ENGINEERING-SCALE FABRICATION AND SPACE-ENVIRONMENT TESTING FOR RE-ENTRY C/SIC CERAMIC MATRIX COMPOSITES AND OXIDATION PROTECTION SYSTEMS MADE BY THE FAST SOL-GEL PROCESS

摘要

Space environment during re-entry is extremely harsh and necessitates thermal protection systems (TPS) that can reliably sustain under complex thermo-mechanical and oxidative loads. C/SiC ceramic matrix composites (CMC) are the leading engineering materials for TPS once coated with oxidation protective systems (OPS). Testing of candidate re-entry TPS components and materials ensembles is comprehensively being carried out in ARC Seibersdorf Research (ARC-sr). The Re- Entry Simulation Chamber allows thermo-mechanical characterisation under re-entry relevant regime of temperatures, thermal-gradients, oxidative atmosphere, and mechanical loads. The fast-sol-gel route to CMC and OPS has reached maturity facilitating manufacturing of C/SiC based reentry durable OPS and CMC. This paper describes the scale-up of the latter to engineering-relevant sizes and shapes, their testing and performance. In view of their lower manufacturing complexity and costs, and higher versatility, this family of materials offers a wide variety of novel durable materials for harsh space-environments: Re-Entry and Engine Hot Structures, other planet missions, or demanding terrestrial applications.