The Affordable Production of Hypersonic Missile Ogives Using Innovative Processing Techniques

Creare proposes to develop a super-hard, optical quality tangent ogive from polycrystalline alumina (PCA) using innovative sintering techniques and a novel laser-assisted, ultra-precision machining system. Contrary to sapphire blanks, which are costly to grow, PCA near-net shape parts are made using an affordable powder-based process; however, no affordable manufacturing techniques are currently available to produce the large-scale PCA near-net shape blanks or to shape and polish them into a tangent ogive. Proprietary sintering processes to produce large-scale PCA near-net shape blanks will be combined with a novel processing technique to enable the affordable production of an optical quality ogive. Our novel processing technique is based on a unique, laser-assisted, ultra-precision machining system that enables the production of complex shapes quickly and affordably with significantly higher material removal rates (MRRs) than state-of-the-art processing and polishing techniques. Our novel processing technique relaxes the dimensional tolerances of the sintered part and, thereby, dramatically reduces the overall cost of the production process. In addition, our unique processing technique can produce optical quality surfaces on the interior and exterior of the ogive, which is not possible with current optical polishing processes. Thus, our innovation is effective, affordable, and flexible.