10:20 AM to 12:00 PM Concurrent Sessions Tuesday, January 27, 2026
Materials for Nuclear Power and Propulsion
Session Chairs: Dr Alexander Morgan - UDRI and Dr Eric Jones - USAF AFRL and Dr Dulip Samaratunga - USAF (Invited)
10:40 AM - 11:00 AM
Characterization and Analysis Procedures for NonMetallic InCore Components Presenter: Dr John Podhiny - Materials Research & Design Inc Author: Mr Derek Caputo - Materials Research & Design
11:00 AM - 11:20 AM
High Emissivity CVD Dendritic Rhenium Coating for NEP Radiator Panels Presenter: Dr Jessica DeBerardinis - Ultramet Author: Mr Mohamed Cheikh - Ultramet
11:20 AM - 11:40 AM
NASA Nuclear Propulsion UHTCs for H2 Ablation Resistance Phase Equilibria in the ZrNNbC and ZrCNbTa Binary Systems Presenter: Dr Mark Opeka - Kratos SRE Authors: Dr Julia Cline - NASA LaRC, Dr Benjamin Kowalski - NASA GRC, Dr Elora Kurz - NASA LaRC, Dr Valerie Wiesner - NASA LaRC
11:40 AM - 12:00 PM
Ceramic Matrix Composite Manufacturing Maturation for Hypersonics and Nuclear Applications Presenter: Dr Christian Deck - General Atomics Authors: Mr Andrew Giles - General Atomics, Dr Sean Gonderman - General Atomics, Mr Rolf Haefelfinger - General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, Mr Jozsef Hepp - General Atomics, Mr Kristopher Humphreys - General Atomics, Mr Ivan Ivanov - General Atomics, Dr George Jacobsen - General Atomics, Dr Hesham Khalifa - General Atomics, Mr Grayson Lovelace - General Atomics, Mr Alden Moore - General Atomics, Ms Sarah Oswald - General Atomics, Mr Jack Ward - General Atomics
