Intermetallics for thermal protection systems

Future Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLV's) will require improved Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) to achieve the ambitious goal of reducing the cost of delivering a payload to orbit by, at least, an order of magnitude. In this context, metallic materials are good candidates for their use in TPS and hot structures. Up to date, only two major type of materials have been considered and developed in Europe for such type of applications: Oxide Dispersion Strengthened (ODS) and intermetallics (?-TiAl). INASMET, during last years, has been working with the orthorhombic titanium aluminides, whose specific properties are comparable, to those of ODS and ?-TiAl materials. The EXPERT mission represents a unique opportunity to test under re-entry conditions this material.