Castable Inorganic Composite Potting Material for High-Temperature Electromagnets

This Phase II sequential (P2S) proposal is being submitted upon invitation by NASA after the successful completion of HiFunda’s Phase II SBIR project. The Phase II project was responsive to NASA’s request for proposals to address improved materials or fabrication processes to meet the demanding requirements for high-temperature electromagnet (HTEM) coils in higher-power nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) using Hall-effect thrusters (HET) systems and reduce the total life cycle cost of electric propulsion thrusters. Insulation and potting degradation in HET systems during thruster operations can lead to early thruster failures that have occurred with existing processes for manufacturing and potting magnetic wire. HiFunda will refine and improve its new filament winding in situ potting (FWISP) process for fabricating HTEM coils that utilizes a castable inorganic composite potting material (CICPM) coupled with a multistage thermal curing process. The proposed FWISP process brings considerable flexibility to the design and automation and repeatability to the fabrication of HTEM coils for HETs and will extend the temperature limits of conventional polymeric and/or ceramic potting materials thereby minimizing or eliminating instances of potting and insulation failures. The P2S project will initially develop and qualify small HTEM coils for the current sub-1 kW HET satellite market. HiFunda plans to become a custom HTEM coil provider through the P2S program and develop the ability to fabricate and qualify custom high-quality HTEM coils initially for its strategic partners: Northrop Grumman Corporation, Phase Four, and other potential customers identified through the P2S project. Then the FWISP process technology will be scaled up to create 50 kW HTEM coils. The design principles, manufacturing processes, and key requirements remain largely consistent when scaling from 0.5 kW to 50 kW coils, allowing for a smooth transition to high-power NEP-HET applications.