Material selection for Mechanical Design (ME 770)

TERM PAPER
Material Selection For High Temperature Aerospace Application
(Nose Cone)

Submitted to:
Prof. Kamal K Kar
Professor ,Mechanical Engg. Department

Submitted by:
Shree Ram Pandey
(14105290)

ABSTRACT

Given the problem of the aerodynamic design of the nose cone section of any vehicle or body
meant to travel through a compressible fluid medium (such as a rocket
or aircraft, missile or bullet), an important problem is the determination of the nose cone
material for safety and optimum performance. For many applications, such a task requires
the recognition of several involved process parameters like heat flux, drag acting
,temperature gradients etc. Materials have to be tested for several properties like thermal
insulation, thermal shock, thermal distortion etc. This paper makes an attempt to address
some of the several issues arising during material selection of nose cones in aerospace
application.

Keywords : Nose cones, High temperature strength, Temperature gradient,

Ceramics,

INTRODUCTION:
During a launch vehicle ascent through denser atmosphere the vehicle is subjected to thermal
loads on its exterior due to aerodynamic heating. These thermal loads manifest themselves in
the increased skin temperature for the structure. The skin section which attain high
temperatures becomes the heat source for the various electronic packages and control
components housed within various housings such as nose cone fairing and interstage
compartments. Thus, there is a need to provide thermal protection to the structure to ensure
environmental protection for various packages and structure temperature to within useful
temperature range for the material. The component of the aerospace structure which is most
severly affected is nose cone.

NOSE CONE:
The nose cone is the forward most section of the guided missile. Due to high temperatures
experienced at the leading edge of the nose cones in case of high speed applications, it is
generally made of materials which can sustain high temperature and the resultant expansion
load due to that heating.
On a rocket vehicle it consists of a chamber or chambers in which a satellite, instruments,
animals, plants, or auxiliary equipment may be carried, and an outer surface built to
withstand high temperatures generated by aerodynamic heating. Much of the fundamental
research related to hypersonic flight was done towards creating viable nose cone designs for
the atmospheric re-entry of spacecraft and ICBM re-entry vehicles.
In a satellite vehicle, the nose cone may become the satellite itself after separating from the
final stage of the rocket or it may be used to shield the satellite until orbital speed is
accomplished, then separating from the satellite.
On airliners the nose cone is also a radome protecting the weather radar from aerodynamic
forces.
The shape of the nose cone must be chosen for minimum drag so a solid of revolution is used
that gives least resistance to motion.

CURRENT ISSUES:
In the recent years space vehicles like rockets, re-entry vehicles regardless their unique
designs needed control surfaces at hypersonic speeds. Low-radius leading edges are subject
to much greater aerodynamic heating than blunt edges, such as those on the Space Shuttle,
and they thus will reach temperatures that may exceed 2000C during re-entry. Available
thermal protection materials will not survive such extreme temperatures and new materials
are required for advanced thermal protection systems. Thus they need advanced and latest
ultra high temperature resistant materials [2006] used as a Thermal protection layer(TPS)
layers which have high resistance in heat and oxidation.
Challenges posed in material selection for nose cone:
High heat flux over small area
High temperature, oxidation, erosion
Very high temperature gradients

Materials Selection Procedure:

Terminology:
Concept design: Basic design of a product to meet the main functional
objectives and performance requirements determined from market research.
A large number of materials are considered at the concept design stage.
Constraint (design): Performance requirements that must be met by the
product (and its materials).
Detailed design: Final stage of the design process involving all the detailed
design work to complete the product. Also involves converting the design
into specifications and documentation so the product can be produced.
The material to be used in the product is selected in the detailed design
stage.
Embodiment design: Determination of shape, size and other major design
features of the product. A shortlist of candidate materials for the product
are considered in the embodiment design stage.
Function (design): The purpose of the designed product.
Material indices: Quantitative measure of how well a material property (e.g.
stiffness, strength, maximum operating temperature) exceeds the design
constraint. Index values are used to rank shortlisted materials in order of
excellence to exceed the design constraint limit.
Objective (design): The aims of the design, such as to minimise cost or
maximise fatigue life.
Ranking: Listing shortlisted materials in their order of excellence to exceed
the design constraint limit based on the index value.
Screening: Process of eliminating materials based on their inability to meet
one or more of the design constraints.
Supporting information: Various resources (e.g. case histories, past experiences)
used in the final stage of the materials selection process.
Translation: Process of translating the design into functions and objectives
which can used to define the constraints for materials selection.

