JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #39 - March/April 2008 - 112

KNOW-HOW Process g…/… A technological breakthrough in solid-fuel propulsion This initial phase made it possible to validate the concept and optimize the injection parameters and configuration. It was crowned by two successful test bench firings of thrusters equipped with nozzles, one with a cowl and the other with a exit cone, both using resin-impregnated Naxeco reinforcement. successfully completed. The assessments showed that the material’s heat erosion performance met the expectations. Conclusion The RTM process developed to manufacture the nozzle parts was designed to meet minimum-investment requirements by using the autoclaves already available at the SPS site, and also HSE requirements. The process was applied to, and validated on nozzle parts of different sizes. The material made with the process met the density, porosity and thermomechanical-property specifications and successfully withstood a number of test bench firings that were carried out in compliance with the technical objectives set. The test firings served to validate the ability of this technology to allow simpler nozzle designs that eliminate the need for structural casings either partially or entirely, as shown by the evolution in the design of the P80 nozzle cowl. The next step of development is to integrate the technology into the Ariane 5 booster nozzles (see Figure 7). Fig. 4: Tool before injection Once the validation phase had been successfully concluded, the technology was considered to be mature enough to be used for the exit cone and cowl of the P80 thruster nozzle, a programme financed by the French national space research centre Fig. 5: Injection Modelling CNES (see Figure 6). A full-scale injection method meeting the technical, economic, and health & safety criteria was developed and financed. Four exit cones (injection of 220 litres) and five cowls (130 litres) were moulded with satisfactory reproducibility. Several of the parts were assessed, and two of each were installed on the nozzles of demonstrator (DM) and qualification (QM) motors. The two first tests bench firing of the P80 nozzle took place in November 2006 and december 2007 and were Fig. 7: Design simplification of MPS nozzle cowl More information: www.snecma-propulsion.com Contacts: martine.dauchier@snecma.fr jean-louis.limousin@snecma.fr jean-claude.tricot@snecma.fr Fig. 6: Cowl and aft exit cone of P80 nozzle ADVERTISERS 3B p.4 CPIC p.70 GERBER TECHNOLOGY p.83 LAP LASER p.4, 25 SEAL p.105 GREENVISION p.27 LITZLER p.40 SELCOM p.4, 83 3M p.91 CRAY VALLEY p.2,35 AIRTECH p.17 ALCAN AIREX p.4, 17 CYTEC p.85 HEXCEL p.65 M TORRES p.10 SCHÜTZ p.89 DIATEX p.83 HENKEL p.4 MOZART p.4, 63 SILTEX p.4, 56 ANTB p.106 DIEFFENBACHER p.95 HITCO p.116 MCCLEAN ANDERSON p.4, 45 SKYFLEX p.4 ARNAUD COMPOSITES p.74 DSM p.41 HUNSTMAN p.53 NIDAPLAST p.21 SL LASER p.4 BÜFA p.4 EASTMAN p.27 ISOMATEX p.79 OXEON p.97 SPECILITY PRODUCTS p.45 BYK p.25 ELASTOGRAN p.48 ISOVOLTA p.95 PLASTICON EUROPE p.4 TEIJIN ARAMID p.33 CAVITEC p.87 ELKOM p.4 ITE p.91 SAERTEX p.19 UMECO p.62 CEL COMPONENTS p.91 EPSILON COMPOSITE p.69 JEC ASIA p.28 SAHM WINDERS p.5 VON ROLL p.67 CHINA COMPOSITE EXPO --p.87 EUROMERE p.25 JOOS p.4 SCOTT & FYFE p.58 WEB INDUSTRIES p.20 CLAIRIS p.97 EVONIK p.9 KARL MAYER p.11 SCOTT BADER p.70 JEC Composites Magazine / No39 March - April 2008

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JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #39 - March/April 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #39 - March/April 2008