Low Cost Fabrication of Large Rocket Fairing

This Phase I SBIR program will demonstrate the feasibility of a novel, low-cost composite material and manufacturing process that will enable the affordable production of large rocket fairings with enhanced acoustic properties for current and plannedmilitary and commercial space launch missions. The primary Phase I goal is to measure and compare the physical, mechanical and processing performance of TYCORT composite sandwich panels made in Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) process to theproperties of current baseline Rohacell foam and aluminum honeycomb composite sandwich panels made in autoclave curing process. TYCOR is a novel, fiber-reinforced foam composite material that has shown significant promise in aerospace and other commercialapplications for providing strong, robust, lightweight and low-cost composite sandwich structures. The unique fiber architecture of TYCOR can be exploited to design composite fairings with innovative acoustic noise mitigation concepts. The combination ofTYCOR materials and VARTM process is considered to be an enabling technology for robust and affordable composite structures in numerous military and commercial applications. The proposed research and development work has significant commercializationpotential in aerospace, transportation, marine, industrial and construction applications.