Jet fuel oxidation on metal additively manufactured tubes

In the aviation industry, jet fuel is used as a coolant as well as a propellant. At elevated temperatures, the jet fuel experiences significant thermal stresses, which leads to the oxidation of hydrocarbons when exposed to the heat exchanger walls. Undesirable insoluble carbon deposits on the internal walls impede the performance of the heat exchanger and the aircraft fuel system, compromising aircraft safety and performance. Here, we study the jet fuel fouling behavior on additively manufactured tubes created using stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, and Inconel, during autoxidation at high temperatures. Experiments were conducted using a fuel-fouling open loop system based on the Jet Fuel Thermal Oxidation Test (JFTOT). Scanning electron microscopy and characterization of the internal surface of the tubes showed that the jet fuel reacts differently with different metals and alloys. Comparisons were made with their traditionally manufactured counterparts and benchmarked with the performance of bare copper tubes. We show that additively manufactured tubes were more prone to fuel fouling due to the larger inherent roughness associated with the additive manufacturing process. We show that applying a thin layer of commercially available Silcolloy 2000 coating onto the internal surface minimizes jet fuel degradation significantly. Our work helps to enable the application of additive manufacturing for aircraft thermal management component manufacture by alleviating concerns related to fuel blockage stemming from surface deposition.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Dipto, Mohammed Jubair

Contributors dc:contributor

• Miljkovic, Nenad

• Jet Fuel
• Additive Manufacturing
• Coating

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Mohammed Jubair Dipto

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124520

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F124520