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<TITLE>Seminar Announcement * March 26, 2010 * Evgeny Shafirovich * Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at El Paso</TITLE>
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***** Seminar *****<BR>
Center for Integrated Bio and Nano Systems<BR>
Houston Chapter of IEEE Nanotechnology Council and Houston Chapter of IEEE Magnetics Society<BR>
Friday, March 26, 2010<BR>
12:30 p.m. (Refreshments served at noon)<BR>
Room: W122 Building D3<BR>
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Electrodynamic levitation, laser ignition and microgravity in the experiments on combustion of single metal particles<BR>
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Evgeny Shafirovich<BR>
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Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at El Paso<BR>
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Electrodynamic balance (EDB) allows suspension (levitation) of a charged solid particle for studying its properties for applications to solid rocket propellants, explosives, and pyrotechnics. EDB has been used primarily in the aerosol science. We utilized EDB for the studies on combustion of single metal particles. In the developed facilities, the levitated particles are ignited by irradiation of a CO2 laser, while the combustion process is investigated using high-speed video and photomultipliers. The combustion characteristics of Al, Mg, Ti, and Ni-coated Al particles were studied by this technique. The levitation facilities allow experimentation with particles within the size range from 15 µm to 150 µm, which is typical for many applications. To investigate in more detail the mechanisms of ignition and combustion, experiments with larger (size 2-3 mm) particles are conducted, where various diagnostics (e.g., thermocouple measurements and XRD-SEM-EDX analyses) can be used. Natural convection effects, however, are significant for such large particles. To eliminate these effects, we have developed facilities for experiments onboard reduced gravity aircraft. The experiments on combustion of Mg particles in CO2 were conducted onboard A300 Zero-G aircraft in Bordeaux, while the experiments on laser ignition of Ni-coated and Fe-coated Al particles in CO2 and Ar atmospheres were conducted onboard NASA's C9-B aircraft in Houston.<BR>
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Bio of Prof. Shafirovich:<BR>
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Dr. Evgeny Shafirovich is a Research Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso. He received his PhD in Chemical Physics from the Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences. He holds a MS in Mechanical Engineering from the Moscow Aviation Institute. Prior to joining the University of Texas at El Paso in 2008, he worked at the Russian Academy of Sciences (Chernogolovka), University of Notre Dame, CNRS (Orléans, France), and Purdue University. His research interests include combustion of metals, clean coal technologies, hydrogen and oxygen generation, thermochemical cycles for production of hydrogen and synthetic fuels, and Mars/planetary in situ resource utilization.<BR>
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Contact Prof. Martirosyan (kmartirossian@uh.edu) if you would like to arrange for a time to meet with Prof. Shafirovich.<BR>
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