Application of High-Temperature Materials to Aircraft Powerplants in the Temperature Range 1200–2400 F

OUR aircraft industry is fast approaching the time when it will be hard-pressed to design and construct elevated-temperature structural components from engineering materials now available. This situation is particularly aggravated in afterburner, ramjet, and rocket engine design, where operating combustion temperatures may exceed the melting points of constructional metals developed to date.

Several applications of available alloys to combustion-chamber design are described, and it is concluded that new materials such as molybdenum, cermets, and ceramic coatings, together with refined cooling techniques, must provide the answer to the limitations imposed by the inadequacies of elevated-temperature materials available today.