Spray Deposition of Aerogels as Thermal Barriers

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) and our collaborators (Southern Research Institute, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and two aerospace contractors) will design, develop, and experimentally evaluate the performance of a cost-effective spray process for applying aerogels as thermal barriers for aluminum and steel alloys used in hypersonic missiles and projectiles. The aerogel is part of a thermal protection system (TPS) that provides superior ability to insulate in addition to its physical robustness to survive 40 kG acceleration, heating rates of 1000°C/sec, and hypersonic aerodynamic conditions. In the Phase I program we will design and develop insulation structures that demonstrate the viability to meet design requirements that exceed the performance of current TPS designs. We will measure thermal and thermal-mechanical properties of proposed designs to demonstrate the feasibility of approach and justify continuation into the Phase II effort.