Ablative Material for Missile Launchers

The Navy wants the capability of firing over twenty missiles with Mark 72 boosters compared to about a dozen today, which will require a different ablative material than what is currently used. A solution to this problem is needed to get ahead of the curve for the future fleet operations. There is an opportunity to develop new ablative materials for the Mark 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) with the same form, fit, and function of the current ablative material that extends the service life by decreasing the erosion rate. Texas Research Institute Austin, Inc., (TRI Austin) proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of a new ablative material that demonstrates similar material properties and half of the erosion rate of the current MXB-360 material. The materials will be tested with a solid rocket motor with aluminized propellant to evaluate relative erosion rates vs. material costs per pound. The thermal and physical properties of the new materials will be compared to MXB-360.