Lightweight, Low-cost Insulation Materials for Hypersonic Vehicles

Future hypersonic vehicles are being designed to travel at speeds approaching Mach 25. At these speeds, the temperature at the exterior surface is expected to exceed 3000°F. Advanced materials are needed to thermally protect the munitions in the interior of the vehicle as current materials are too dense, difficult to join, too conductive, non-structural, too expensive, or not rated for these temperatures. New insulating materials that build upon current efforts at GrafTech International, LLC to develop graphite foams and work at NASA Glenn Research Center to develop aerogels are proposed, in conjunction with nanomaterials from Applied Sciences, to meet the Air Force targets for density, service temperature, mechanical properties, thermal properties, and cost. The new insulating material will be designed to provide structural support to the aeroshell. Also proposed is an innovative joining technology based on in situ polymerization of wetting monomers, a recently developed low-cost process capable joining carbon based materials, to address thermal and structural issues at the insulation / aeroshell interface.