Objectives:
+ Identify conditions for the thermite welding suitable for joining small parts

+ Vary Composition, mixture density, and scale of mixing between components

Conclusion:
None of the tests yielded the desired results. The thermite reaction was either too quick or too slow. The thermites were not dense enough and therefore future work should press them into a denser form, such as pellets. The pellets should then be ignited with laser to ensure a sufficient amount of heat is present for ignition.

The purpose of this project is to test a dielectric filter that will be able to segregate particles in "dirty" lube oil subject to high gradient strong electric fields.

The main problem is short circuiting. When cutting the very fine mesh, the extra “hairs” of the wires come in contact with the rest of the mesh which, causes the short circuit.

The tape that was used to prevent short circuiting will be changed from the yellow tape to a brass “tape” (no adhesive). By changing the “tape” we will be using all inorganic material for the filter so that there won’t be additional counts of particles.

The design is not filtering at the desired rate. To fix this, the filter will be enlarged so as to be able to filter more oil.

The design is also not filtering the smaller particles. However, if a larger filter is made, there will be more mesh for the oil to go through and thus smaller particles should be captured as well as the larger ones.

The making of the fifth filter is still in progress. The fifth filter will be tested with the brass “tape” to prevent contamination due to the adhesive. It will also be larger than the other filters that have been made thus far.

The purpose of the ongoing research is to study theoretically and experimentally the micro- and nano-scale behavior of suspensions and generate new experimental data on the electric field-driven particle transport and segregation phenomena in a flowing suspension with applications to electro-hydrodynamic micro-fluidic devices, actuators, separators, and bio-reactors.

New solid propellant additives are being developed and tested. These materials are nanocomposite metallic powders. The components are capable of a high-temperature exothermic reaction. Because of the nano-scale mixing between the components, the reactive surface is increased and respectively, much higher reaction rates are achieved as compared to conventional metal-based energetic materials.  The research at NJIT deals with synthesis, characterization, and combustion testing of these new materials. A number of materials characterization techniques, such as electron microscopy, scanning calorimetry, optical spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, and others are employed. Combustion testing includes experiments on laser ignition, aerosol flame propagation, and other techniques.

This research is aimed to develop and test new, metal- based fuel additives for solid propellants. Metals and metalloids, such as Al, Li, B, and others have very high combustion enthalpy. Adding powders of such metals in solid propellant formulations allows increasing the efficiency of the propulsion system and increasing the spacecraft payloads. However, in practical systems, the rate of combustion of metal additives is relatively low resulting in the incomplete reaction within the combustion chamber and, therefore, only partial release of the combustion energy. Thus, the goal of this research is to develop novel metal-based materials with the high combustion enthalpy and accelerated reaction rate.

New materials are synthesized at NJIT using mechanical alloying and arrested reactive milling. The produced materials are powders of metastable solid solutions, alloys, and three-dimensional nano-composites. Materials are characterized using x-ray diffraction, electron microscopy and other advanced materials characterization techniques. Laboratory scale ignition and combustion tests are also being developed and carried out to assess the performance and reaction mechanisms of the new materials. Some of the recent results have been published in the references given below.

Our study shall constitute a theoretical framework for electro-hydrodynamics: field- and flow-induced transitions, suspension flow, particle motions, interparticle electric and hydrodynamic interactions, etc. The goal of the proposed research program is:

1) To test/develop/generalize the currently available theories of constitutive relations for the electric energy and stress in dispersive and dissipative multi-component systems.
2) To develop a theory for the dynamics of field induced phase transitions in concentrated flowing suspensions, including the collective phenomena of particle motions and segregation, shear-induced diffusion, diffusion-convection, and phase separation.
3) To develop a theory of the electro-hydrodynamics of suspensions which includes the coupled effects of the electrorheological response, dielectrophoresis, and shear-induced diffusion and re-suspension of concentrated suspensions under normal and low-gravity conditions, applicable to a broad range of particle polarizability which involves high particle/fluid density ratios.
4) To perform rigorous experimental tests of the theoretical predictions in ground-based experiments involving slow-rotating electric chambers in which the time averaged gravity force acting on a flowing suspension is zero in the rotating framework.
5) To perform rigorous tests of the theoretical predictions in KC-135 and in long-duration micro-gravity space experiments having true instantaneous near-zero gravity forces in order to investigate the field- driven phase-transition in a gravity-free environment and better estimate the effects of gravity-induced flows in ground-based experiments.
6) To generate new experimental data on the field-induced particle motions, segregation, and phase transitions in a flowing suspension with application to electro-hydrodynamic micro-fluidic devices, actuators, separators, and bio-reactors.

Quickly evaporating spray jets are used mostly for efficient engine design and rapid quenching. The injection of the fuel into the combustion chamber of the engine is in the form of a liquid spray. Here the fuel evaporates in the gaseous environment. The fuel is evaporated into the fumes before combustion. This evaporation is mostly dominated by the entrainment capability of the jet. So entrainment characteristics of a two-phase jet are important for a complete and efficient combustion of the fuel.
This research will elaborate the entrainment characteristic of high speed jets both single phase and two-phase. Nitrogen will be used as the jet medium and the entrainment characteristic of the gas phase as well as the liquid phase will be investigated. Flow visualization (enhanced laser-sheet), velocity measurements (Laser Doppler Velocimetry System) and concentration measurements (Oxigraf's Oxygen Concentration Measurement System) are the advanced measurement techniques that will be used in this research. The initial preparation of the experimental system is already completed.