Spray Deposition of Aerogels as Thermal Barriers Navy STTR FY2005 Sol No.: Navy STTR FY2005 Topic No.: N05-T015 Topic Title: Spray Deposition of Aerogels as Thermal Barriers Proposal No.: N054-015-0364 Firm: ASPEN AEROGELS, INC. 30 Forbes Road Building B Northborough, Massachusetts 01532 Contact: Wendell Rhine Phone: (508) 481-5052 Web Site: www.aerogel.com Abstract: The innovation addressed in this proposal is an aerogel-based thermal barrier.. Applied with a proprietary process to the nose tip and leading edges of the control surfaces, this ultra-thin barrier can provide enough thermal resistance to blunt the severe temperature spike due to aero-thermal heating in the first few seconds after launch. This will maintain the shell's skin temperature be-low the limit value, preserving structural and aerodynamic integrity. Downrange, as the projectile decelerates into less extreme flight conditions, the aerogel further limits the integrated heat soak, thereby protecting the payload and other internal components. In this way, Aspen's thermal coatings would enable the US Navy to capture the range, lethality, and time-to-target advantages offered by hypervelocity projectiles and missiles. During the proposed program, Aspen Aerogels (Northborough, MA) will work with its academic partner to develop this concept. As the industry leader in commercial aerogel products, Aspen will concentrate on the aerogel chemistry. The academic partner will leverage its unique analytical and experimental capabilities to evaluate the system`s performance under realistic conditions of aerothermal heating and mechanical shock. Benefits: Aspen's aerogels are dried through supercritical rather than ambient solvent exchange, so the unique nanostructure that gives aerogels their unusual properties is preserved. Therefore, the primary benefit of Aspen's concept is its very low thermal conductivity compared to other commercially available aerogel products. . The Aspen coatings will be easy to apply, easy to analyze and, because they rely on commonly available materials, very low cost on a per-part basis. Finally, Aspen's formulations and processes are robust enough that, by changing additives and other aspects of the basic aerogel chemistry, broad ranges of physical and thermal properties are achievable. This lends the proposed concept a level of flexibility not found in other low-density insulation products. Return