OXIDATION-RESISTANT HIGH-TEMPERATURE MATERIALS

Navy missiles are becoming faster and are also able to intercept incoming targets at greater ranges. Unfortunately, increased missile speed means increased material temperatures, and some missile components are exposed to temperatures exceeding 5000-degrees-F. In the past thirty years, the Applied Physics Laboratory has participated in the development of new high-temperature materials for use in Navy missiles. This article gives a brief history of our test and analysis of various candidate materials. Free jet tests indicate that carbon/carbon infiltrated with hafnium carbide can survive surface temperatures of 4800-degrees-F for more than ten minutes.