Low Cost Precious Metal Rocket Engine Coatings

Refractory Composites, Inc. has developed an organometallic chemical vapor deposition process for an oxidation resistant long life precious metal coating suitable for rocket engine application and a number of related hot long life aerospace applications. The proposed Phase I program seeks to exploit this technology through a scale-up phase and test article thermal cycling and oxidation testing phase. A planned Phase II program would result in performance demonstrated rocket engine results. This new coating technology is expected to reduce the cost of thick precious metal coatings by a factor of five, while improving the reliability of the coating process over the current CVD coating technique.