QUALIFIED MATERIALS FOR HYPERSONIC AND SPACE

Crewed space vehicles, high-performance automotive, and hypersonic flight are driving interest in TenCate’s ultra-high temperature product range. TenCate has qualified materials on the Orion heat shield, F-35 Engine Ducts, a variety of missile structures, and select portions of space exploration vehicles including MESSENGER and Bepi Colombo.

High temperature resins available include:

> Cyanate esters—Most notably TC420, dry T_g 343°C (650°F)

> BMI—RS-8HT, dry T_g 310°C (590°F)

> Polyimides—In conjunction with our partner PROOF, with TC890 as high as dry T_g 454°C (850°F)

> Phthalonitrile (PN)—Being developed with NRL, dry T_g >454°C (>850°F)

> Non-MDA—PMR15 Product (PROOF 635LM, dry T_g 384°C (723°F)

Carbon fabric is the predominant product form adopted for these applications, available in either woven fabric or uni-directional tapes. Glass and quartz reinforcements are also available. 

Customers also request organic precursor ceramic matrix composite (CMC) prepregs. Due to extensive experience with this material, TenCate can readily work with customers to develop CMC materials and applications to meet specific requirements.

As with TenCate's polyimide resin product lines, CMC precursor prepregs are based on products developed by our high temperature resin partner, PROOF Research™ Advanced Composites Division.

Longer Out Life—Comparable Mechanical performance

TenCate recently launched TC275-1E, an extended out life version of TenCate’s popular TC275-1 out-of-autoclave epoxy resin.

TC275-1E features the same mechanical properties as TC275-1 with a tack life of 21 days and an out life of 28 days with no drop in properties as measured by short beam shear testing.

Mechanical and T_g data using Grafil TR50S 15K 150 faw, UD tape 35% resin content

A Holistic Approach

Defining the “best” reinforcement for any application should start at the macroscopic (system) level, ensuring parameter optimization for each key attribute of the system. 

Typical considerations for the best reinforcement include:

> Affordability—Highest value at minimum cost

> Heritage/design database—TenCate has more than 25 years of space flight heritage

> Manufacturing processes—Out-of-Autoclave (OOA) or Automated Fiber Placement (AFP)/Automated Tape Laying (ATL).

Read more about the down selection process, including reinforcements, here...

Material and Part Manufacturing Expertise

TenCate's Expert Services group's incomparable experience in materials and part manufacturing enables us to skillfully support our customers in new product introduction, problem analysis, and continuous improvements. The team's knowledge and training in problem solving techniques allows it to assist customers in identifying root causes and implementing immediate resolutions.  

Expert Services support example

Customer concern: Wrinkles on a part being made.

First thoughts: Is the prepreg causing the wrinkles? This problem didn’t exist with a previous lot of material. Could this issue be specific to the current lot of material?  

First investigation

Material observed after cutting and kitting. Result was no wrinkles in prepreg.

Second investigation

Step one: Review of part manufacturing work instructions revealed nothing unusual.

Step two: Engineer described the “room temperature debulk” processing. 

Step three: Operator mentioned that their general processing specification also allowed hot debulks to save time. When the production schedule was full, hot debulking was used to save time. 

Root cause

The hot debulk was causing wrinkles. The tooling was aluminum. The difference in CTE versus the composite part caused expansion. As the material cooled, the wrinkles appeared. Previous parts used only the room temperature debulking, and therefore did not exhibit wrinkling.