A research effort by the U.S. Navy seeks to boost new alternatives to carbon-carbon materials for the thermal protection systems for hypersonic vehicles, with the goal to dramatically reduce costs, speed-up deliveries and provide similar performance.

Carbon-carbon, a composite made of carbon fiber reinforced by a graphite matrix, has a long history with NASA’s hypersonic programs and is the material used as the primary thermal protection system for multiple hypersonic-boosted glide vehicles now being developed by the Defense Department (DOD).

But the Naval Air Surface Warfare Center’s Crane Division notes the DOD’s reliance on carbon-carbon material has drawbacks.

Carbon-carbon “is a niche material that is time consuming and costly to manufacture. It is supported by a very limited boutique supply base that constrains the ability to rapidly respond to anticipated demand signals from DOD,” says a request for solutions published by the center in April.

The center has launched the Joint Acceleration of Hypersonic Vehicle Aerostructures Alternatives (Jahvaa) program whose staff intends to qualify multiple new materials for thermal protection systems.

The program is advancing alongside the three-year-old Manufacturing of Carbon-Carbon Composites for Hypersonic Applications program by the Air Force Research Laboratory. Unlike that program, Jahvaa officials only will consider alternatives to carbon-carbon composites. The Navy center plans to select several proposals for carbon-carbon alternatives. A separate company will be selected to provide independent verification and validation to ensure the materials can meet performance, cost and production goals.

The alternatives should provide 2-10 times better manufacturing cost “and/or” cycle time, the center says, adding the materials should be ready to enter low-rate initial production by the end of 2026. In addition to the expected cost and cycle time improvements, the alternatives also need to deliver at least 90% of the thermal performance of carbon-carbon composites.