimental data were analyzed and scattering coefficients were derived for a variety of materials, fiber diameters, and source temperature.

Hughes, T. A.↗
NASA NTRS1973

The infrared properties of reusable surface insulations.

The total infrared scattering and absorption cross sections of both flexible and rigidized high temperature fibrous insulations have been measured. The methods for accomplishing these measurements are described. Infrared reflection and transmission spectra were obtained to study the dependence of the total cross sections on the spectral characteristics of the transported radiation. These results are applied to steady-state effective thermal conductivity measurements via a four-flux model of radiative heat transfer to separate the radiative component and to calculate the effective thermal conductivity under transient heating conditions. Data for both silica and mullite fibers are presented.

Schmitt, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS1972

High temperature insulation materials for reradiative thermal protection systems

Results are presented of a two year program to evaluate packaged thermal insulations for use under a metallic radiative TPS of a shuttle orbiter vehicle. Evaluations demonstrated their survival for up to 100 mission reuse cycles under shuttle acoustic and thermal loads with peak temperatures of 1000 F, 1800 F, 2000 F, 2200 F and 2500 F. The specimens were composed of low density refractory fiber felts, packaged in thin gage metal foils. In addition, studies were conducted on the venting requirements of the packages, salt spray resistance of the metal foils, and the thermal conductivity of many of the insulations as a function of temperature and ambient air pressure. Data is also presented on the radiant energy transport through insulations, and back-scattering coefficients were experimentally determined as a function of source temperature.

Hughes, T. A.↗
NASA NTRS1971

High temperature insulation for reradiative TPS.

This paper presents the results of a program to evaluate thermal insulations for use under the radiative TPS of a shuttle orbiter vehicle. Evaluations were made for survival under the multimission requirements of shuttle acoustic/vibration loads and thermal profiles. During the first year of the program a total of 1100 specimen-cycles were completed using metal foil packaged refractory fiber insulations.

Hughes, T. A.↗