Experimental and Numerical Study
on Temperature Distribution of Infrared
Heater Used for Curing Solid Propellant
Slurries
K. Tesfaye, M. Silambarasan, L. M. Manova, E. Balasubramanian,
and A. S. Praveen
Abstract The combustion rate of solid propellants is strongly influenced by its
shape and geometry. The use of conventional casting and forming methods to produce
complex-shaped solid propellants is tedious and requires skilled manpower intervention, which greatly increases the production time and costs. Now a day, the application
of the additives manufacturing process simplifies the production of complex-shaped
parts from the slurries composition, but the curing process of the parts is still carried
out by placing the printed slurry in the furnace with uniform heating for a long
time. To shorten the extended curing time, layer by layer curing scheme with curved
ceramic infrared heater (FTE serious) was implemented in this study. The capability
of the heater to produce uniform temperature distribution over the printed part was
measured with thermal camera (i.e., FLIR duo r). Moreover, ANSYS Fluent software was used to develop a numerical model based on the control volume method
and to simulate the temperature distribution of the part. The simulation results and
the thermal imaging measurement value showed good agreement.
Keywords Ceramic infrared heater · Curing · Surface temperature measurement ·
Control volume method · Additive manufacturing
K. Tesfaye · E. Balasubramanian (B) · A. S. Praveen
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D
Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600062, India
e-mail: balasubramaniane@veltech.edu.in
M. Silambarasan · L. M. Manova
Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D
Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600062, India
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
N. Gascoin and E. Balasubramanian (eds.), Innovative Design, Analysis
and Development Practices in Aerospace and Automotive Engineering, Lecture Notes
in Mechanical Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6619-6_8
73
on Temperature Distribution of Infrared
Heater Used for Curing Solid Propellant
Slurries
K. Tesfaye, M. Silambarasan, L. M. Manova, E. Balasubramanian,
and A. S. Praveen
Abstract The combustion rate of solid propellants is strongly influenced by its
shape and geometry. The use of conventional casting and forming methods to produce
complex-shaped solid propellants is tedious and requires skilled manpower intervention, which greatly increases the production time and costs. Now a day, the application
of the additives manufacturing process simplifies the production of complex-shaped
parts from the slurries composition, but the curing process of the parts is still carried
out by placing the printed slurry in the furnace with uniform heating for a long
time. To shorten the extended curing time, layer by layer curing scheme with curved
ceramic infrared heater (FTE serious) was implemented in this study. The capability
of the heater to produce uniform temperature distribution over the printed part was
measured with thermal camera (i.e., FLIR duo r). Moreover, ANSYS Fluent software was used to develop a numerical model based on the control volume method
and to simulate the temperature distribution of the part. The simulation results and
the thermal imaging measurement value showed good agreement.
Keywords Ceramic infrared heater · Curing · Surface temperature measurement ·
Control volume method · Additive manufacturing
K. Tesfaye · E. Balasubramanian (B) · A. S. Praveen
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D
Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600062, India
e-mail: balasubramaniane@veltech.edu.in
M. Silambarasan · L. M. Manova
Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D
Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600062, India
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
N. Gascoin and E. Balasubramanian (eds.), Innovative Design, Analysis
and Development Practices in Aerospace and Automotive Engineering, Lecture Notes
in Mechanical Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6619-6_8
73