Table 1 Design-limiting properties used in materials selection

Class

Property

Structural

Density
Elastic modulus (tension, shear, etc.)
Strength (yield, ultimate, fracture)
Impact damage resistance
Hardness
Fracture toughness (damage tolerance)
Fatigue (life, strength)
Creep resistance (creep rate, stress rupture life)

Economic and business

Cost (raw material, processing, maintenance)

Availability
Service life
Regulatory issues

Manufacturing

Fabrication and casting (formability, machinability,

welding)
Dimensional (shape, surface finish, tolerances, flatness)
Number of items
Nondestructive inspection for quality assurance

Environmental durability

Corrosion rate
Oxidation rate
Moisture absorption rate

Environmental impact

Sustainability
Greenhouse and other emissions during manufacture
Recycling
Waste disposal (hazardous)
Health hazards (carcinogens, flammable)

Specialist

Thermal conductivity
Electrical conductivity
Thermal expansion
Thermal shock resistance
Stealth (electromagnetic absorbance/infrared)

STAGES OF MATERIAL SELECTION:

Fig: The four steps of material selection

Material Screening:
Screening involves eliminating those materials whose properties do not meet the design
constraints. The constraint defines an absolute upper or lower limit on property values, and
materials that do not meet the limiting value are screened out. No trade-off beyond this limit
is allowed. In addition to constraints on the mechanical properties, other constraints may be
applied related to economic/business, manufacturing and environmental factors as well as
specialist properties. These can also be used to screen out materials.

Material Indices:
A material index measures how well a candidate material that has passed the screening step
can do the job required by the component. There are many material indices, each associated
with maximising or minimising some property value, such as maximum strength per unit
weight or minimum manufacturing cost per unit product.
Some of the material indices for the nose cone problem can be mentioned in the table below:
Design objective

Material Index

Maximise thermal insulation

1/k

Minimise thermal distortion

k/a

Thermal shock resistance

Maximise damage tolerance (beam, plate, etc.)

Maximum pressure vessel strength

Kic

Kic

E: Young's modulus;
k: thermal conductivity;
: thermal expansion coefficient;
f:

failure strength;

Kic: fracture toughness.

Equations such as these are used to calculate the index value for each candidate material that
passes the screening stage, and then the materials are ranked in order of excellence. It is also
important to consider at this stage whether the materials can be fabricated into the
component. There is no point ranking a material if it cannot be cost-effectively processed into
the final product.

Supporting information and final selection

Once the shortlist of candidate materials are ranked in order of excellence using the index
values, the final stage of the selection process is performed, and this involves the use of
supporting information for a detailed profile of each material. Supporting information
involves important factors other than the material properties that are relevant to the design,
such as previous uses of the material in similar applications; the availability of the material;
whether the company has prior manufacturing experience with the materials; certification
issues associated with the material (i.e. has it been previously certified by aviation
regulators); whether the material has any special handling requirements or poses occupational
health and safety problems during manufacturing; whether the material can be recycled; and
so on. Many sources, including databases and case histories, are used to collect as much
information as possible about each material. The supporting information is analysed for each
candidate material, and from this the final material is selected.
The process of screening and ranking materials on their properties can be exhaustive when an
extremely large number of materials are under consideration. With over 120 000 materials
being available, the task of individually assessing each material against the objectives and
constraints of the design is not practical. Material property charts are used to rapidly
screen out large numbers of materials and to identify those materials that meet the property
constraint. Material property charts plot two properties, as shown below:

Fig. Material chart between Linear expansion coefficient ad thermal conductivity

Fig. Material chart between strength and temperature(representational only)

These charts condense a large body of property data into a compact yet accessible and easy to
understand form. The charts also reveal correlations between material properties, such as the
relationship between strength and toughness or between elastic modulus
and density capacity.

Fig. Temperature distribution for sharp and blunt edges

Various Approaches to the modelling:

Real time modelling:
The most accurate way to find the aerodynamic heating on a high velocity flight structure is
to fly it and measure what happens. This approach can be expensive, though, requiring
building
Computational modelling:
Another approach is to model the rocket in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software.
This works well for steady state processes, but is incredibly processor-intensive for a timedependent process such as trying to find the total heating of a nose cone in a flight trajectory
with continuously changing air velocity, pressure, and temperature. A steady state analysis
can be done with high fidelity results in under an hour, but a 40 second flight simulation
requires about a month of processor time.
Empirical modelling:
Rockets and planes have been flown supersonic many times, and from that dataset
researchers have created simple equations that can crudely predict the temperature and
heating that will be seen in flight. This is least accurate.

