Novel, Functionally Graded PIP Coating System for Hot Structures

NASA future missions place stringent requirements on high temperature and light-weight materials.This proposal addresses some of the most challenging materials issues with respect to Hot Structures, very high temperature, up to 4500 degrees F, applications.The very successfulNASA led X-43A hypersonic flight proved the ability to use state of the art (SOTA) 2D C-C with oxidation coating system. However, current material systems can only offer limited temperature capability (<3000 °F) and mostly for single use application. In Phase I, two innovative technologies, undercoat and FGM multi-layercoats, were developed and screened. They were further integrated into two SOTA C-C composites. Oxidation protected C-C samples were torch tested at 3500 F/ 30 minutes, at 4200 F/ 2 minutes up to 10 cycles, and at 3000 F/cool/ 4000 F cycles showing very promising results. The combined effects of the undercoat and FGM spray coats provide repeatable performance by creating a glass forming, conforming and adherent external coating to protect the C-C from being oxidized.The overall objective of the proposed P-II is to further develop and optimize a robust, tailorable, and affordable oxidation protection system for C-C TPS and C-C hot structure by integrating ourundercoat and FGMmulti-layer spray coat technologies into at least twogrades C-C composites (T300and P30 2D C-C) meeting higher temperature performance up to 4500 Fand multi-use applications.Work plan includes 12 tasks over 24 month grouped into 5 categories.Once further optimized and validated under Phase II, these technologies can easily be integrated into SOTA C-C using current manufacturing facilities. The resulting oxidation protected C-C could be tailorable, affordable, and easily scaled up for large components or structure required in future NASA, DoD and commercial space applications.