High-temperature Strain Sensor and Mounting Development

This report describes Government Work Package Task 29 (GWP29), whose purpose was to develop advanced strain gage technology in support of the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) Program. The focus was on advanced resistance strain gages with a temperature range from room temperature to 2000 F (1095 C) and on methods for reliably attaching these gages to the various materials anticipated for use in the NASP program. Because the NASP program required first-cycle data, the installed gages were not prestabilized or heat treated on the test coupons before first-cycle data were recorded. NASA Lewis Research Center, the lead center for GWP29, continued its development of the palladium-chromium gage; NASA Langley Research Center investigated a new concept gage using Kanthal A1; and the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center chose the well-known BCL-3 iron-chromium-aluminum gage. Each center then tested all three gages. The parameters investigated were apparent strain, drift strain, and gage factor as a function of temperature, plus gage size and survival rate over the test period. Although a significant effort was made to minimize the differences in test equipment between the three test sites (e.g., the same hardware and software were used for final data processing), the center employed different data acquisition systems and furnace configurations so that some inherent differences may be evident in the final results.