Recovery Temperature
Stagnation temperature is the highest temperature of the gas possible, converting all of its
kinetic energy into heat.

stagnation temperature but reflects the fact that the conversion to heat from dynamic pressure
TRecovery = TFree Stream ( 1 + 0.2 r M2 )

Where:
TRecovery is the recovery temperature, in Kelvin or Rankine.
TFree Stream
temperature at the given altitude, in Kelvin or Rankine.
r is the recovery factor. For stagnation r = 1; turbulent boundary layer r = 0.9;

M is the mach number.

Altitude
(m)

Temp
(K)

Pressure
(Pa)

Density
(kg/m^3)

Dynamic
press
(Pa)

Mach
number

Stagn.
temp
(K)

Recovery
temp (K)

827

282.8

91777

1.131

66898

1.02

341.7

335.8

2022

275.0

79278

1.004

142116

1.60

415.9

401.8

8056

235.8

35312

0.522

33808

1.17

300.3

293.8

9955

223.4

26619

0.415

126247

2.60

526.2

495.9

11750

216.7

20108

0.323

199903

3.77

831.9

770.4

13703

216.7

14771

0.238

247967

4.90

1255.6

1151.7

TABLE 2 Variation of stagnation temperature and recovery temperature with altitude

stagnation temperature of the air. It gives an upper bound to the

temperature that the nose could reach.
As we can see, the recovery temperature is a bit lower than the stagnation temperature, but

Analysis of the Nose Cone

To analyze the heat going(essentially thermal load analysis) into the nose cone its material
properties must be defined. These include:
Density
Specific heat (possibly at multiple temperatures)
Conductivity type (Isotropic, Unidirectional, Asymmetrical/Biaxial, or Orthotropic)
Thermal conductivity (which can also vary with temp and can be multiple, if not
isotropic)
Melting temperature (the glass transition temperature of the resin would be a good
analog for a composite nose cone)

Thermal Analysis
Thermal analysis for the nose cone during ascent proved the limiting factor throughout the
design phase. An initial analysis of the power-law body as originally defined immediately
proves that the heating rate at the tip of the nose would approach infinity, implying infinite
heat transfer to the nose cone throughout flight. As an infinite heating rate is clearly
unacceptable, the first step required blunting the tip of the nose cone in order to bring the
radius of curvature up. The heating rate of a leading body is dependent upon both the
physical shape of the object as well as the material properties. Heating rate is primarily
dependent upon the radius of curvature of the test body at a specific point as well as the
specific heat of the material used. The heating rate of a leading edge body can be
theoretically determined using Eq. (3) below.

where ,

q is the heating rate per unit area,

is the density of the fluid,
rn is the radius of curvature of test body,
V is the instantaneous velocity, cpw is the specific heat of surface material, and
Tw is the instantaneous temperature at surface.

We can see from Eq. (3) that the heating rate is dependent upon trajectory, material and
structural parameters. Since our design process do not entail changing the optimal trajectory
and therefore the velocity at any point in the launch, we are forced to focus on changes to
both the material and structural properties. Ideal design for meeting the thermal requirements
would entail increasing the radius of curvature throughout the nose cone, especially at the
stagnation point, as well as employing a material with a higher specific heat. Eq (3) clearly
shows that as the radius of curvature at a point decreases, it increases the instantaneous heat
transfer, which accumulates throughout the flight. Qualitative analysis alone is able to prove
that the original power-law body was unsuited to withstanding high velocity flight, which
required using a simplified thermal analysis model with a blunted tip.

Fig. Meshing(Obtained in SOLIDWORKS)

The initial heating rate equation requires a complicated iterative process as well as converting
the given heating rate from Eq. (3) to a heating rate per volume and then an overall
temperature. Initial steps to determine this heating rate required a calculation of both the
local atmospheric enthalpy as well as the velocity contribution. The local, atmospheric
enthalpy is calculated using Eq. (4) below:

where ha is the local, atmospheric enthalpy, Cp is the specific heat of air, defined as 1003.5
kJ/kg-K and T is the temperature at the desired altitude calculated using Standard
Atmosphere tables.
The velocity contribution is the 0.5V2 term, which contributes more to the conditions on the
surface of the nose cone due to our high velocity through high altitude/low-density
combined value. This allows us to determine the local conditions that will have an effect on
the heating rate of the nose cone. Figure 3 shows that since we are launching from a balloon
at approximately 30km, the local atmospheric enthalpy contributes very little to the overall
enthalpy. As expected with a squared term, the velocity contribution increases slowly at first
and then rapidly as the velocity continues to increase throughout ascent.

