Protezioni termiche avanzate a profilo aguzzo per ambienti estremi

The research project entitled "Advanced thermal protections with sharp profiles for extreme environments" within the Italian Piano Nazionale Ricerca Militare lasted two years. The driving idea of the project started from the need of developing novel materials, not available on the market, suited to fulfill one of the most stringent requirements of the sharp leading edge technology: provide materials able to withstand operating temperatures above 2300K in strongly oxidizing environment with marginal performance decay. Therefore, the project designed, fabricated and characterized a lab-scale technology demonstrator for advanced thermal protections with sharp profiles made of a massive ZrB2-SiC based ultra-high temperature ceramic. The technology readiness of the technological demonstrator in an extreme environment (the re-entry) was validated successfully thanks to an high enthalpy supersonic arc-jet gallery