- Author
- Macek, A.
- Title
- Metal Oxidation in a Vacuum Tank. Final Technical Report. January 1, 1973-June 1, 1973.
- Coporate
- Atlantic Research Corp., Alexandria, VA
- Sponsor
- Advanced Research Projects AGency, Arlington, VA
- Report
- RADC-TR-73-291, July 1973, 26 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Contract
- F3062-72-C-0426
- Keywords
- metal oxides | oxidation | metal vapors | experiments | aluminum | chemiluminescence
- Identifiers
- metal releases; aluminum vapor
- Abstract
- This is the Final Report on the Contract No. F30602-72-C-0426, dealing with experimental metal vapor releases in the Atlantic Research Corporation high-altitude facility. The report first summarizes the contents of an earlier report on this contract, covering the period of May 1 through November 30, 1972, and then proceeds to a detailed description of the work done from December 1, 1972 to the end of the contract (April 30, 1973). All experiments described herein were done by a technique in which the metal is vaporized from an electrically heated container made of tantalum or tungsten. This technique has now been demonstrated to be efficient for quantitative metal-release studies. Eleven releases of aluminum into air have been made with metal-vapor flow rates of the order of 50 mg/sec at heater temperatures of 2400 ± 100 deg K, over the high-altitude chamber pressures from 13.6 to 0.2 Torr (35 to 60km altitude). Release durations were 5 to 8 sec. All these releases generated visible luminosity, ascribed to the 2B2X A10 band spectrum. An approximate analysis of the spectral intensities indicates formation of A10 in the ground vibrational state, probably by the rapid reaction A1 + O2-> A10 +0. Chemiluminescence caused by active species (O, O3) is not indicated.