Heat flux
Tactical Missile Design also provides a very imperial empirical equation for calculating the
heat flux the nose cone will see.
0.8

M2.8/x0.2

Where:
Q is the heat flux in BTU per square foot per second.

M is the mach number.

x is the distance from the tip, in feet.
With this equation we get the following chart for the heating of the nose at various positions
at the high velocity data point:

Fig. Variation of Recovery temperature on Mach Number

Fig. Temperature variation over surface (ANSYS)

The shockwave coming off the cone is prominent in all the plots, and raked back at a severe
angle due to the high velocity. The temperature is relatively low, aside from a small warm
area just downstream of the nose.
Since the rockets and airships move with a high velocity in the compressible medium,it
becomes necessary to study the variation of gas density with velocity and temperature.

Fig. Gas Density(ANSYS)

Structural Analysis
Once the nose is capable of handling the thermal loading expected during ascent, we begin to
analyze the structural properties of the nose cone and how well it would survive the physical
loading due to ascent. Of primary concern in this analysis is the stagnation pressure on the
blunt nose during ascent. Similar to the method used to determine the total enthalpy during
the ascent, local atmospheric pressure was calculated as a function of time during the ascent
using the Standard Atmospheric Tables while dynamic pressure was calculated using the
absolute velocity data provided by the Trajectory group. Stagnation pressure was therefore
calculated using Eq. (5) below:

Where
Ps is the desired stagnation pressure,
Pa is the local atmospheric pressure from the Standard Atmosphere tables,
is the density of air at the current altitude
V is the absolute velocity of the launch vehicle.

Fig. Pressure distribution over the surface

High Temperature Application Materials:

High-Temperature Metals:
In general, metals have much greater ductility and higher densities than either ceramic or
nonmetal matrix composites. This means that they are not subject to brittle failure and at the
same time have lower specific strength and stiffness. Intrinsically, most metals have higher
thermal and electrical conductivities than either ceramics or nonmetal matrix composites
(except carbon carbon composites). The three distinct types of high-temperature metals are
superalloys, platinum group metals, and refractory metals.
Superalloys are usually based on group VIIIA elements (Ni, Fe, and Co). They have been
developed for service up to 1100C where they must maintain excellent mechanical strength,
phase stability, resistance to creep, high surface stability, and resistance to corrosion and
oxidation under relatively severe mechanical stresses. Examples of well-known superalloy
families are Hastelloy, Haynes, Inconel, Rene, Monel, Incoloy, and Waspaloy. These alloys
are utilized in the hot sections of industrial gas turbines, turbocharger turbines, and marine
turbines, as well as for turbine blades in the hot section of jet engines (Figure 3.1).
The platinum group metals (platinum, rhodium, and iridium) with melting points ranging
from 1770C to 2450C function well under mechanical loads and simultaneous corrosive
attack since they are chemically stable, as well as being resistant to oxidation and reaction
with many molten oxides. Most people know of the platinum group metals and their alloys as
thermocouples, but in fact they are indispensable in many areas requiring high temperatures
and resistance to chemical attack. Applications include glass melting and spinning
equipment, small rocket nozzles for station-keeping, single crystal growing, as well as
capsules for radioactive power sources.
The refractory metals: tantalum, niobium, tungsten, molybdenum, and rhenium all have
melting points in excess of 2400C (2477 3400C), are extraordinarily resistant to heat,
wear, and creep as well as being relatively chemically inert. However, they are not as
chemically stable and oxidation resistant as the platinum group. This is why iridium is coated
on top of the more ductile rhenium as an oxidation protection coating above 2300C for
carbon carbon composites. These metals are also used, for example, in forging jet engines,
rocket nozzles, and incandescent lamp filaments.
Ceramics:
By nature of their composition, virtually all ceramic materials are high-temperature materials
and some are ultra-high-temperature materials. Ceramics encompass a very broad spectrum
of refractory materials that makes a universal definition difficult. In general, ceramic
materials are inorganic, nonmetallic materials made from compounds of a metal and a
nonmetal. Ceramic materials may be crystalline, partly crystalline, or amorphous (i.e.,
glasses) and the vast majority are held together with ionic or covalent bonds. However it
should be noted that a few ceramics (e.g., TaC) are held together by metallic bonds. In
contrast to metals, the strong bonding in ceramics causes these materials to fracture before

