The authors describe the development and evaluation of a family of thin, laminated, material systems for use in noise and thermal control. The laminates are composed of thin, metal sheets which are interlayered with core materials specially selected for their thermal properties. The outer skins of the laminates in this study were typically 0.25-0.75 mm thick and were stainless steel, aluminized steel or aluminum alloy. A wide variety of core material compositions were evaluated including organic polymers, inorganic polymers, and refractory metal oxides. Likewise, the core materials were in various forms - woven cloths, felts, meshes, “papers” and mats, et cetera - and were typically 0.1-0.5 mm thick.
After evaluating about 75 commercially available materials in a trade off study, a group of seven core materials were selected for further work. Key elements in the study were demonstrations of manufacturability and processability of the laminates. An overview of the test results is described and three case studies of specific laminates are discussed.