If iron oxide is a good enough catalyst for an operational engine, wouldn't it be easy to ensure that there's enough steel in the chamber to supply enough oxide for a mission in a replaceable "pack"? Remember, mild steel is cheap... *and* easy to work, and IIRC less dense than any of the other metals mentioned. I'm thinking either a compressed pack of cheap window screen or to be more advanced maybe a "block" of steel with passages bored/cast through, like a honeycomb (which just for arguments sake, will increase in surface area as it wears...)
Mike Free ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pierce Nichols" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Sean R. Lynch" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "ERPS" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 12:54 AM Subject: Re: [ERPS] KISS III Propulsion System Test > At 09:34 PM 10/28/2002 -0800, Sean R. Lynch wrote: > > >For example, according to Dan's tests platinum only works well at high > >temperatures. I was hoping we could use something a little less > >expensive, though. Stainless steel maybe? :) Iron oxide is a catalyst. > > > Stainless steel doesn't form oxides unless seriously provoked -- > better to go with a mild or carbon steel of convenient properties. However, > it would be a sacrificial catalyst, as iron oxides are not tenacious and > will be carried away at some rate best determined through experiment. It > appears that most, if not all, transition metal oxides are at least > somewhat catalytic. All of the catalysts for peroxide that I have heard > tested or floated in any way are transition metals or their oxides. > Anecdotal evidences (such as the requirement for 'burning in' a silver > pack) indicates that it's the oxides that have the real catalytic action. I > think the proper approach to catalyst development is to read through the > tables and select those oxides that have otherwise convenient properties > and test their activity and resistance to poisoning. The actual working > catalyst should be a ceramic composed of the best catalysts found in the > search. > > -p > > > Mars or Bust! > www.marssociety.com > > _______________________________________________ > ERPS-list mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list _______________________________________________ ERPS-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