they are able to plastically deform if the temperature is below the ductile-to-brittle transition
(DBT) temperature.
Ceramics enjoy numerous high-temperature applications because they offer a variety of
attractive properties including high stiffness, high strength in compression, great thermal
stability, low thermal expansion, and extremely high melting temperature. In addition, they
are resistant to most forms of chemical (corrosion, oxidation), and physical (abrasion, wear)
attack. Applications include furnace elements and insulation, catalytic converters , ball
bearings, thermal barriers, fuel cells, and fuels for nuclear reactors.
Ultra-high-temperature ceramics (UHTC) are a class of ceramic materials with melting points
in excess of 3000C that are used in environments that require strength as well as
environmental resistance to erosion and ablation at extremely high temperatures.
Applications for these materials include rocket propulsion, scramjet propulsion, and
hypersonic flight either as monolithic structures, composites, or coatings.
Ceramics that meet these criteria are principally carbides and borides of titanium, zirconium,
niobium, tantalum, and hafnium. The carbides tend to have lower oxidation resistance than
borides at intermediate temperatures due to the formation of CO gas as one of the oxidation
products. However, they have higher melting points (at 3997C, TaC has the highest melting
temperature of any material) and perform well in erosive environments such as rocket
nozzles. Borides on the other hand, have higher thermal conductivity than many ceramics
(60
and are used in applications where heat needs to be moved and spread,
such as the leading edges of hypersonic vehicles.
High Temperature Composites:
Composites comprise a large family of materials in which a reinforcement phase is placed in
a continuous matrix phase resulting in properties that are not possible to obtain with a single
material. The reinforcement can be in the form of a particulate, whisker, continuous or
discontinuous fiber, nanotube or nano-phase particle. In high-temperature composites the
reinforcement and the matrix material are limited to ceramics, metals, and carbon. The
possibility of combining these various material systems results in almost unlimited variation
in composition and properties because the composites are tailorable. Due to the fact that
composites are more complex materials and less well known than metals and ceramics, they
will be covered in greater detail.
The possible variations in composites, and thus their properties, are further increased by the
fact that even after selecting the composition of the matrix and the reinforcement, as well as
the type of reinforcement, there are many possibilities in how the reinforcement is placed in
the composite. That is, for example, the reinforcement can be dispersed in the matrix
(particles, whiskers, discontinuous fibers, etc.) leading to isotropic properties, or in the case
of fibers (both continuous or discontinuous) a preform can be fabricated and subsequently
filled with a matrix resulting in anisotropic properties. Preforms are fabricated to the desired
shape by a variety different means. For example, 1-D preforms as well as 2-D fabric lay-up

preforms can be fabricated by hand, whereas braided, 3-D to 4-D (and even up to 11-D)
woven preforms, as well as felted preforms require complex looms and other machinery.
It should also be noted that the enhanced properties of composites also result from the
function of their constituents. That is, the matrix and the reinforcement play complementary
roles. For example, in a fiber-reinforced composite the fibers are the principal load-bearing
component. The matrix binds the fibers together, holding them aligned to carry the load, and
transfers the load applied to the composite through the fiber matrix bond to the fibers
enabling the composite to withstand compression, flexural and shear forces as well as tensile
loads. In addition, the matrix isolates the fibers from one another so that cracks are unable to
pass through all the fibers at one time which would result in brittle failure.
When pairing together a matrix material with a fiber, it is important that there be thermal
compatibility and chemical compatibility. High processing or use temperatures can lead to
matrix (or fiber) cracking during cooling when a thermal expansion mismatch is present.
Chemical compatibility also prevents degradation at the fiber matrix interface at elevated
processing, heat-treating, and use temperatures. Degradation can be caused by chemical
reactions between the materials or phase changes in either component.
Coatings are often applied to protect the fibers from chemical attack, such as when using
carbon fibers in a silicon carbide matrix. Fiber coatings are also employed to tailor the
interfacial bond strength, that is, the strength of the bond between the fiber and the matrix.
This bond strength has a great effect on composite properties, such as decreasing toughness
when it is too strong.
Carbon-Carbon Composites:
Carbon carbon (C C) composites are a unique class of high-temperature and ultra-hightemperature materials due to their extraordinary combination of properties. These materials
are stronger and stiffer than steel as well as having a lower density (1.5
aluminum. Their thermal shock resistance, and their excellent specific properties coupled
with the fact that their mechanical properties actually increase with temperature (>3200C)
make them unsurpassed as ultra-high temperature structural materials.
Owing to their high performance and relatively high cost, C-C composites are used principally in the aerospace and astronautics industries. These materials are used to fabricate
rocket nozzles, nose tips, exit cones, leading edges, and engine inlets of hypersonic vehicles
(Figure 3.3) as well as high-temperature insulation, furnace hardware (Figure 3.4), and
heaters for high-temperature applications. For reuseable hypersonic vehicles, the fact that
carbon does not go through phase changes like some ceramics makes it a very valuable
material. For satellite applications and high power laser mirrors, the high specific strength
and stiffness of carbon carbon composites as well as their near zero thermal expansion
makes them an ideal material for structures that require dimensional stability as they circle
the Earth.

