NASA successfully hot-fire tested a 3D-printed combustion chamber for a rocket engine. The successful test is the latest in a series of advancements in 3D-printed rocket technology from both private companies and public research groups.

The engine project is the work of three NASA centers across the country: Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio; Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia; and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

In 2015, material scientists at Glenn developed a powdered copper alloy that engineers at Marshall used to 3D-print the space agency's first full-scale copper rocket engine part, a lining for the combustion chamber. Now, a new manufacturing project created a chamber jacket for that lining. Chamber jackets are used to help protect parts of the engine from the immense pressure generated in the engine's combustion chamber.

While copper is good for conductivity, as far as metals go it's not all that strong. So NASA has covered the part in a nickel-alloy jacket that provides a sturdy structure to withstand the stress from pressure. It's taken a couple of years to get to this point, but the 3D-printing manufacturing can now eliminate hands-on engineering processes like brazing metal joints. As a result, the jacket can be made in hours as opposed to days or weeks.

Both the lining and the jacket were placed in a test stand, and the engine was fired to simulate launch conditions. The hot fire tan for 25 seconds at 100 percent power for the engine. Both parts passed with flying colors.

"Testing the chamber in flight-like conditions helps us continue to prove these revolutionary technologies," Chris Protz, engineering and design lead for the propulsion project, said in a press release. "We are proud of the way the chamber performed during this test and the capabilities here at Marshall that allow us to continue paving the way for advancements in additive manufacturing."



NASA has been researching 3D-printed rocket engines for years now, and this test continues a long line of work. Rocket Lab, for example, 3D prints its rocket engines, and Relativity Space wants to 3D print 95 percent of their entire rocket. 3D printing with metal powders is just beginning to reveal its full potential.

Source: NASA

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