click here to play .avi movie

The Mach 0.3 Burner Rig Facility can test materials of various geometries and compositions from 700 ^oF to 2500 ^oF under oxidation or corrosive environments. Hot corrosion burner rig tests help to evaluate the potential durability of turbine engine materials which are expected to breath sea salt air from aircraft carriers and coastal bases of operation. This test is accomplished by injecting a controlled amount of sodium chloride solution into the burner flame.

Materials are subject to thermal cycling which duplicates the flight cycles experienced by aircraft making many takeoffs and landings daily. The test rigs can heat advanced materials and coatings to the extreme temperatures and hostile environments in which they are expected to operate by only burning several gallons of jet fuel per hour rather than full scale engine tests.

These facilities have been used in high temperature materials test programs for Pratt & Whitney, General Electric Aircraft Engines, AlliedSignal, DuPont, B.F. Goodrich, Dow Corning, the United States Air Force, Navy, and Army, and other NASA centers as well as academia. Most recently the burners have contributed to materials test evaluations of exhaust nozzle components which will be used in the High Speed Civil Transport and turbine engine blades and vanes for the lightweight turbofan engine by Williams International which will power the General Aviation Program's V-Jet demonstrator testbed aircraft.

Contact: Michael Cuy or Dennis Fox