JOINING OF THERMALLY MIS-MATCHED COMPONENTS FOR HIGH VELOCITY MISSILES

THERMAL MIS-MATCH BETWEEN CERAMIC COMPONENTS AND SUPERALLOYS PRIMARY STRUCTURE IN FLEET DEFENSE MACH 4 TO 8 TACTICAL MISSILES IS A CRITICAL DESIGN PROBLEM. TAILORING THE THERMAL EXPANSION OF A STRUCTURE INTERFACING BETWEEN THE CERAMIC AND SUPERALLOY IS THEORETICALLY POSSIBLE USING MMC. DURING THE LAST TWO YEARS TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED BY THE NAVY HAS PRESENTED A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACT THE THERMAL MIS-MATCH PROBLEM USING AN INTERFACE MMC STRUCTURE WITH A GRADED C.T.E. HOWEVER, THE MMC INTERFACE STRUCTURE MUST ALSO HAVE SUFFICIENT STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY AND STIFFNESS TO SUSTAIN THE STRUCTURAL DESIGN REQUIREMENTS AND MAINTAIN THE MISSILE PERFORMANCE. THIS SEVEN TASK PROGRAM WILL TEST THE FEASIBILITY OF USING GRAPHITE/COPPER AND OR GRAPHITE/ALUMINUM FOR THE INTERFACE MATERIAL. THE SEVEN TASKS INCLUDE 1) SELECTION OF CANDIDATE MISSILE COMPONENTS AND DETERMINATION OF STRUCTURAL DESIGN REQUIREMENTS, 2) ESTABLISHMENT OF MATERIAL DESIGN GOALS AND ASSEMBLY OF A MATERIAL DATA BASE, 3) MATERIAL DESIGN STUDIES AND INTERFACE CONCEPTS DEVELOPMENT, 4) INTERFACE CONCEPTS STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY EVALUATION, 5) DEVELOPMENT OF A CRITERIA AND SELECTION OF "MOST PROMISING" CONCEPTS, 6) TEST ARTICLE FABRICATION AND C.T.E. TESTING, AND 7) IDENTIFICATION OF CRITICAL DESIGN ISSUES AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT PLAN PREPARATION.