C3HARME - Next generation ceramic composites for combustion harsh environment and space

The EU-funded project C3HARME aims at combining the best features of CMCs and UHTCs to design, develop, manufacture and qualify a new class of Ultra-High Temperature Ceramic Matrix Composite (UHTCMCs) with self-healing capabilities. Applications selected to implement the new materials are near-zero erosion nozzles and near-zero ablation thermal protection system (TPS) tiles. This presentation introduces the challenges addressed by C3HARME project including i) the integration between well-established and novel techniques for CMCs and UHTCs production, ii) the need for very high temperature characterization, iii) the meaning of self-healing capability for UHTCMCs, iv) the contribution of modelling to materials development and V) the investigation of the microstructure/thermo-mechanical property correlations. Preliminary results concerning production and testing of prototypes in extreme environments are presented too.