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Plenary Lecture
Unexpected High Temperature Chemical
Freezing during Slow Isochoric Cooling

Professor Radu D. Rugescu
University Politehnica Bucharest, Space Technology Division
R403-405, Splaiul Independentei 313 sector 6
Bucharest 060042
ROMANIA
Tel: +4021-411-2393, +40723-673-054
rugescu@aero.tamu.edu
Abstract: An observation is presented regarding the chemical freezing
during a slow calorimeter cooling, after the combustion of solid propellants
with excess fuel elements into a vacuum. The residual combustion gas within
the calorimeter, mainly consisting of CO2, CO, H2O, H2 and N2, although
cooled down to the room temperature, presents a chemical composition that
meets almost exactly the value encountered at a very high temperature,
namely around 1674±36ºK. It appears abnormal that, during the very slow
cooling which follows the isochoric combustion, when any chemical freezing
seems mostly improbable, such a freezing occurs however. With utmost
regularity, the gases refuse completely to follow the equilibrium below this
high 1700K limit. The fact is known at much lower temperatures for the
isobaric combustion with oxygen in excess, still there are doubts that it
had been previously observed for calorimeter products involving the entire
water-gas reaction. Numerical simulation of combustion and nozzle expansion
processes got a high accuracy level when this process was included in the
computational codes. Recent temperature measurements confirm with good
accuracy that this freezing temperature is well below the maximal combustion
temperature within the calorimeter, but still very high. Detailed
investigations are envisaged through the national grant proposal INTECH by a
consortium of professional research teams.
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