Advanced Materials & Processing Methods for DACS Nozzle

Rocket motor performance is limited by the available materials of construction. Exotic metals, such as rhenium, have been used to fabricate valve bodies, nozzles and other hot-gas components, but rhenium is heavy, costly and difficult to work.Fiber-reinforced ceramics are lightweight materials that offer excellent thermodynamic stability as well as superior wear and erosion resistance. Unfortunately, inefficient processing methods, the difficulty inherent to joining FRCs to metals, and a lackof adequate inspection methods have hampered their utilization in missile defense systems. Thor Technologies, Inc. will team with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), an NDE firm and a rocket propulsion company to address the major issues blocking theutilization of FRC composites. Thor Technologies will validate an innovative process that produces novel FRC composites suitable for use in divert and attitude control systems (DACS). Thor Technologies will produce the FRC composites in both flat panelsand braided tubes, and their physical and mechanical properties will be examined. Prototype FRC components will be produced, and inspection techniques will be identified. Thor Technologies and the project team are uniquely well qualified to produce andcharacterize these novel materials, which will have a positive near-term impact on missile defense systems. FRC technology has the potential to be applied to a wide range of military and civilian applications, ranging from energy generation and chemicalrefinement to transportation and waste incineration-if the cost to produce FRC components can be brought down.