Flight Qualification of Alternative Leading Edges

Carbon-Carbon has been demonstrated to be a robust and high performing material in the extreme environments that occur in hypersonic flight.  Carbon-Carbon is the key material system of many Thermal Protection System (TPS) designs for hypersonic vehicles.   One of the key areas of interest in TPS design is the leading edges.  Leading edges must maintain thermal and structural integrity throughout a hypersonic flight to ensure survivability to target.  3D Carbon-Carbon (3DCC) has been previously demonstrated in hypersonic applications to be an outstanding material system for leading edges,  However, many manufacturing challenges exist for 3DCC to include long lead times, high cost, and low throughput.  Woven TPS components can potentially address material procurement challenges associated with supporting hardware production levels.  In response to this opportunity, ReLogic will demonstrate an innovative design and manufacturing methodology that provides supply chain flexibly for a 3DCC alternative leading-edge material and characterize its structural and thermal performance to enable rapid transition into hypersonic flight system design.