Materials Property Definition and Generation for Carbon-Carbon and Carbon Phenolic Materials

The use of carbon phenolic and carbon-carbon materials in nozzle and exit cone designs has been historically plagued by the lack of reliable, statistically significant material property data. Property data are needed by designers to analyze thermal response and stress levels and develop designs with safety factors that assume high reliability at minimum weight penalties. This program is structured to provide the data necessary for thermal and stress modeling or tape-wrapped carbon phenolic and involute carbon-carbon components.

The work is initially directed at determining critical properties for analysis followed by evaluation of existing data and the determination of data deficiencies. New data will be generated in statistically significant quantities. Alternate materials will be selected and characterized and a final data book will be prepared.

Materials to be tested will be excised from Space Shuttle inlet throat, and exit cone billets and modified IUS and STAR 48 involute carbon-carbon exit cones; co-processed blocks. panels, and cylinders will also be tested. Morton Thiokol, Inc., is fabricating the Shuttle parts; Kaiser and Hitco are fabricating the IUS and STAR 48 components; and Southern Research will do the testing. Figure 1 outlines the program.