Novel Manufacturing and Materials of High-Temperature Composite Radomes for Hypersonic Aircraft

The Department of Defense is rapidly developing hypersonic platforms. Gillian Bussey,áDirector of the Joint Hypersonics Transition Office stated that in the immediate future, one of the most important areas to be developed is increasing the capacity at which such systems can be produced. Radomes capable of protecting sensitive RF transceivers from the extreme environments of hypersonic flight are required to enable hypersonic aircraft. The Air Force has identified that the supply chain and material system options for hypersonic radomes are highly limited. A wider set of material options backed by a domestic supply chain with the production capacity to meet the Air Force demand is needed.á Atomic-6 was founded to economically manufacture high performance composites at high volume. The Atomic-6 proprietary process has proven the possibility of economically priced domestic production of high-performance composites. Laboratory testing of our low to moderate temperature composites demonstrated strength and stiffness levels previously thought impossible with resin infusion processes while demonstrating cure times 20X faster than prepreg composites. The Atomic-6 process uses resin infusion and autoclave curing enabling a wide range of fiber and fast curing resin combinations not available in prepreg, and vastly increasing the available supply chain options. The Atomic-6 process results in high fiber content, uniform distribution of the fiber and matrix, improved interlaminar bonding, and minimal voiding and surface porosity. As a result of our technical demonstrations, Atomic-6 was the only U.S. company awarded Top 20 Global Finalists for the 2022 JEC World Composites Startup Booster Competition. Atomic-6 is backed by IronGate, an Aerospace & Defense Venture Capital Firm. One of 20 out of 3,000 annually chosen to be Accelerated by Starburst, the world's 1st global accelerator for Aerospace & Defense.á Atomic-6 plans to apply our process to RF transparent composites for hypersonic radomes to expand the fiber and resin combinations available to the Air Force and then demonstrate domestic fabrication of radomes with higher temperature and structural performance than are presently available. Atomic-6 CTO, Peter Shpik previously held the position of Senior Research Engineer for Refractory Composites R&D Advanced Technology at Rohr/Collins Aerospace. He helped develop ceramic matrix composites for the Rockwell X-30 with a target speed of Mach 20. The X-30 was an advanced technology demonstrator for the National Aero-Space Plane (NASP), a United States project to create a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) spacecraft. As a result of his extensive experience, Pete is one of the few people in the country who know how to properly manufacture and make improvements to hypersonic radomes. Combining Mr. Shpikĺs experience with the proprietary mold and process technology developed by Atomic-6 will enable a wider and more capable domestic supply chain of hypersonic radomes.á