Formable Preforms for Advanced Ceramic Matrix Composite Hypersonic Structures

The Pepin team will continue the development of its aligned, discontinuous fabric to reinforce ceramic matrix composites (CMC).Ā The application for this material is hypersonic structures experiencing high temperatures in flight.Ā The tasks of the program include fabrication of the DiscoTex aligned discontinuous fabric, developing procedures to uniformly apply polymer slurries to this fabric, performing a full mechanical characterization test program of the DiscoTex CMC, developing a micromechanics model of the DiscoTex reinforced CMC, and fabricating a generic aeroshell.Ā The advantages of the DiscoTex reinforcement is that it can be formed into complex shapes from simple preform starting shapes such as flat plates and tubes.Ā In this Phase II program this forming characteristic will be used to create an integrally stiffened skin which can be post formed and then molded.Ā This ability will significantly reduce the cost of CMC precursor structures having complex shapes.Ā In addition the Pepin team will develop graded layups with various precursor resin and powders to allow designers to match CMCs to the requirements of particular areas of a vehicle.Ā