I am working on high school presentation about rocket engine materials and I'd like to have a part about Merlin 1D engine as it is supposed to be reusable, but I can't find anything about materials used for this kind of engine. Found a lot of data about single-use engines and solid rockets, but nothing about materials for reusable one. Could you please provide anything about materials used? I have literally nothing to take off from... Thanks in advance.
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4$\begingroup$ SpaceX publishes very little detail on their designs. You may have better luck using the Shuttle main engine (RS-25 or SSME) as an example, this was also designed to be reusable. $\endgroup$– HobbesNov 6, 2016 at 9:03
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The only information I have been able to find only gives what one part of the engine is made of. That is the merlin vacuum variant bell extension.
From wiki
Its combustion chamber is regeneratively cooled, while the 2.7 metres (9 ft)-long niobium alloy expansion nozzle is radiatively cooled.
Specifically, it uses niobium alloy c103 (89-90 Nb, 9-10 Hf, 1Ti), per http://www.alkane.com.au/images/pdf/asx/2017/20170516.pdf.
This backs up Hobbes comment that a lot of this information simply is not public.
answered Nov 7, 2016 at 18:35