HybridSil® Advanced, Heat Tolerant Towlines for Aircraft Towed Decoys

Current towlines for towed aircraft decoys are experiencing catastrophic failures due to the extreme temperatures (> 650 °C) produced from the afterburners during high Angle of Attack (AOA) maneuvers. The hot exhaust leads to towline separation. Additionally, the electrical components within the decoy are susceptible to failure due to the conducting wire insulation breakdown. The goal of this program is to develop a novel polymer derived ceramic (PDC) coating that will act as a thermal protection barrier. NanoSonic shall utilize a combination of our polyorganosiloxanes and polysilazanes, which have proven to survive temperatures >650°C, in combination with ceramic nanoparticles such as aluminum nitride and yttrium silicate. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) shall be used herein to downselect polymer molecular weight and ceramic consituent for optimal thermal stability and mechanical durability at temperatures reaching 1000°C. A design of experiments shall be carried out for the down selection process of optimized PDC formulations for ablative and tensile testing of PDC coated reinforcement members. The PDC formulation that exhibits the top overall thermo-oxidative durability and tensile strengths after being exposed to similar heat experienced during AOA maneuvers will be used for prototype fabrication.