Lightweight, High Temperature, Insulating Composite Structures

The Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 2B missile defense system is confronted by needs for higher performance, including enhanced acceleration, extended flight duration, and greater aerothermal heating endurance, all of which lead to requirements for lighter weight and higher performance materials. Such materials would preferably also provide improved producibility and cost-effectiveness. Low-density composite materials and structures that would provide both improved thermal insulation and multifunctionality (i.e., insulation plus structural capability) would be highly desirable to address these objectives. In this project, Ultramet will demonstrate the feasibility of applying innovative composite materials and processing technology for the production of extremely low-density and thermally insulating carbon aerogel-filled carbon foam composite insulators as key components of the SM-3 Block 2B kill vehicle divert and attitude control system (DACS) to support program needs for lightweight and compact missile and propulsion structures. The project will build on composite insulating materials that have undergone fundamental development by Ultramet in previous work for the Air Force and NASA. Emphasis will be placed on defining specific MDA applications for the technology, assigning metrics to assess the capability of the technology with regard to MDA needs, demonstrating that the technology will meet those needs, and assuming success, inserting the technology into an MDA application. Success in the Phase I project would lead to a Phase II follow-on effort that would advance the technology to TRL 5+ in time to meet expected SM-3 Block 2B schedule requirements for technology insertion into the program.