CFD RESEARCH CORPORATION — Department of Defense STTR Phase I: AF19A-T021

Description

The proposed effort aims to deliver a novel process model for carbon-carbon manufacturing to determine thermo-mechanical properties of these materials and their components, thereby enabling a faster cycle for material development for hypersonic platforms. The proposed solution consists of (1) requirement and functionality analyses, (2) a six-level model representing the key steps of the manufacturing process for the carbon-carbon material, (3) advance surrogate modeling and data fusion methods for constructing faster and accurate models, and (4) validation of the process model by experimental data to be obtained during the Phase I efforts. The six-level model will capture details of the pyrolysis process and effects of cracks, material configurations and component geometry. By utilizing the advanced surrogate modeling and data fusion methods, accurate prediction of the thermochemical properties of the carbon-carbon materials will be feasible for a broad range of process parameters. University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) will be the academic partner on this STTR effort. UDRI will process and fabricate the C/C composite, providing processing parameters to be used in validating process models. In Phase II, efforts will focus on developing an integrated modeling suite including a detailed pyrolysis model, and comprehensive validation of the process model.