TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Air Platform, Materials/Processes, Weapons

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PEO(W)

OBJECTIVE: Develop materials and manufacturing methods for materials that can withstand high temperatures while maintaining sufficient strength properties to be utilized on high supersonic cruise missiles at reasonable cost.

DESCRIPTION: Although there are high temperature metals available, often these materials are expensive and difficult to use in fabrication (difficult to machine, difficult to maintain the processes, etc.) and often result in a relatively heavy airframe structure. Composites and ceramics are beginning to make their way into high-speed designs; however, these materials have drawbacks and typically are only utilized in very specialized areas of a vehicle (i.e., leading edges). Development of materials and manufacturing methods is needed to allow manufacture of affordable high speed vehicles. In order for this to be accomplished several aspects regarding the design and manufacture of high speed vehicles should be considered:
� Materials capable of withstanding high temperatures (

800o - 1100o F for 30 minutes) without ablation in order to maintain an efficient aerodynamic outer mold line (OML).
� Methods and processes for joining different materials with different physical properties and different thermal expansion rates.
� Materials that can efficiently transfer heat to cooler areas of the structure to minimize high thermal gradients.
� Alternatives to high temperature structures for certain applications, such as affordable and maintainable thermal protections systems (TPS), including coatings and materials that can be used to thermally protect antennas and other sensitive equipment that must be mounted near a high temperature environment (

1100o F).
All developments must consider the manufacturing processes and costs in order to understand the compromises between material properties, manufacturability, and durability.

PHASE I: Develop a concept for high temperature materials applied to a high-supersonic missile sized structure and demonstrate the feasibility of the concept with respect to its use in the high speed environment. In addition to performance, address its manufacturability, and durability aspects in the phase I option.

PHASE II: Develop and demonstrate a concept prototype at the component level (i.e. a wing/fin system including high temperature leading edge joined to a lower heat tolerant material for the remaining wing area) showing the performance capabilities of the system. Also demonstrate examples of manufacturability and durability of the system through testing.

PHASE III: Insert the product into a candidate high speed missile airframe and test as part of joint (Air Force and Navy) demonstrator activities currently being planned.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: This system could be applied to any air vehicle which must fly at high supersonic to hypersonic speeds (space access and recoverable vehicles). In addition, any low-cost high-temperature materials capable of surviving in a high-supersonic flight environment would have diverse application in other industries that have components exposed to high temperatures, such as automotive engines, industrial processes, aircraft engines, and confined electronics.

REFERENCES:
1. Fleeman, E.L., Licata W. H., Berglund, E., "Technologies for future precision strike missile systems,", NATO Research and Technology Organization Lecture Series, RTO-EN-018, June 18-29, 2001. (ADA394520)

2. Douglas, Mitchell; Lindgren, John, "Hypersonic weapons technology for the time critical mobile ground threat", DMSTTIAC-SOAR-99-01, January 1999. (ADA361137)

3. MDA / DEP, NDIA Manufacturing Division Meeting, Mr. Doug Schaefer, Director, Producibility and Manufacturing Technology, Missile Defense Agency, 5 October 2006

KEYWORDS: Hypersonics;Thermal Protection Materials (TPM);Thermal Protection Systems (TPS);hot structures;high-temperature materials;missiles

TPOC: Scott Munro
Phone: (760)939-0272
Fax: (760)939-8200
Email: [email protected]
2nd TPOC: Joseph Doychak
Phone: (703)6967646
Fax: (703)6964274
Email: [email protected]
3rd TPOC: Peter Hudson
Phone: (760)939-3638
Fax:
Email: [email protected]

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

DoD Notice:   Between November 13 and December 9, 2007, you may talk directly with the Topic Author(s) to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed above. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting December 10, 2007, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation.

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