Fast Pressure-Sensitive Paint on Adhesive Film for Improved Test Preparation Efficiency

A fast response pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) formula using platinum tetra (pentafluorophenyl) porphyrin (PtTFPP) on a flexible adhesive vinyl decal layer has been characterized for use in wind tunnel facilities at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. This PSP variant was intended to demonstrate the viability of using readily available premade low-cost materials to reduce the complexity, setup time requirements, and application difficulty of using PSP in wind tunnel test campaigns. The paint was characterized on the bench by static pressure and temperature sensitivity calibrations, and a Mach 1.5 shock tube was used to generate a strong impulse pressure change in order to gauge the frequency response. Lastly, the PSP-film was tested in a wind tunnel application on a hollow-cylinder flare model in a Mach 7 Ludwieg Tube. By using a correction method for mitigating the paint’s temperature sensitivity, the PSP yielded pressure measurements on the flare which were reasonably similar to a companion CFD simulation.