Concentrated Solar Energy to Study High Temperature Materials for Space and Energy

Abstract

In this paper, the concentrated solar energy is used as a source of high temperatures to study the physical and chemical behaviors and intrinsic properties of refractory materials. The atmospheres surrounding the materials have to be simulated in experimental reactors to characterize the materials in real environments. Several application fields are concerned such as the aerospace and the energy fields: examples of results will be given for the heat shield of the Solar Probe Plus mission (NASA) for the SiC/SiC material that can be used as cladding materials for next nuclear reactor (gas-cooled fast reactor—GFR, Generation IV) and for new advanced materials for solar absorbers in concentration solar power (CSP) plant. Two different facilities—REHPTS and MEDIASE—implemented at the focus of two different solar furnaces of the PROMES-CNRS laboratory—5 kW and 1 MW—are presented together with some experimental results on the behavior of high temperature materials.