Automated Manufacturing of Insulated Thermoplastic Solid Rocket Housings

Current methods of manufacture for composite solid rocket motor cases are largely outdated and no longer meet the technical needs of the Navy. The processes used today typically involve using the filament winding process to wrap carbon fiber reinforced with thermoset epoxy resin around a collapsable mandrel.  This method is successful in providing weight savings over metallic motor cases, but composite cases produced in this manner are intolerant of damage, difficult to repair, and not able to be easily customized to add lugs and other handling features. Automated fiber placement (AFP) using Thermoplastic resins is a modern deposition process using a cutting edge material that can address the Navy's technical goals for structural integrity, light weight, and high-rate manufacturing flexibility.   As follows, Perellion will detail the benefits of this process and material system, the Phase I approach for developing a composite case concept around them, and show a roadmap into Phase II and Phase III for building and testing a full scale 10in diameter prototype pressure vessel demonstrating this technology.