Thin, Flexible Oxidation-Resistant Coatings for 3D-Woven Carbon Fabric TPS Materials

The flexibility of deployable decelerators enables more efficient use of the launch vehicle payload shroud volume through smaller packed volume, reducing design constraints on entry vehicle structures and thermal protection systems (TPS). Mission applications for this technology cover a variety of classes and scales, ranging from sample return from planets and moons to payload recovery from low Earth orbit. Some mission applications use ADEPT (Adaptable Deployable Entry and Placement Technology), a state-of-the-art mechanically deployed hypersonic decelerator, to enable sample return and Earth aerocapture missions for a range of payload sizes and masses. ADEPT utilizes a three-dimensionally (3D) woven flexible carbon aeroshell combined with a rigid nose made of a phenolic ablative TPS material such as PICA. Currently, 3D-woven carbon fabric materials have been tested and integrated into small-scale hypersonic heat shields in ADEPT configurations. While demonstrating excellent survivability under heat fluxes as high as 250 W/cm2, 3D-woven carbon fabric materials lack sufficient oxidation resistance that would enable missions to Mars, Venus, and other solar system destinations. In this project, Ultramet will investigate the use of titanium carbide (TiC) as an oxidation-resistant coating material for ADEPT applications. The high temperature oxidation resistance of TiC combined with the flexibility of thin TiC films makes it an ideal material for use on carbon fiber TPS. Ultramet will leverage its expertise in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) to develop a process to infiltrate and deposit uniform TiC coatings on carbon fibers.