Domestic Needled Preforms for C/SiC Composites

Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) employs a divert and attitude control system (DACS) to guide the kinetic weapon (KW) in a hit-to-kill maneuver.  The DACS motors employ C/SiC composite throats and pintles to control the hot gas thrust and thereby guide the KW during the final maneuver.  Existing DACS hardware are made using needled carbon fiber preforms purchased from France.  The supplier has decided to no longer sell their preforms to the C/SiC hardware supplier,  GE Aerospace.  This decision has disrupted the existing supply chain and created potential disruptions to the continued manufacture of SM-3.   In the proposed Direct to Phase II project, Materials Research & Design (MR&D) and its team will develop domestic needled carbon fiber preforms for C/SiC composites that are thermo-structurally equivalent to existing French-based C/SiC. The project will be performed by organizations selected based on their experience with the existing C/SiC components including MR&D, Textile Engineering and Manufacturing (TEAM), Collins Aerospace, GE Aerospace, Kratos SRE, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Raytheon Missile Systems.  The Phase II program will include coordinated tasks on conceptual design, thermostructural analysis, material development, property characterization, and subcomponent fabrication.  Collins and TEAM will provide several initial needled preforms to GE for conversion to C/SiC composites.  Two to four small C/SiC billets will be screened for critical properties at KSRE to select a specific preform for continued development. A larger billet of the selected material will be fabricated for database development and hardware blanks.  The results of the Phase II program will include a completely domestic C/SiC material whose feasibility for DACS hardware is demonstrated by measured material properties coupled with theoretical assessments of operational margins of safety.  Additionally, the program will supply up to three sets of C/SiC pintles and throats suitable for ground testing in ongoing DACS programs or in a potential follow-on SBIR.