Combustion synthesis of porous ceramics on Space-DRUMS

Abstract

Combustion synthesis, or self-propagat ing high temperature synthesis (SHS), is currently being used to produce a wide range of advanced porous materials. These materials include ceramic, intermetallic and metal-matrix composites for applications ranging from structural to oxidationand wear-resistant materials; e.g., TiC-SiC, TiC-Cr3C2, MoSi2-SiC, NiAl-TiB2, engineered porous composites for biomedical uses; e.g., B4C-A12O3, Ti-TiBx, Ni-Ti, Ca3(PO4)2, and glass-ceramic composites; e.g., TiB2-B2O3-Al2O3MgO, TiB2-CaO-Al2O3-SiO2-BaO. Based on recent experiments on combustion synthesis of such materials in the NASA parabolic flight (KC-135) aircraft, it has been shown that gravity plays an important role in controlling the structure and properties of the materials. Using Space-DRUMS™, a containerless processing facility employing dynamic acoustic sample positioning aboard the International Space Station, long-term studies of a much wider range of materials and conditions will be possible. Space-DRUMS™ is being developed by Guigne Technologies, Ltd., in partnership with Astrium Space-Infrastructure and Teledyne-Brown. In this paper, an overview of the CCACS research on combustion synthesis of porous ceramics and experiments planned for ISS in Space-DRUMS™ will be presented, along with the most recent results of the ground-based studies.