Development of Non-Parasitic Integrated Acreage TPS/Airframe Material

The U.S. Air Force is contemplating a long term investment in advanced thermal protection systems (TPS). The goal of this effort is to provide materials and processing solutions for TPS that can be employed in advanced space access vehicles. The goal of the proposed effort is to design acreage TPS in which the high temperature material not only protects the cooler internal structure from the high temperatures, but also serves as structural (load-bearing) material. This can be accomplished by integrating the TPS with the airframe itself. The innovation proposed here is to design a non-parasitic (load-bearing) TPS by inserting a hybrid structural truss core between the outer CMC shell and the inner OMC frame which will integrate the two components and allow them to act as a sandwich structure. Materials Research & Design (MR&D) is proposing a Phase I program involving analysis and design of the proposed concept, the manufacturing of a fabrication demonstration article, and testing to determine properties and load carrying capability of the key structural elements of the proposed non-parasitic integrated TPS/airframe material design.