Welcome to the Solid Propulsion and Combustion Lab at CSULB!
We focus on understanding the physics and chemistry of ignition, combustion, and decomposition of energetic materials, solid propellants, and other fuels/oxidizers. Traditional and novel experimental techniques (e.g. synchrotron-based phase-contrast imaging as shown in the video above) are used to probe both gas-phase and condensed-phase reactions. These measurements, inconjunction with complementary modelling efforts, provide insight into how to improve performance or improve safety of combustion applications.
Recent News
November 14, 2019: David was awarded the AIAA Diversity Scholarship! Congrats, David! Read more here.
October 22, 2019: Our research was featured in the CSULB Quest Magazine! Check it out here.
October 14, 2019: Zoey presented her work at the Fall Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute. Way to go!
September 28, 2019: Robby's paper, "Synchrotron Based Measurement of the Temperature Dependent Thermal Expansion Coefficient of Ammonium Perchlorate," has been accepted for publication in Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics!
August 5, 2019: AFRL has funded our project developing a fluorescence technique to study propellant damage for $50k!
May 29, 2019: Our paper, "Single Particle Combustion of Pre-Stressed Aluminum," in collaboration with TTU and NAWCWD was published in the journal Materials.
May 20, 2019: Congrats and good luck to our graduating seniors!
May 15, 2019: Robby was awarded the "Outstanding BSAE Graduate." Way to go!
May 10, 2019: Congrats to Robby, Kade, Logan, and Andrew for presenting their honors thesis!
March 29, 2019: The Office of Naval Research funded our proposal to establish a solid propulsion mixing and characterization lab at CSULB for $398,400!
March 26, 2019: Robby presented his Honors thesis work at the U.S. National Meeting of the Combustion Institute.
March 13, 2019: Dr. Kalman's paper with Dr. Pantoya's group at Texas Tech, "A Strategy for Increasing the Energy Release Rate of Aluminum by Replacing the Alumina Passivation Shell with Aluminum Iodate Hexahydrate (AIH)," was accepted for publication in Combustion and Flame!
Jan. 28, 2019: Diego's poster, "Predicting Solid Propellant Performance Based on Formulation," was accepted to NCUR 2019! Congrats, Diego!
Jan. 18, 2019: Dr. Kalman's paper, "Ray Tracing Calculations in Simulated Propellant Flames with Detailed Chemistry," was accepted for publication in Applied Optics.
Dec. 9, 2018: Dr. Kalman's work was featured in AIAA's 2018 Year in Review. Check it out here.
Nov. 19,2018: David was accepted into the McNair Scholars Program! Congrats, David!