Improving Through Thickness Thermal Conductivity of C/Ep Laminates(1001-372)

Despite weight reduction and insensitive munitions (IM) advantages, the poor through thickness thermal conductivity of carbon / epoxy laminates has limited their use in certain tactical missile applications where thermal management is a key requirement. Insertion of high thermal conductivity carbon pins into standard 2-D carbon / epoxy structural laminates has been shown to increase the through thickness thermal conductivity by 20X. Further refinement of the manufacturing techniques is expected to yield substantially greater through thickness thermal conductivity values. Increasing through thickness thermal conductivity of carbon / epoxy laminates will provide tactical missile designers with more options to use composites to reduce system weight, e.g., replace aluminum electronics housings with composites. The proposed Phase II program seeks to optimize manufacturing methods associated with the through thickness pin insertion process. Coupon level mechanical and thermal testing will be used to determine trades between mechanical and thermal properties. CAD modeling, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element analysis (FEA) will used to design and fabricate a full scale prototype tactical missile composite component with through thickness pins. Thermal rig testing of the prototype will validate the technology at TRL 5/6. A major tactical missile prime contractor is supporting the Phase II program.