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Green rocket engines in space
For the past 10 years Swerim has helped the aerospace company ECAPS with analysing welded and soldered joints to further develop their rocket engines. This has contributed to extending the service of life of the engines and assuring quality.
ECAPS, which is a fully owned subsidiary of Svenska Rymdbolaget (SSC), develops rocket engines and propulsion systems for satellites. The company is world leading in the development of “green propulsion” and supplies rocket fuel, engines and complete propulsion systems to Google and NASA.
Analysing design strength
ECAPS has developed a new, more environmentally friendly technology for their rocket engines. Swerim has contributed by analysing joints between different materials with advanced microscopy to study design strength and to verify manufacturing processes.
“The analyses have led to significantly increasing the service life of the engines by replacing materials. This has been accomplished without any major design changes,” says Kjell Anflo, head of development at ECAPS and continues:
“Collaboration with Swerim is invaluable and we intend to further broaden our partnership.”
Swerim microscopy lab
Swerim’s microscopy lab is equipped with several advanced, high-resolution electron microscopes, with the capability to study materials all the way down to the atom level.
Analysing surface layers or studying fracture surfaces, cracks, pores and carbides (carbon compounds) are just some of the application areas. With various detectors connected to a microscope, a material’s chemical composition or which phase (atomic order) the material consists of can be analysed. This information is important for understanding and being able to improve the material’s properties.