The performance and safety of the radioisotope power source depend in part on the thermal and impact properties of the materials used in the general purpose heat source (GPHS) through the use of an impact shell, thermal insulation and an aeroshell. Within the aeroshell are two graphite impact shells, made of fine-weave pierced-fabric (FWPF) that encapsulate four iridium alloy clad isotopic fuel pellets and provides impact protection for the clad. Impact studies conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratory showed that impact shells typically fractured parallel to their longitudinal axis. The objective of this effort is to develop new impact shell concepts with improved performance. An effort to develop alternative carbon-carbon composites for the graphite impact shell was conducted. Eight braided architectures were examined in this study. The effects of the number of graphitization cycles on both the density and circumferential strength of these braided structures were determined. Results show that a filament wound carbon-carbon composite possesses the desired density and circumferential strength important to GPHS.
A filament wound carbon-carbon composite for impact shell application
SPACE TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL FORUM - 2000 ; 2000 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA)
AIP Conference Proceedings ; 504 , 1 ; 1488-1493
2000-01-19
6 pages
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
A Filament Wound Carbon-Carbon Composite for Impact Shell Application
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