The National Hypersonic Science Center for Materials and Structures is one of three university and industry partnerships in California, Texas and Virginia designated by NASA and the United States Air Force as national hypersonic science centers. The new centers will advance research in materials and structures, air-breathing propulsion, and boundary layer control for hypersonic flight.
NHSC-MS Team members:
- Teledyne Scientific & Imaging, California (lead organization)
- University of California at Santa Barbara
- University of Colorado in Boulder
- University of Miami in Florida
- Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla
- University of California at Berkeley
- University of Texas at Arlington
- University of Virginia
- Research topics
Some of our goals:
- Discovery of new materials and processing routes: oxidation-resistant matrices for fiber-reinforced ceramic composites; polymer-derived ceramics and oxide compounds combined at the nanoscale; doped refractory carbides and borides to maximize oxidation resistance; combine different materials in tailored morphologies; methods of net-shape processing.
- New experimental methods: testing in high thermal gradients, imaging to enable direct visualization of mechanisms that limit material performance (including synchrotron tomography).
- Multi-scale models that represent discrete failure mechanisms explicitly at all scales, from macroscopic to atomic. Combining experiments and multi-scale models into a virtual test system for material design and certification.