Laser-assisted inseparable ultrahigh-temperature ceramics for hypersonic applications

The U.S. Army prioritizes developing highly maneuverable hypersonic weapons capable of operating in GPS-denied situations and withstanding harsh conditions, such as temperatures up to 3000 °C. But the currently available materials for these purposes are either excessively expensive or challenging to manufacture into complex weapon shapes. Recently, the Proposer has developed a Laser-assisted inseparable binding technology (LAIBT) to bind any two types of materials, even vastly different, seamlessly together, including metal-on-metal, glass-on-metal, polymer-on-glass, and polymer-on-metal. In addition, the technology is suitable for scaling-up and mass production. Here, our newly developed technology will be utilized to integrate ultrahigh-temperature ceramics with two types of substrates, both C-C composite and Zr metal. This integration technology is based on a superwicking surface pioneered by the PI through femtosecond laser surface texturing. The superwicking surfaces will have a range of complex hierarchical micro/nanostructures, wick ultrahigh-temperature-resistant liquid adhesives into all the micro/nanoscale voids and provide an extremely strong bond for the surfaces to be integrated together. In this project, LAIBT is applied to strongly bind ZrB2-SiC UHTCs to two types of substrates, C-C composites and Zr metal. The virtually inseparable binding will be applied to hypersonic applications. A range of tests will be performed for ultrahigh-temperature operations, including the investigations of microstructural characterization, residual stresses measurement, mechanical characterization, oxidation resistance evaluation, and thermal shock examination.