The highest volume application of carbon carbon composites is as stators and rotors in the
braking systems of all military aircraft and most civilian jet aircraft (Figure 3.5). These
composites enjoy a monopoly in this field because, in addition to the above mentioned
properties, they also possess high thermal conductivity, good frictional properties, and low
wear. This one application alone in which temperatures can reach 1400C on a rejected take
off makes them the highest volume high-temperature composite
C C composites are fabricated through a multi-step process. Being a broad class of materials,
the thermal and mechanical properties of carbon carbon composites vary greatly depending
on the type and grade of fibers used, the preform geometry, the type of process utilized for
densification, as well as the ultimate graphitization (heat-treat) temperature. The carbon
fibers, which carry the majority of the mechanical and thermal load, are chosen on the basis
of the desired final properties of the composite. Pitch-based carbon fibers are utilized for high
modulus up to (930 GPa) (Fibraplex) and high thermal conduc
1
applications while polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fibers are used where high
strength (up to 6.96 GPa) (HexTow) is the desired property. Rayon and cellulose-based
carbon fibers are required in ablative and insulation applications. The tow size (# of
fibers/tow) is specified on the basis of the desired properties and cost.

Fig: The Space Shuttle and its launch system require carbon carbon leading edges and a
nose-tip for the shuttle as well as carbon carbon nozzles and exit cones for the solid rocket
boosters
After the preform geometry has been selected and fabricated, it is then densified with a
carbon matrix, which fills the space between the fibers and distributes the load among the
fibers. For other types of composites the desired final matrix material is simply used to fill

the preform. However, in contrast, no carbon matrix material exists. It must be formed by
conversion of some sort of hydrocarbon material to carbon by a process that involves a specific type of pyrolysis known as carbonization. Thus, matrix precursor materials are placed in
the preform and then converted to carbon. This can involve a variety of processes, such as,
chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process utilizing methane or propane at elevated temperatures , the charring of a polymer such as phenolic or polyimide as well as the
polymerization and coking of a pitch material to produce a high-quality graphitizable matrix.
All of these processes have been studied extensively.
The first two processes are fairly well understood, but the third process has been very
difficult to elucidate until recently because of the large number of oligomeric species
(~2000) in the pitch as well as the fact that the pitch material destroys analytical equipment.
Carbon carbon composite aircraft brakes are manufactured by the CVD process. This process
requires a long period of time to densify a preform because it is necessary to keep the
temperature and gas concentration as low as possible in order to diffuse the hydrocarbon gas
into the preform before it deposits on the fiber surfaces. This process is limited to relatively
thin (<5 cm) preforms and requires in-process machining to remove the outer dense layer in
order for additional in-depth deposition to occur.
The polymer precursor route to a carbon carbon composite matrix was developed for the
Space Shuttle and has been utilized for many decades. In this process, woven carbon fiber
fabric is pre-pregged with a polymer (usually phenolic) and then stacked/cured into a 2-D
layered composite before carbonization and re-densification. These composites have good inplane properties (tensile strength of 138 483 MPa and tensile modulus of 34.5 103.4 GPa)
with much lower inter-laminar properties (tensile strength of 1.4 13.8 MPa). Processing of
these composites is slow due to the need to keep gas evolution during processing to a
minimum in order to avoid delamination. The processing requirements and associated costs
keeps the thickness of these composites to less than 100 mm.
The most versatile processing route to densify carbon carbon composites is to utilize a pitchbased material, which includes petroleum-based pitches, coal tar-based pitches, and various
synthetic pitches to impregnate the preform. Although, in contrast to the other methods,
commercial pitch processing is able to densify large thick parts, and like CVD produce a
graphitizable matrix, they are not without issues. The petroleum and coal tar pitches are
viscous and generally do not wet the preform surface. Thus, temperature and pressure are
required to fill the preform. In addition, pressure is also needed to keep the matrix precursor
in the preform during the conversion process in which pitch is converted into carbon.

