- Start
- Feb 19, 202290% CONFIDENCEfrom manchester.ac.uk · possible Feb 19, 2022 – Jul 23, 2027
- End
- Jul 24, 202725% CONFIDENCELow confidencefrom the source
New Ceramic Coating Could Make Hypersonic Air Travel a Reality
- Researchers at the University of Manchester, working with Central South University (CSU) in China and the Royce Institute, developed a carbide-based ceramic coating for hypersonic air, space and defence uses; Manchester announced it on 06 July 2017, The Engineer reported it on 10 Jul 2017 and Interesting Engineering on Jul 11, 2017.[1][2][3]
- The coating resists temperatures up to 3,000 C and is reported to perform 12 times better than zirconium carbide (ZrC), "a widely used UHTC often found in tool bits".[1][2][3]
- It is made by reactive melt infiltration (RMI), "which reduces the time needed to make such materials", and reinforced with a carbon-carbon composite, "making it extremely resistant to typical surface degradation"; it was manufactured at CSU's Powder Metallurgy Institute and studied at Manchester's School of Materials.[1][2][3]
- The problem it addresses: hypersonic flight is "defined as Mach five or above" and would subject aircraft to external temperatures between 2,000 and 3,000 C, leading to oxidation and ablation, and "conventional UHTCs can't currently satisfy the associated ablation requirements of hypersonic flight".[2][3] Interesting Engineering puts the Mach 5 figure as "up to 3,600F to 5400F".[1]
- Prof. Philip Withers: "At present one of the biggest challenges is how to protect critical components such as leading edges, combustors and nose tips so that they survive the severe oxidation and extreme scouring of heat fluxes such temperatures cause to excess during flight"; he said a hypersonic plane could fly London to New York in two hours.[2][3]
- The study was led by Prof. Ping Xiao, who said "Current candidate UHTCs for use in extreme environments are limited and it is worthwhile exploring the potential of new single-phase ceramics in terms of reduced evaporation and better oxidation resistance"; it is published as "Ablation-resistant carbide Zr0.8Ti0.2C0.74B0.26 for oxidizing environments up to 3,000 C", Nature Communications 15836 (2017).[2][3]
- The coating could also make spacecraft re-entry safer, but "Workable hypersonic vehicles are still a distant dream"; Lockheed Martin and DARPA have announced plans to revive hypersonic vehicle development.[1]
- Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said of hypersonic passenger aircraft that "in the next decade or two you're going to see them become a reality", with Shanghai to New York cut from 15 hours to two; separately, Colorado's Boom is developing a commercial supersonic jet, with five airlines thought to have placed orders after the Paris Airshow, though commercial viability is uncertain given high operating costs.[1]
References 386% CONFIDENCE
The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
- [1]25%interestingengineering.com/ceramic-coating-hypersonic-air-travel-realityinterestingengineering.com· Posted Jul 23, 2017· Starts Jul 23, 2027· Ends Jul 24, 2027 ✓· 0% of score
No wording about the date found on interestingengineering.com; treat it as unverified.
- [2]82%New ceramic coating could have hypersonic applicationstheengineer.co.uk· Published Apr 19, 2022· Starts Feb 19, 2022· 56% of score
The Engineer independently corroborates the University of Manchester[3]/Central South University carbide coating research, describing the same 12x improvement over existing ultra-high-temperature ceramics.
- [3]90%Chances of hypersonic travel heat up with new materials discoverymanchester.ac.uk· Published Feb 19, 2022· Starts Feb 19, 2022 ✓· 44% of score
The University of Manchester's own press release announces the carbide-based ultra-high-temperature ceramic coating (developed with Central South University, China) that the pin's source article covers, around February 2022 - about five years before the pin's stored 23 July 2027 date.
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