Braided Ultra-High Temperature (UHT) Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMC) Scramjet Isolator Development

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) will demonstrate a method for the volume manufacture of resin impregnated carbon fabric (pre-preg) slit tape to manufacture ceramic matrix composites (CMC) using the pre-preg tape braiding (PTB) process.  Pre-preg is the essential raw material used to define composite component geometries and engineer structural performance.  PTB is a high rate manufacturing process that will enable production rate and affordability targets to be met for DoD systems that will rely on the extreme environment performance of CMC.  PSI and its partners will demonstrate that large (100 yd) batches of a baseline pre-preg system can be manufactured, successfully slit into tape and used to manufacture 1/2X scale scramjet propulsion components using PTB.  Components built during the program will be delivered to an Air Force facility for test under expected operational conditions.  Successful completion of the tests will demonstrate that the components built using PTB and the developed pre-preg systems are ready for mainstream manufacturing of CMC for DoD systems.