Transpiration Cooled Fin Flight Experiment FinExII on HIFLIER1

Abstract

The flight in hypersonic conditions implies important challenges for the vehicle development concerning in first place the thermal protection of the external structures, especially in the presence of sharp edges, where the high heat loads generated by the strong attached shock waves become even more critical. For these applications, a new variant of the C/C-SiC material with defined porosity level has been developed in the past years in order to combine the high-temperature resistance of the CMC material with the transpiration cooling technology. In the present paper, the activities for the flight testing of such technology applied to sharp leading-edge fins in hypersonic conditions is presented. For this purpose, in the framework of the HIFLIER flight research experiment, an experimental module of the sounding rocket was designed and constructed, housing four fins with leading edge made of the new porous CMC material and connected to a nitrogen gas supply system for the transpiration cooling application.