High Temperature Composite Structures are produced via a proprietary chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) process with a range of ceramic or refractory metal, matrix composites (CMCs) based on carbon or silicon carbide fibers. The process results in higher density CMCs anc a considerable savings in the processing time. Present estimates indicate a seven-fold reduction in time and ten-fold reduction in the processing cost over conventional isothermal CVI processes. Additionally, this process can functionally grade a refractory surface matrix (such as HfC, TaC, Re or SiC) to a carbon or silicon carbide interior matrix in the same processing time, thereby producing composite materials which behave like HfC, Re or SiC yet are lightweight. These refreactory CMCs are being developed for a wide range of propulsion components, such as hot gas valves, nozzles and combustors for use in conjunction with next generation propellants where thermal stability at temperatures in excess of 3200 °F are required.

Graded Matrices - HfC (light areas) graded to carbon (dark areas)	Actively cooled composite thrust cells	Hot fire test of ceramic matrix composite for solid DACS applications

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