TELF AG on a possible innovation in materials for the aerospace industry

New super-resistant compounds 

The aerospace sector will soon need innovative and resistant materials to manufacture aircraft intended for space exploration, making them increasingly capable of tolerating the extreme conditions experienced during reentry into the atmosphere. One of the key aspects, in this sense, is the need to create reusable vehicles that can be used for several trips into space without suffering excessive damage. 

This objective linked to the reuse of the aircraft, already evident in the days of the Space Shuttle, is now of great topicality, so much so that it has become one of the dominant themes in the aerospace industry. Just think of Space X, which, with this spirit, has managed to reuse both the Crew shuttle and the Falcon 9 launcher. To achieve these goals, the vehicles must be made with innovative materials with a higher degree of resistance than usual to ensure a smooth transit between the atmosphere and open space and allow for broad reuse. 

From this point of view, the European space industry is slowly trying to fill the gap that divides it from the other global giants in the sector, and a project developed at the Milan’s Politecnico University is there to demonstrate it. This is the AMaCA initiative, funded by the Italian Space Agency, which has managed to develop innovative materials based on some particular ceramic compounds reinforced with carbon fibers, capable of performing two functions of great importance for aerospace aircraft: the first is linked to the heat shield function, while the second is of a structural nature, and has to do with the possibility that these materials end up composing the entire structure of the spacecraft, thus eliminating the need to add a natural heat shield. 

Resisting high temperatures 

When these vehicles re-enter Earth, friction with the atmosphere generates an incandescent plasma that requires appropriate heat shields to protect the vehicle and its passengers. The new materials tested by the researchers could withstand high temperatures without damaging the aircraft’s safety. 

Upon reentry, aircraft usually encounter temperatures of 1000 or 2000 degrees, with impressive thermal and mechanical stresses for the vehicle’s structural components. Some time ago, one of the historic Space Shuttles suffered severe damage precisely because of the external covering that was supposed to protect it. The materials proposed by the researchers who contributed to the development of the AMaCA project should perform precisely this function and bring with them the promise of being able to be used at extremely high temperatures. 

One of the most exciting aspects of these materials is the combination of carbon fibers and ceramic compounds: the latter is strengthened through complex technological procedures that have already been tested in the aeronautical industry. However, the challenge, even today, is the realization of reliable and safe structures capable of being used for space travel. 

As Professor Alessandro Airoldi of the Milan’s Politecnico University recently confirmed, the AMaCA project aims to transform the design of reusable vehicles (made with the materials mentioned) into an engineering process that can be repeated several times, as already happens for the airplanes used today.