Improved Seals for Hypersonic Vehicles

Peregrine will develop seals that will protect the interior of hypersonic vehicles from the exterior hazardous high temperature conditions and mitigate electromagnetic interference, handle high heat fluxes, aerothermal loads, steady state and transient localized heating while being subjected to shock, fluctuating pressure loads, and vibration acoustic loading. These seals can address three categories; 1.) Seals between components or members on the vehicle outer mold line, 2.) Seals between actuator components on the vehicle outer mold line, and 3.) Seals between the stationary and actuated components in the propulsion flow path. Seals typically on non-hypersonic vehicles provide a “fill� between mating aerostructures. The densities of these typical “fill� materials provide a conductive path into the vehicle, which is to be avoided for hypersonic high temperature aerostructures. Peregrine, who has been active in the hypersonic and high-performance insulation technology, proposes the use of an innovative solution that even addresses the expansion of aircraft structures at high temperatures. This insulation solution can provide an effective thermal conductivity below 0.05 W/m K.