Fig. Specific strength Vs temperature for composites and metals

After the hydrocarbon matrix is placed in the preform, it is carbonized to form the carbon
matrix. Depending on the type of precursor matrix material the carbon yield can vary from
~50% (phenolic) to ~85% for a synthetic pitch. Obviously, even if the hydrocarbon matrix
completely fills the preform (which it does not), several densification cycles are required.
Depending on the application, either after each densification/carbonization cycle or after the
last cycle, the densified preform can be graphitized at temperatures in excess of 2200C in
order to improve the properties.
Although carbon carbon composites are excellent high-temperature structural materials, their
Achilles heel is oxidation. Above 425C, carbon starts to oxidize if unprotected limiting the
use of these composites for long-term high-temperature applications. Various oxidation
protection coating and inhibitor technologies have been tried, with most not being successful.
A silicon carbide coating has performed well on the leading edges of the Space Shuttle where
the temperature is below 1500C and a ZrB2-SiC coating performs well up to 1800C. Above
this temperature only rhenium coated with iridium has proved to be a successful long-term
coating up to 2400C. Another way to decrease the oxidation rate is to densify the carbon
fiber preform with a ceramic matrix, such as, silicon carbide producing a ceramic matrix
composite.

Ceramic-Matrix Composite:
Since monolithic ceramics are brittle materials, even microscopic flaws can greatly reduce
the strength of the component. This makes them unsuitable for many applications. However,
the inherent brittleness of ceramic materials can be overcome by the use of continuous or
discontinuous ceramic or carbon fiber reinforcements resulting in a ceramic matrix composite
. This dispersed phase is designed to improve toughness by bridging the cracks and keeping
the material intact when it fractures. The fibers can also de-bond and slide through the matrix,
dissipating energy and preventing fracture.
The reinforcement consists principally of fibers of alumina, silicon carbide, carbon, titanium
boride (TiB2), aluminum nitride (AlN), zirconium oxide (ZrO2), yttrium aluminum garnet
(YAG), and alumina-silica (mullite), with SiC and carbon fibers being the most popular due
to their high strength (3 GPa - SiC) and modulus (270 GPa - SiC) (COI Ceramics). The
matrix by definition is a ceramic with the most important commercial matrices being SiC and
Al2O3. To enhance oxidation resistance oxide (fiber)-oxide (matrix) composites are utilized.
Depending on the constituents, these composites are able to function well in an oxidizing
environment for long periods at temperatures up to 1400C
The ceramic fiber structures can be densified with the matrix material by using various
processes such as slurry infiltration, polymer impregnation and pyrolysis (PIP), chemical
vapor infiltration (CVI), melt infiltration (MI), electrophoretic deposition of a ceramic powder, as well as sol gel processing.
These composites are utilized in high-temperature oxidizing environments, such as in
turbines, jet engines (flaps, vanes, seals, flame holders), heat shields, burner tubes, and heat
exchangers .
Metal-Matrix Composites:
Although metal matrix composites (MMCs) do not function at as high a temperature as
carbon and ceramic-based composites, they function well where ductility as well as enhanced
mechanical properties are required. These composites consist of a metal matrix (Al, Mg, Ti)
reinforced with a continuous or discontinuous fiber (boron or carbon) or particulate (SiC, C,
Al2O3, B4C). Because the matrix is metallic these composites also have good thermal
conductivity. Since the vast majority of applications utilize an aluminum matrix, these
composites are usually employed in temperatures below 500C with most uses taking
advantage of the stiffness and low CTE of these composites. The principal applications above
200C have been in the automotive industry for use as cylinder liners , connecting rods , as
and fatigue resistance, hardness, wear and abrasion resistance, as well as thermal shock
resistance are required These composites are usually produced employing powder metallurgy
techniques.

