AAE Associate Professor Li Qiao along with PhD candidates Sayan Biswas and Shourya Jain recently received an honorable mention in the 2016 Combustion Art Competition. The artwork, titled “Mesmerizing Micro-World of a Monopropellant Matrix (4M),” was chosen from among 40 submissions from national labs, space propulsion agencies, university research labs, automotive, and gas turbine industries. 

Biswas says it came out of current research that focuses on new concept of using a highly conductive thermal base such as carbon-based nano and micro structures to enhance ame propagation speed or burning rate of propellants and fuels. He says this could lead to improved performance of solid and liquid rocket motors, as well as of the alternative energy conversion.

“The world of combustion is truly fascinating,” says Biswas. “A strong visual image of our combustion research could create a good first impact that leads to further attention and curiosity from the combustion community.”

It will be used by the Combustion Institute on its website and in brochures for the next two years. The Combustion Art Competition was initiated in 2004 at the International Combustion Symposium in Chicago. The 2016 Combustion Art Competition was held at the Spring Technical Meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Pictured top right is the winning entry, “Mesmerizing Micro-World of a Monopropellant Matrix (4M),” from AAE Associate Professor Li Qiao (bottom left) and PhD candidates Sayan Biswas (bottom center) and Shourya Jain (bottom right). The image is made of several Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images, and shows three phases of the graphite foam matrix: 1) Before adding nitrocellulose monopropellant (inner rectangle), 2) After adding monopropellant (intermediate rectangle), and 3) After monopropellant burns out (outer rectangle).