Thermal Management Coating (TMC)

An experimental study was conducted in conjunction with the research and development program at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) on thermal protection systems (TPS) for aerospace applications, a new concept for reusable TPS material. The new system uses a micro-encapsulated phase-change material rather than an ablative material to dissipate the heat produced during supersonic flight. This new material absorbs energy as it goes through a phase change during the heating portion of the flight profile and then the energy is released as the material cools. This new TPS consists of micro-encapsulated phasechange material and a resin system to adhere the coating to the structure. The technology has been successfully tested in the hot gas tunnel (aero-thermal heating). The figure shows the test results.