Hybrid exhaust component
View Patent ↗An exhaust includes a wall that has a first composite material having a first coefficient of thermal expansion and a second composite material having a second coefficient of the thermal expansion that is less than the first coefficient of thermal expansion.
1. An exhaust comprising:
a wall of a rocket engine nozzle extending from a first end to a second end and around a central axis to define an internal space, the wall including a first composite material having a first coefficient of thermal expansion and a second composite material having a second coefficient of thermal expansion that is less than the first coefficient of thermal expansion, the first composite material and the second composite material being formed of respective layered structures, with layers of the layered structure of the first composite material being interleaved in a radially alternating arrangement with layers of the second composite material.
2. The exhaust as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first end comprises the first composite material and the second end comprises the second composite material.
3. The exhaust as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wall includes an attachment feature.
4. The exhaust as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wall includes a flange that extends radially from a base to a free end.
5. The exhaust as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wall includes an attachment opening.
6. The exhaust as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first composite material is different from the second composite material in at least one of composition, microstructure or processing.
7. The exhaust as recited in claim 6 , wherein the second composite material is different from the first composite material in composition.
8. The exhaust as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first composite material comprises silicon carbide fibers and the second composite material comprises graphitic carbon fibers.
9. The exhaust as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first composite material or the second composite material includes a polymer matrix composite comprising a polyimide matrix.
10. The exhaust as recited in claim 9 , wherein the polymer matrix composite comprises graphitic carbon fibers dispersed within the polyimide matrix.
11. The exhaust as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first composite and the second composite each comprise a material that includes a graphitic carbon matrix, and the first composite material includes first fibers and the second composite material includes second fibers that are different from the first fibers.
12. The exhaust as recited in claim 1 , wherein the layers of the respective layered structures include unidirectionally oriented fibers.
13. The exhaust as recited in claim 12 , wherein the unidirectionally oriented fibers are cross-arranged in a stack of alternating 0°/90° orientations.
14. A rocket system comprising:
a rocket engine including a nozzle having a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE nozzle ); and
a nozzle extension including a wall extending between a first end and a second end and around a central axis, the first end including a first composite material having a first coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE 1 ) and the second end including a second composite material having a second coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE 2 ) that is less than the first coefficient of thermal expansion such that CTE nozzle >CTE 1 >CTE 2 , the nozzle extension being secured at the first end to the nozzle, and the first composite material axially abutting the second composite material at an axially intermediate section of the wall, wherein the first composite material is a first fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composite and the second composite material is a second fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composite.
15. The rocket system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the first composite material comprises silicon carbide fibers and the second composite material comprises graphitic carbon fibers.
16. The rocket system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the wall includes an intermediate section that comprises an axial overlap of the first composite material and the second composite material.
17. The rocket system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the first composite material and the second composite material are formed of respective layered structures, with layers of the layered structure of the first composite material being interleaved in a radially alternating arrangement with layers of the second composite material.
18. The rocket system as recited in claim 14 , wherein a portion of the first composite material is radially stacked with a portion of the second composite material in the axially intermediate section.