High Temperature Survivability Coating Materials with Innovative Application Processes

As military aircraft and weapon systems achieve higher speeds and maneuverability, higher skin temperatures are seen on the outer surfaces, such as engine exhausts, motor combustion sections, inlet ducts, wing and fins and nose tips control fins and inlet ducts. Current materials are good as far as they go, but much above 500F, they begin to break down due to aerothermal heating, generated by supersonic airflows. Further, elastomeric sheets require an adhesive layer to fix the sheet to the airframe substrate materials. There is a need to develop a novel material and application that can be either co-cured or sprayed onto the airframe. Further, by using elevated cure, higher temperature coatings and fillers can be examined. Space Micro has investigated high temperature coatings on previous but unrelated work that can be adapted for this opportunity. We have the following approaches that can be evaluated for this work. 1. High temperature coating that is sprayable, cures at 200F, withstands temperatures above 1200F as well as supersonic environments. Further, this coating can be adjusted to high or low modulus to adapt to the substrate material and can be filled with thermally conducting fillers for EMI/RF support or thermally insulating fillers to provide protection to sensitive components on the aircraft. 2. High temperature coating that is either sprayable or can be fabricated into a co-curable sheet of material. This product can be filled with inorganic particles or additives to provide thermal insulation, EMI/RF performance and enhanced thermal performance.