High-Heat-Flux Carbon Composite

Actively cooled carbon-carbon is a candidate structural material for the hot structures in hypersonic vehicles because of its light weight and strength at high temperature. The current choice for the coolant tubing is a refractory metal, but such tubing is heavy and thermal expansion mismatch makes it difficult to bond to carbon-carbon panels. This project will investigate the use of novel small-gauge carbon tube arrays integrated with a high- conductivity carbon-carbon composite material. The objective is an actively cooled panel that has low weight, low expansion stress and low thermal resistance for high-heat-flux application. The benefits are reduced heat exchanger weight and improved heat exchanger performance that reduces the coolant flow rate needed to meet temperature requirements. Phase 1 will fabricate small integrated test articles to begin assessment of their thermal, mechanical and pressure containment characteristics. The adherence of an antioxidation coating at high temperature will be investigated. Preliminary analysis will be used to trade off design options and quantify performance benefits. A draft design of a hypersonic panel will be presented.