Carbon Based Aerogel Composites for Radiation Shielding

The prime objective of this proposal is to develop a multi-functional sandwich composite material design to fulfill current needs for non-parasitic, lightweight, high-strength, thermally insulating and effective radiation shielding materials for deep space exploration applications. The phase II program will further improve and characterize the mechanical, physical and radiation protection properties of the sandwich composite structures developed in the phase I program. The phase I program clearly demonstrated the technical feasibility of the ACR manufacturing approach to fabricate thermally insulating and radiation shielding capable sandwich composite structures using dissimilar materials such as aerogels and polyethylene with added radiation and neutron shielding capable elements. For the phase II effort, ACR will continue to improve the mechanical and radiation shielding properties of the aerogel materials that have been infiltrated into low thermal conductive reticulated carbon foam. ACR will also develop the manufacturability of the sandwich composite structures with aerogel and polyethylene materials. Mechanical testing and optimization will be performed to improve the sandwich construction and the interlaminar properties of the composites. Mechanical and thermal modeling will be conducted. Comprehensive sample irradiation will be conducted to evaluate the radiation effects on the materials and the material effects on the radiation. ACR will also transition the state of the current sandwich composite construction into a technology capable of large-size component manufacture.