AME Seminar: Francesco Panerai
Thursday, November 17th, 2022 - 4:00 p.m.
Francesco Panerai
Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering
University of Illinois
"Gas-material Interactions at Extreme Temperatures"
AME Lecture Hall, Room S202 | Zoom link
Abstract: High-temperature gas-material interactions are critical processes in the development of hypersonic flight systems for space exploration and national defense. To be safe and effective throughout the extreme conditions of re-entry, designs must anticipate and be robust to changes in the aerodynamic shape and surface roughness due to ablation and oxidation. Hand-in-hand with the development of computational capabilities has been a need for data to both validate models and identify key physical mechanisms.
This talk will focus on multi-scale experiments on high performance composites used in atmosphere reentry. Dr. Panerai will first discuss synchrotron light source experiments on carbon fibers, the backbone of most thermal protection materials. Carbon fiber oxidation at high-temperature was resolved in 4D, using real-time X-ray micro-tomography. From the high spatial and temporal resolution scans we were able resolve oxidation processes at different conditions found in high-speed flight, from the reaction-limited to the diffusion-limited regime. The data constitute the base for predictive modeling tools for carbon ablation.
The second part of the talk will cover large scale experiments on ultra-high temperature ceramics, where a newly developed 350 kW inductively coupled plasma wind tunnel was used to investigate zirconium carbide interactions with oxygen at temperature up to 2500 K. Zirconia oxide growth rates and stability, as well as implications to understanding the aerothermal of ultra-high temperature ceramic matrix composite leading edges are discussed.
Bio: Francesco Panerai is an assistant professor in aerospace engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to Illinois, he was a research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center in California. His research covers advanced materials for extreme environments, transport in porous media, and hypersonic aerothermodynamics. Francesco received his Ph.D. and Research Master in aeronautics and aerospace from von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (Belgium) and a M.Sc. and a B.Sc. in mechanical engineering from the University of Perugia (Italy). He is recipient of the 2019 Air Force Young Investigator Award and AIAA Associate Fellow.