The Hypersonics Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center will allow researchers to improve material and equipment capabilities for hypersonic vehicles.
Purdue University announced that it will be adding a new research center to its hypersonics research hub on campus. The new Hypersonics Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center (HAMTC) will be dedicated to the development of high-temperature materials and manufacturing processes. The facility will be open to industry partners, including GE Additive, Dynetics, Lockheed Martin, Aerojet Rocketdyne, GE Edison Works, Boeing, and a number of small businesses.
The HAMTC will be situated in a 65,000-square-foot Hypersonics and Applied Research Facility. The facility is reported to have cost $41 million and will house the only Mach 8 quiet wind tunnel available in the world, along with the hypersonic pulse (HYPULSE) reflected shock/expansion tunnel. Each tunnel can simulate various hypersonic flight scenarios. The HYPULSE tunnel uses a shock wave of heated air to recreate specific hypersonic flight conditions within a controlled environment and can simulate speeds from Mach 5 to Mach 40. Purdue is the second university in the U.S. to offer HYPULSE test capabilities and provide access to one of the only two Mach 6 quiet tunnels available in the country.
The Mach 8 tunnel was developed after Purdue received a contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory back in 2019 to enable data collection at speeds greater than Mach 6. By collecting data at higher Mach numbers, researchers will be able to better understand flow physics, particularly heat transfer and flight control effectiveness, as hypersonics programs continue to advance.
Hypersonic speed exceeds five times the speed of sound or Mach 5, enabling hypersonic weapons and vehicles to cover great distances in minutes. Hypersonic systems are often used in national security applications such as missiles and defense spacecraft. The advantage of hypersonic vehicles is that they are capable of rapid and agile maneuvering, preventing detection from defensive countermeasures. These systems are currently a top priority of the U.S. Department of Defense as competitors seek to advance their own programs.
However, speeds at this level also mean that friction and air resistance can create extreme heat, which results in surface-level reactions that break down materials. This is typically managed through tough but lightweight heat shields and thermal protection systems. To prevent system failures, sensors and electronics are also hardened to withstand extreme conditions. But to manage extreme heat and speed, advanced materials and composites are needed that can withstand extreme environments.
Mitigating extreme heating is one of the critical challenges involved in the design of hypersonic vehicles. The Purdue team has worked to tackle these problems in pursuit of designing and building advanced aircraft and missiles. The HAMTC is expected to enable innovations in material and equipment capabilities to combat these effects.
“When you heat up 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, small differences in expansion can cause large stresses between components made of different materials that may result in failure of hypersonic vehicles,” said HAMTC executive director Michael Sangid. “At HAMTC, we can essentially increase the temperature capabilities of materials via new compositions, create new manufacturing routes to produce complex geometrical designs, and join these dissimilar materials together, in order to meet the requirements of hypersonic environments.”
The contract for the new center began in December 2021. Purdue revealed that GE Additive will be the primary partner for additive manufacturing and will be providing customized additive manufacturing machines specially designed for processes developed at the facility. HAMTC is the first contract through the Purdue Applied Research Institute (PARI), Purdue University’s new nonprofit applied research arm. PARI recently received a 30-month $18.6 million contract to directly address gaps in hypersonic weapons development.
Hypersonics research is a key element under Purdue’s Next Moves initiatives and PARI, which recently announced strategic initiatives aimed at advancing the university’s competitive advantage. HAMTC is expected to further extend Purdue’s core competencies in hypersonics while enabling the university to work hand in hand with various partners. There is currently no set date for the completion of the HAMTC facility.
For more information, visit the Purdue Hypersonics website.