Monitoring jet fuel thermal stability using a quartz crystal microbalance

Thermal stability studies of aviation fuels are hindered by the inadequacy of current instrumentation in providing quantitative, in situ measurements of the rates of solid deposition on contacted surfaces. This paper reports the development of a test system that utilizes a quartz crystal microbalance to make in situ measurements of minute amounts of solids that deposit on the quartz crystal when a liquid fuel is thermally degraded. The quartz crystal microbalance jet fuel test system (QCM-JFTS) was developed in response to a need for quantitative information at temperature conditions representative of actual aviation fuel systems with which to develop mathematical models for predicting fuel thermal degradation and solids deposition