Glass shell manufacturing in space

Abstract

A heat transfer model was developed that mathematically describes the heating and calculates the thermal history of a gel particle in free-fall through the furnace. The model parameters that greatly affect the calculations were found to be gel particle mass, geometry, specific heat, and furnace gas. Empirical testing of the model has commenced. The code calculations and the initial empirical testing results both indicate that the gel-to-shell transformation occurs early and rapidly in the thermal history of the gel particle, and that for current work the heat transfer rate is not a limitation in shell production.