Ultra High Temperature Composite SDACs Components

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) has developed ultra-high temperature composites that demonstrate minimal erosion at temperatures above 4200 deg F during impingement by highly oxidizing gases, indicating they are promising candidates for advanced rocket components. During the Phase I program, PSI demonstrated the ability to fabricate these composites into the complex shape components that are used in Solid Divert and Attitude Control Systems (SDACS). The low cost of the commercially available constituent materials, and the simplicity of the processing methods, should enable cost-effective production of SDACS for high performance missiles. This Phase II SBIR will further develop and demonstrate the PSI composites into structures that are one to one replacements for current SM-3 TDACS components, yet enable significant increases in performance. We will demonstrate that the PSI enhanced composites: 1) Exceed strengths of 30 KSI, 2) Retain strengths to temperatures of at least 4,000 deg F, and 3) Erode at less than 0.0001”/sec during hot fire ground testing. We will design, fabricate, and ground test prototype components, continuing to work closely with the system integrators to ensure that successful prototype testing will transition into a successful Phase III program so that these composites will be inserted into specific MDA programs in the fastest possible time frame.