COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE PHYSICOMECHANICAL INSTITUTE OF THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND THE FGUP OF THE DESIGN OFFICE OF CHEMICAL AUTOMATICS IN THE FIELD OF CREATION OF OXYGEN-HYDROGEN LIQUID-PROPELLANT ENGINES

Abstract

The collaboration between the Design Office of Chemical Automatics dealing with the design and production of liquid-propellant rocket engines and the Karpenko Physicomechanical Institute, a recognized scientific leader in the field of physicochemical mechanics of materials, began in 1976 from discussions on the interesting results of fatigue tests of structural materials with protective coatings under the conditions of high-frequency ( f ∼ 20 kHz) loading obtained in the Design Office of Chemical Automatics. The high scientific level of the discussion of the presented results stimulated the mutual interest in the solution of scientific and technical problems put forward to both collectives and, naturally, led to the revelation of the points of joint application of forces. In the early 1970s, the Design Office of Chemical Automatics began to develop an RD0120 powerful oxygenhydrogen engine for the space “Energiya-Buran” complex and was in urgent need of information on the serviceability of structural materials in a medium of high-pressure gaseous hydrogen. At that time, the Physicomechanical Institute had accumulated sufficient experience in the investigation of the serviceability of structural materials in hydrogen-containing oil and gas media, had advanced testing and methodological data, considerable experience in the design of nonstandard test equipment, and, first of all, highly skilled scientific personnel. In the discussions of leaders and specialists of both organizations, the principal direction of collaboration was revealed, namely: the formation of a powerful research center based on the Physicomechanical Institute that would be able to carry out complex investigations of the influence of hydrogen on physicomechanical characteristics of materials under conditions simulating the temperature-force loading of structural materials. The leaders of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of General Engineering of the USSR supported this idea and made a common decision on the formation of the Interdepartmental Research Center “Proton.” On the basis of its own experience, information from leading research centers, and the specification of the Design Office of Chemical Automatics, the Physicomechanical Institute designed and launched a laboratory complex equipped with unique test equipment of its own design and production, which enables one to carry out experiments with ultrapure hydrogen at a pressure up to 120 MPa in the temperature range from 20 to 1273 K. In this work, K. B. Katsov, V. I. Tkachev, and other employees took an active part under the guidance of V. V. Panasyuk. In the course of joint works performed according to the coordinated program, more than thirty sorts of promising material were investigated, the characteristics of short-term and long-term strength under tension and two-axial loading, low- and high-cycle fatigue, and resistance to the action of thermal cycles were obtained, and cyclic crack resistance and “hydrogen degradation” were studied [1]. The researchers determined the criterial parameters of “hydrogen degradation” of composite materials, which characterize the serviceability of structural elements and are used in strength analysis, and developed and experimentally verified the methods of evaluation of strength and durability of structures (including structures containing defects) operating in hydrogen [2]. The dependences of mechanical characteristics on temperature, pressure of gaseous hydrogen, loading rate, preliminary saturation, and presence of contaminating impurities in hydrogen were investigated and systematized [3, 4], and the influence of various metallic, oxide, and nitride barrier coatings was checked [5].