ZrC-ARC

Zirconium Carbide Architected Refractory Coatings · January 2026– · Overview (PDF)

The rock-salt lattice of ZrC: zirconium (blue) and carbon (burgundy). Flickering sites are carbon vacancies, where hydrogen can become trapped.

My role

Co-Investigator · October 2026–

Leads the research and simulation side of the project: molecular-dynamics modeling in LAMMPS of grain morphology, thermal-expansion mismatch, and carbon vacancies in the ZrC lattice.
Principal Investigator · January–October 2026

Led the project from its founding: assembled the team across UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Irvine, and wrote the proposal that won the NASA L’SPACE seed grant in a national competition.

The problem

Hypersonic flight and advanced space propulsion are held back by the same materials challenge. In hydrogen-fueled scramjets, hot reactive hydrogen at 1500–2500 K continuously attacks combustion-chamber walls and nozzles, causing surface cracking, delamination, and structural degradation. The same failure modes halted NASA’s NERVA nuclear thermal propulsion program in the 1970s, where flow channels exposed to hydrogen at similar temperatures could not be protected by the coatings of the time. Decades later, the problem remains unsolved at a fundamental level.

Our approach

ZrC-ARC studies an often-overlooked aspect of coating structure: granular morphology. We ask how the size, shape, and alignment of individual grains affect the thermomechanical properties of refractory barriers, targeting the two mechanisms behind delamination:

Thermal-expansion mismatch between coating and substrate, which drives cracking under thermal cycling.
Carbon vacancies, missing carbon atoms in the ZrC lattice that trap hydrogen and accelerate degradation.

Stage I

Simulation

Molecular dynamics in LAMMPS and continuum modeling in COMSOL Multiphysics.

Stage II

Prototyping & testing

Thermal cycling to 1900 K; SEM/XRD characterization at the UC Irvine Materials Research Institute, with a machine-learning pipeline for microstructural image analysis.

Recognition

A $10,000 seed grant from the NASA L’SPACE Program (Spring 2026), awarded in a national proposal-writing competition against university teams across the country.

Team

Students at UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Irvine in materials science, engineering, computer science, and mathematics, advised by Prof. Daniel R. Mumm (UC Irvine), whose expertise spans thermal spray coatings, hot corrosion, and microstructural effects on durability. Principal investigator: Preston Hariadi. Project manager: Elbert Chang.

Get involved

We are looking for access to deposition equipment (CVD), thermal-cycling furnaces, and SEM/XRD/EDS imaging; faculty with expertise in refractory ceramics, hypersonics, or nuclear thermal propulsion; additional funding; and industry partners in aerospace materials. Reach me at paytonsuh@ucla.edu.