Lightweight Non-Eroding Throat Assembly for Solid Rocket Motors

Solid rocket motors are used extensively in commercial, government, and military applications. The flame temperatures produced by these motors can exceed 3315¿C (6000¿F). Unfortunately, this temperature is well above the melting point of most materials, leaving only a select few from which solid rocket motor throats can be fabricated. In current throat designs, throat erosion is an accepted reality. In the proposed project, Ultramet will fabricate a non-eroding throat assembly by combining a tungsten inner wall with an innovative heat removal mechanism based on open-cell tungsten foam. The heat removal system will be entirely passive, and will be capable of restricting the tungsten inner wall temperature to a sufficiently low level to avoid erosion.