Modes of Failure at High Temperature

Some common modes of failure of materials are discussed below:
Melting and Softening
M
generally chemically very reactive with its environment. Thus, one needs high melting
compounds for high-temperature applications. Impurities usually lower the melting point, and
deep eutectics can be disastrous. Glasses do not melt but they soften on going through their
glass transition. Glasses can crystallize, sometimes transforming a dense solid material to a
porous powdery one. Even crystalline solids become soft and deformable at high temperature
and brittle materials become ductile . Such effects occur typically above about two-thirds of
the melting point in degrees Kelvin.
Vaporization
Many solids vaporize (sublime) rather than melt. Others melt and then boil. At reduced
pressure vaporization is more extensive. The vaporization behavior of metals and their oxides
can be quite different. For example, metals such as tungsten, molybdenum, rhenium, and
osmium are refractory and useable to temperatures above 2000C, while their oxides are low
melting and volatile. Their ready oxidation and the poor high-temperature behavior of their
oxides limit the use of such metals to non-oxidizing environments (inert gas or vacuum).
Corrosion and Chemical Reaction with the Atmosphere
Reactions include oxidation, nitridation, reaction with H2O and CO2 to form hydrates and
carbonates, and reaction with traces of HCl, SO2, and other corrosive gases. Oxidation,
especially of small particles and dusts, can be explosive and reaction of active metals such as
zirconium with water to form the metal oxide plus hydrogen can lead to hydrogen explosions
if air is also present. One should also note that nitrogen is not always a suitably inert
gas for metals that readily form stable nitrides at high temperature, for example, titanium,
zirconium, and tantalum.
Diffusion and Solid-State Reaction
When two different materials are in contact, they will diffuse into each other or form a layer
of reacted material if such reaction is thermodynamically favorable. Grains will grow and the
material may become porous and change in other physical properties. In composite structures,
such as thermal barrier coatings, different layers may delaminate or material may spall off.
On the other hand, adherent protective coatings of reacted (oxidized) metal or intentionally
added other protective layers can greatly extend the use and lifetime of materials at high
temperature, for example, in protective oxide layers and thermal barrier coatings

Solid Solid Phase Transformations

If there are phase transitions among different crystal structures, the properties of the hightemperature phase may be quite different from those of the low-temperature phase. If the
phase transition involves a large volume change, cracking or disintegration may occur.

MATERIALS:
Carbon-Carbon Composite:
Reinforced carbon-carbon composite has low density, a high strength to weight ratio, and the
ability to withstand high temperatures . Though Nimonic 263 is a high strength material
compared to the carbon-carbon composite, its strength to density ratio is significantly lower.
Carbon-carbon composite retains its properties up to 2273 K without considerable decay in
strength. Less brittle than many other ceramics, carbon-carbon composite have low impact
resistances when compared to most non-ceramic materials. For this reason, carbon-carbon
composite is not used for the entire nose section. Carbon-carbon is a very costly material
exceeding $100,000 per panel so it is only used as a small strip at the leading edge of the nose
cone. For reference, this material has been used for making the leading edge of the nose cone
of NASA X43 hypersonic vehicle and Space Shuttles .

Tungsten:
Tungsten is used for the rest of the nose cone because of its strength, impact resistance,
erosion resistance, corrosion resistance, resistance to thermal shock. Though titanium (Ti6A1-4V) has high strength to weight ratio compared to tungsten, it was not used because its
strength at high temperatures deteriorates much more quickly than Tungsten. For
reference,Tungsten was also used for the nose of NASA X-43 hypersonic vehicles.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION:

The major objective is to minimize the temperature generated by atmospheric friction and to
reduce the drag on the body. Several materials can be used but since all these aerospace and
defence missions involve life and extremely high cost only the best possible materials should
be used
Considering the above mentioned factors it is inferred that Carbon-Carbon composite will be
used as a small strip at the leading edge of the nose cone as it is very costly and for the rest
of the surface Tungsten can be used which has reasonably good strength at the higher
temperatures.

Future Material:
Recent study has shown that Ultra High Temperature Ceramics can be potential replacement
for Carbon-Carbon composites providing cost advantage.

References:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Introduction to aerospace materials by Adrian P. Mouritz

High Temperature Materials and Mechanisms Edited by Yoseph Bar Cohen
Essentials of Materials Science and Engineering by Donald R. Askeland
Project SENTINEL: Design of a Long-Range, High-Speed, Precision-Strike
Tactical Weapon by Vivek Ahuja, Jason Cary

5. Ground Testing of Aerospace Vehicles Including Engines by A.K. Verma, K.N

Narayanan and George Joseph