Studies of Jet Fuel Freezing by Differential Scanning Calorimetry and Cold-Stage Microscopy

Abstract

Aircraft which fly at high altitude or encounter extremely cold environments have the potential for fuel freezing and, consequently, catastrophic failure of the fuel system. Thus, it is important to study the freezing of hydrocarbon jet fuels. In the current work, a differential scanning calorimeter is used to study thermal characteristics and phase transitions of freezing jet fuel. In addition, a cold-stage microscope is used to record images of the resulting crystalline microstructure. A kinetic representation for the freezing of jet fuel is presented. Kinetic mechanisms that describe the liquid-to-solid phase transformation in fuels are necessary for the development of computational fluid dynamics models that can be used by aircraft designers.