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Advanced Control Surface Seal Development for Future Space VehiclesNASA's Glenn Research Center (GRC) has been developing advanced high temperature structural seals since the late 1980s and is currently developing seals for future space vehicles as part of the Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT) program. This includes control surface seals that seal the edges and hinge lines of movable flaps and elevons on future reentry vehicles. In these applications, the seals must operate at temperatures above 2000 F in an oxidizing environment, limit hot gas leakage to protect underlying structures, endure high temperature scrubbing against rough surfaces, and remain flexible and resilient enough to stay in contact with sealing surfaces for multiple heating and loading cycles. For this study, three seal designs were compared against the baseline spring tube seal through a series of compression tests at room temperature and 2000 F and flow tests at room temperature. In addition, canted coil springs were tested as preloaders behind the seals at room temperature to assess their potential for improving resiliency. Addition of these preloader elements resulted in significant increases in resiliency compared to seals by themselves and surpassed the performance of the baseline seal at room temperature. Flow tests demonstrated that the seal candidates with engineered cores had lower leakage rates than the baseline spring tube design. However, then the seals were placed on the preloader elements, the flow rates were higher as the seals were not compressed as much and therefore were not able to fill the groove as well. High temperature tests were also conducted to assess the compatability of seal fabrics against cermaic matrix composite (CMC) panels anticipated for use in next generation launch vehicles. These evaluations demonstrated potential bonding issues between the Nextel fabrics and CMC candidates.
Document ID
20040033993
Acquisition Source
Glenn Research Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
DeMange, Jeffrey J.
(Toledo Univ. OH, United States)
Dunlap, Patrick H.
(NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Steinetz, Bruce M.
(NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
November 3, 2003
Subject Category
Mechanical Engineering
Meeting Information
Meeting: 2003 NASA Seal/Secondary Air System Workshop
Location: Cleveland, OH
Country: United States
Start Date: November 5, 2003
End Date: November 6, 2003
Sponsors: NASA Glenn Research Center, Ohio Aerospace Inst.
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 22-794-40-4V
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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