Damage-Tolerant Integration of Dissimilar Materials Using Microcrack-Resistant Isolating Adhesive

Future space exploration projects will expose system components (such as cryogenic systems) to extreme conditions and to a higher number of pressure and temperature cycles, due to long missions and reusable launch vehicle (RLV) designs. High performance materials, such as low-density ceramics, foams, aerogels, composites, metals, and multi-layer insulations (MLI) will be increasingly used. These materials, however, often have poor mechanical strength and damage-tolerance, and are also difficult to bond to each other, due to the extreme operating temperature and pressure cycles and the mismatch between their thermal (expansion) and mechanical properties. The combination of these drawbacks resulted in the catastrophic detachment of foam insulation from the external tank (ET) in Shuttle Columbia, mission STS-107. There is a need for damage-tolerant, "forgiving" and multifunctional adhesive technologies for integrating dissimilar materials (such as cryogenic pressurized vessels to insulations), and ensuring reliable, integrated lightweight system designs. To address this need, Applied Analytic Research Inc. has designed innovative cost-effective Isolating Adhesives that are multifunctional, Bond, isolate and protect dissmilar adherends in the same time.