High Chamber Pressure, Light Weight Thrusters

The performance liquid propellant engines can be significantly improved by increasing both combustion temperature and pressure and reducing engine weight. State of the art Bi-propellant engines are metallic; the highest temperature combustion chambers are made of iridium/rhenium metals. Utilizing carbon-carbon composites for thrust chamber structures can reduce component weight by as much as 90%. Unfortunately carbon composites suffer from unacceptably high oxidation rates. Lining carbon-carbon chambers with a thin layer of iridium or iridium/rhenium is an innovative way to provide the oxidation barrier necessary to enable the use of carbon-carbon composites. This proposal evaluates using metal-lined carbon-carbon to produce high pressure, light weight thrust chambers.