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Non-evaporable getters (NEG) are widely used in ultra high vacuum (UHV) systems for particle accelerators to assure distributed pumping speed. By heating the NEG to an activation temperature, the oxide layer on the surface dissolves into the material, leaving a clean (activated) surface. The activated NEG surface is capable of chemisorbing most of the residual gases present in a UHV system and will act as a vacuum pump. NEG can be sputter deposited on the inner wall of vacuum chambers, turning the whole wall from a source of gas into a pump. At the largest particle accelerator in the world, the Large Hadron Collider, more than 6 km of beam pipe has been NEG coated. In this work, a DC magnetron sputtering system dedicated for coating cylindrical vacuum chambers with NEG has been assembled, installed and commissioned. The system has been used to do NEG depositions on inner walls of vacuum chambers. The vacuum performance of the coating has been measured in terms of pumping speed, electron stimulated desorption and activation temperature. In addition, the thin film composition and morphology has been investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The work has resulted in an operational DC magnetron sputtering system, which can be used for further studies of NEG materials and compositions.

Increasing commercial and military aircraft operations in arid environments are increasing the likelihood of sand and dust ingestion. Turbine engines are particularly susceptible to the ingestion of sand and dust, which can erode cold-section components and deposit onto hot-section components. Ultimately, the erosion and deposits will shorten the operational lifespan of these engines and limit their availability thereby increasing maintenance costs and risking safety. Mitigating these risks has become more prevalent in recent years due to increasing combustion temperatures in effort to increase fuel efficiency. Increasing combustion temperatures directly increases deposit formation onto hot-section components. Monitoring deposit formation on existing turbine engine platforms and improving deposit resilience on new designs has been the industry focus for the last two decades. This study focused on statistically modeling the initial onset of microparticle deposits onto an analogous hot-section surface. Generally, as deposits accumulate onto a hot-section surface, the existing deposit formation is more likely to bond with incoming particulate at a faster rate than an exposed bare surface. Predicting the initial deposits onto a bare surface can determine the accelerated deposition rate depending on subsequent particulate impinging onto the surface. To emulate the initial deposits, a HASTELLOY® X test coupon was exposed to 20 μm to 40 μm samples of Arizona Road Test Dust (ARD) at varying loadings and aerosol densities. The Virginia Tech Aerothermal Rig was used for all test scenarios at flow-particle temperatures between 1000°C to 1100°C. Several statistical models were developed as a function of many independent variables, culminating with a final sticking probability (SP) model. Overall, the SP of individual ARD particulate is a primary function of flow-particle temperature and normal impact momentum. Tangential impact momentum of a particle will decrease the SP, while surface temperatures reaching isothermal conditions with the flow will increase SP. However, there are specific cases where lower surface temperatures and high particle temperatures result in a high SP. Particle size was a strong predictor of SP where particles between 10 μm to 19 μm were 5 to 10 times greater than the 19 μm to 40 μm range. Additional studies will be necessary to examine some additional parameters that become more prominent with smaller particle sizes. Ultimately, the intention of the models is to assist turbine engine designers to improve resilience to deposit formation on hot-section components. / PHD / Dust ingestion by propulsion turbine engines can have severe negative implications on the operational safety of an aircraft. Recently, increased air traffic, both military and commercial, in desert regions has caused many aircraft engine designers to improve the resilience to dust ingestion effects. One of the detrimental mechanisms is hot particle deposits in the combustion and exhaust sections. This dissertation evaluates deposit formation using carefully developed high temperature experiments. In general, deposit formation can negatively change flow characteristics inside the engine that can limit available power and safety margins. Likewise, deposits can reduce or stop cooling needed for hot-section parts inside a jet engine. Hot-section components need cooling since the main gas path operation temperatures of a jet engine typically exceed the melting points of common high temperature metals. During dust ingestion events, deposits will initially adhere to a hot metallic or ceramic surface inside the engine. Subsequent deposit accumulation will occur at a faster rate since incoming particles will more readily adhere to existing deposits than to a metallic or ceramic surface. The experimental work in this dissertation focused only on quantifying the initial individual particle deposits on a HASTELLOY®-X surface between 1000°C to 1100°C. Arizona Road Dust was the particulate selected for all testing. The dust has sizes ranging between 10 µm to 40 µm. The sticking probability or the likelihood a particle would deposit per an impact was less than 5% for all tests performed. Particles smaller than 19 µm had a sticking probability up to 5% while larger particles were generally less than 3%. Effectively, this implies that the initial deposits onto a hot engine surface are strongly dependent on the smallest particles. Propulsion turbine engine designers can utilize this information to develop mitigation methods against deposit formation of the smallest particles that are ingested. Ultimately, the research presented in this work is intended to improve operational safety of current and future aircraft.