Small Angle Scattering for the Characterization of Combustion Generated Particulate 

Characterization of combustion generated particulate is of interest for basic combustion studies as well as in fire safety applications.  The proposed four-year ground based study consists of two elements.  The first element is to design and develop rugged instrumentation to obtain small angle scattering signatures at two wavelengths from particulate in normal and microgravity environments.  The second element is to utilize these signatures to uniquely identify the size distribution, number density, refractive indices, and fractal dimension of these particulate.  These four physical parameters will enable the identification and characterization of particulate from laminar fires in basic microgravity combustion studies and incipient fires and false alarm sources in spacecraft fire safety applications.