Jet fuel is currently used as a heat sink for the engine oil system, but its cooling capacity is limited by a temperature constraint necessary to preclude the formation of coke deposits. Therefore, it is essential to develop a method to suppress or slough off coke formation that will permit extended utilization of the fuel for system cooling in advanced aircrafts for high Mach numbers. RMD proposes to address this challenge by demonstrating conformal frangible coatings applied with the technique of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). RMD will demonstrate self-peeling frangible coatings on fuel metal screens, which will keep the coke blockage from building up quickly. These ALD frangible coatings will be evaluated in a jet fuel test rig in Phase II at high temperature of 300F.
Benefit: Frangible ALD coatings can be applied to Fuel screens, nozzles, valves, and fuel lines within the fuel handling systems for the jet aircrafts. These coatings are not only useful for the large number of military aircrafts that are deployed in the Navy, Air Force, Army, Marines but also in the civilian aircraft market. The frangible coats will also be used in critical machinery within the oil and natural gas industry. In general, thin ALD coatings are widely applied in semiconductor industry for their unique electronic properties at nanoscale. Conformal ALD coatings are also applied as gas and moisture diffusion barrier coatings in various industries.
Keywords: Frangible Coatings, Frangible Coatings, Jet Fuel, Conformal coatings, Atomic layer deposition, Coking mitigation
