Thermally Engineered Structures for Hypersonics

Powdermet has developed a series of multifunctional nanostructured high temperature metallic composites under tradenames Hybrimet(TM), Insalloy(TM), and HybriTherm(TM). HybriTherm materials have high thermal conductivity combined with low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and reduced stiffness for high temperature heat exchanger applications. These materials may be suitable for integration of sharp ceramic leading edges into metallic airframes for hypersonic vehicles, and for fabricating air and fuel-cooled engine structures. HybriTherm materials fabricated from high temperature alloys have 3-5X higher thermal conductivity, and greater than 50% lower stiffness and CTE than traditional high temperature metallic materials, reducing thermal stresses by 80-90% in extreme environment applications