Joseph Pluscauskis
Senior Research Engineer
Education
B.E., Mechanical Engineering, Villanova University, 1998
M.E., Mechanical Engineering, Villanova University, 1999
Graduate courses in Fiber Composite Structures and Conduction Heat Transfer (Villanova University and Fundamentals of Solid Propellant Rocket Motors (The University of Tennessee Space Institute)
Experience
Mr. Pluscauskis has nine years experience in composite materials, refractory metals, and ceramics research and development. At Materials Research & Design he is active in several programs related to modeling, design, and analysis of high temperature composites, heat shields, refractory metals, and ceramics for various aerospace applications. He specializes in high temperature non-eroding rocket nozzle design.
Mr. Pluscauskis had been an active member in the Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology (IHPRPT) Advanced Nozzles Materials team for over six years. He has gained extensive experience modeling solid propellant rocket motors and specifically the materials that are exposed to extreme thermal environments. The modeling effort typically includes temperature dependent material properties, plasticity, and contact. The analysis models are employed to compute transient temperatures, stresses and strains. In that time, we have designed non-eroding metallic throat inserts made with pure tungsten, tungsten-rhenium alloys, and tungsten-rhenium alloys doped with hafnium carbide. These materials proved to be very successful through static motor firings which have been predicted through analytical results. Some of the more severe metallic throat firings have survived 9.0–20.0 second burn times with aluminized propellants that lead to stagnation temperatures in the range of 5970–6200°F and stagnation pressures ranging from 1550–2400 psi where throat diameters range from 1.0–2.63 inches. These conditions push the throat insert temperatures to 5600–5820°F.
Mr. Pluscauskis is also an active team member of the IHPRPT Ceramic Boost Nozzle program. He has been involved in this program throughout its duration of two year. This program focuses on developing ultra-high temperature ceramic materials to survive in more severe thermal-structural and thermal-chemical rocket nozzle environments. To date he has designed the first four rocket nozzles that were successfully tested in the program. They all survived in a nine second burn time subjected to an aluminized propellant with a stagnation temperature and pressure of 6200°F and 800 psi, respectively. These motors employed a tantalum carbide throat material with an external rhenium or tantalum tungsten alloy metallic jacket. The fabrication processes included plasma spraying and hot isostatic processing (HIP).
Other related projects include the DTO/SPAP government working group team and a Plasma Processes, Inc. MDA Phase II SBIR. These programs also focus on the development of ultra-high temperature ceramic materials. We have had great success in both of these programs as well which has been demonstrated in static motor test firings.
Mr. Pluscauskis also serves as an adjunct instructor at Villanova University.