Summary

Description

<p>CA-TPS is leveraging earlier investments made by ARMD’s Hypersonic and HEOMD’s ETDD program that matured the concept from TRL 1 to 2.CA-TPS starts with thick, carbonized rayon felt and the flexible felt is converted to ablative TPS via low density phenolic resin infusion similar to the PICA process.  The resulting conformal TPS molded to the required shape prior to resin infusion can then be machined and bonded to the carrier structure.  The ease of machining holes to accommodate protrusion on the heat shield or back shell is an attractive feature.  The material can be machined with exceptional tolerance and compliance which allows TPS integration with extremely simple seams to form a robust system. The design should result in much larger molded TPS panels that can be directly bonded to most carrier structures and allow for a simplified design of seams between gore panels.  This will eliminate the need for gap filler design and strain isolation pads, and should accommodate a wider range of allowable carrier structure imperfections when compared to a rigid material such as PICA.</p>