A test campaign has just been completed in the Scirocco Plasma Wind Tunnel in the frame of the PRORA Sharp Hot Structures Project devoted to R&D activities on UHTC (Ultra-high-temperature ceramics) coatings on metallic and ceramic matrix composites (CMC) substrates. In particular, a cone and two wedges with radii of curvature at the leading edge of about 1 cm and were exposed to a hypersonic jet of plasma with heat fluxes in the order of 2 MW/m2 for about 15 minutes of test, reaching maximum temperatures over 1500 ° C. CIRA carried out the design and execution of the tests, the definition and setup of the test instruments and measurement techniques.
The UHTC coating of the tested items was developed in collaboration with RINA-Centro Sviluppo Materiali di Roma with which CIRA has a multi-year collaboration relationship while the CMC substrate was made with ISiComp®, the new CMC material for Thermal Protection System developed jointly by CIRA and Petroceramics.
In the near future, further test campaigns are planned in CIRA Plasma Wind Tunnels to increase the TRL of the technologies developed, and to test new ones, aiming for application on systems for sustained hypersonic flight and for space transport systems.
