Date of Award
2019-01-01
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Mechanical Engineering
Advisor(s)
Ahsan . Choudhuri
Abstract
In an effort to advance green monopropellant propulsion using ionic liquids, the Center for Space Exploration and Technology Research (cSETR) has developed a pellet based catalyst bed for the decomposition of AF-M315E. The present paper will go over some of the fundamental research conducted towards the development of a catalyst bed and some of its applications. Three different catalyst bed designs were produced where each uses a different ceramic substrate material. The three different substrates are aluminum oxide, tungstated zirconia, silicon carbide each coated with iridium as the catalyst material. An experimental setup for testing the catalytic decomposition AF-M315E was built. The system utilizes a syringe pump as the propellant source flow the propellant through the catalyst be at specified flow rates. Current tests have shown decomposition temperatures up to 1400°C for flow rates in the range of 0.195 to 0.341 g/s for all three catalyst beds. The duty cycle conducted on these catalyst beds also revealed the silicon carbide based catalyst to perform the best in terms of lifetime.
Language
en
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
Copyright Date
2019-12
File Size
62 pages
File Format
application/pdf
Rights Holder
Alejandro Andre Vazquez
Recommended Citation
Vazquez, Alejandro Andre, "Development Of An Iridium-Ceramic Substrate Catalyst Bed For The Decomposition Of Ionic Green Liquid Monopropellants" (2019). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 2907.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/open_etd/2907