Experimental Study on the Physical and Mechanical Properties of a Copper Alloy for Liquid Rocket Combustion Chamber Application

Mechanical and physical properties of a copper alloy for a liquid rocket engine(LRE) combustion chamber liner application were tested at various temperatures. All test specimens were heat treated with the condition they might experience during actual fabrication process of the LRE combustion chamber. Physical properties measured include thermal conductivity, specific heat and thermal expansion data. Uniaxial tension tests were preformed to get mechanical properties at several temperatures ranging from room temperature to 600$^{\circ}C$. The result demonstrated that yield stress and ultimate tensile stress of the copper alloy decreases considerably and strain hardening increases as the result of the heat treatment. Since the LRE combustion chamber operates at higher temperature over 400$^{\circ}C$, the copper alloy can exhibit time-dependent behavior. Strain rate, creep and stress relaxation tests were performed to check the time-dependent behavior of the copper alloy. Strain rate tests revealed that strain rate effect is negligible up to 400$^{\circ}C$ while stress-strain curve is changed at 500$^{\circ}C$ as the strain rate is changed. Creep tests were conducted at 250$^{\circ}C$ and 500$^{\circ}C$ and the secondary creep rate was found to be very small at both temperatures implying that creep effect is negligible for the combustion chamber liner because its operating time is quite short.

액체로켓 연소기용 구리합금의 열/기계적 특성에 관한 실험적 연구