Applications of

composite
materials in missile
and space hardware
SHARATH.B.N
M.Tech. 2nd semester
BMSCE

Missiles a brief history

References to missiles dates back to the Vedic age in India.

Rocket used by Tipu Sultans army.

Image for representation

(Integrated Publishing - Your
source for military specifications
and educational publications)

Fiber glass was used for filament winding of rocket motor cases in
1950s.
Now Kv-Ep filament is used.
Trident I missile
Gr-Ep cloth readily conforms to the irregular shapes and reduces
manufacturing time by up to 50%.
This results in 20% weight savings over Aluminum.

 Today as much as 60% of the weight of this missile is of the

composites.
Sitka spruce laminated with Gl-Ep cloth is used in nose fairing.
Polyphenylene sulphide matrix reinforced with 40% glass fiber is
used in electronic packaging.

Trident 1 (Lockheed Martin)

Tomahawk missile
Tail fins and elevons are made of molded and compression Gr-Ep
respectively.
Wings are made of adhesively bonded thermoplastics.

Previously the tail fins, elevons and wings were made of Aluminum.
The shaft used in turbo shaft engine uses Titanium metal matrix
composites.

Space hardware
They are weight critical structures.
Dominant parameters are high stiffness and low thermal distortion
rather than strength.
Other critical factors are thermal and electrical conductivity,
stability under vacuum and space radiation.

International Space Station

(Wikipedia)

Satellites and communication systems

The reflector support truss of
Application Technology Satellite(ATS)
used high modulus Gr-Ep tape.
This is a high stiffness, low thermal
expansion material.
This resulted in weight saving of 50%
over an equivalent Aluminum truss.

ATS support truss (Hercules, Inc.)

Truss supporting the antenna dish

(Hercules, Inc.)

Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS)

Composites are applied in antenna

dish support ribs.
The tube consists of lay-up of Gr-Ep,
which weigh 181g.

TDRSS antenna partially assembled

(Hercules, Inc.)

TDRSS (Hercules, Inc.)

Large Space Telescope (LST)

The LST uses Gr-Ep truss,

which supports the primary
and secondary mirrors.
It is not possible to use
conventional metals owing to
their expansion or contraction.
Gr-Ep has axial expansion of
less than 2 microns.

LST (Mayer, N.J.: Composite Materials in Space

Structures)

Space shuttle

The space shuttle uses

composites in many areas
resulting in reduction of weight
by 1633 kg.
It uses Gr-Ep skins for the
maneuvering system and
Titanium tubes reinforced with
B-Ep in the aft structure.

Credit: NASA

The pressure vessels are made

of Titanium wrapped with KvEp.

 The space shuttle has 242

uni-directional B-Al tubes
which serve as main frame
and nose landing gear
struts.
Its lower thermal
conductivity helps in lower
heat flow in to the payload
bays, reducing thermal
insulation requirements.
Courtesy: Mater. Eng., Jan 1980, p.
66

 The cargo bay doors use

Gr-Ep composite.
They are each 18.3m long.
Gr-Ep was chosen due to
its low coefficient of
thermal expansion, which
prevents warping due to
asymmetrical heating.
Space shuttle cargo-bay doors (Aviation Week
Technology, 1982)

END