Thermal spray coatings for high throughput manufacturing of hypersonic thermal protection systems

Canopy Aerospace proposes to strengthen the U.S. industrial base for high-temperature thermal protection system (TPS) materials through the development of a multi-material thermal spray coating system that can dramatically increase throughput while minimizing scrap rates regardless of geometrical complexity. Coating application represents a critical bottleneck within reusable and single-use TPS components across the space and hypersonics industries. Many key TPS components rely on skilled human operators to manually apply the final surface coatings and many of these cold spray treatments require multi-hour glazing cycles. During the Phase I project, Canopy will assess the feasibility of lowering TPS costs for aerospace use cases by applying flight-proven coatings to common TPS substrates using the thermal spray technique. The performance of the rapid coatings will be assessed through ablative torch testing followed by microstructural characterization. At the end of Phase I, Canopy will have carried out an initial demonstration of the thermal spray TPS coating concept (TRL 4), quantified the performance against test articles produced through legacy methods, and established USAF/USSF use cases. Canopy will identify the key stakeholders within Program Executive Offices, Air Force Material Command, and commercial partners who will likely sponsor our company for further partnerships and development into the next phase.  Phase II will focus on optimizing the coating properties in preparation for a hypersonic arc jet testing campaign. In parallel, Canopy will automate the thermal spray system through the integration of a robotic arm to accommodate complex geometries. Once completed, the proposed technology will serve as a comprehensive manufacturing platform for automatically applying a wide spectrum of TPS coatings and potentially expand to demanding terrestrial applications. Business development will leverage the customer diligence from Phase I to establish primary stakeholders within the government and commercial sectors.