Indigenously designed and fabricated free piston driven shock tube (FPST) was used to generate strong shock heated test gases for the study of aero-thermodynamic reactions on ceramic materials. The reflected shock wave at the end of the shock tube generates high pressure and temperature test gas (Argon, Ar) for short duration. Interaction of materials with shock heated Ar gas leads to formation of a new solid or stabilization of a material in new crystallographic phase. In this shock tube, the generated shock waves was utilized to heat Ar to a very high temperature (11760 K) at about 40-55 bar for 2-4 ms. We confirmed the phase transformation and electronic structure of the material after exposure to shock by XRD and XPS studies. This high enthalpy gas generated in the shock-tube was utilized to synthesize cubic perovskite CeCrO3from fluorite Ce0.5Cr0.5O2+δoxide. We were able to demonstrate that this ceramic materials undergoes phase transformations with the interaction of high enthalpy gas under shock dynamic loading.
Effects of Shock-Tube Cleanliness on Hypersonic Boundary Layer Transition at High Enthalpy