A Beijing research team said it has found a way to build a hypersonic missile with a steel nose tip, marking a major step forward in thermal protection technology.
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Researchers, led by Huang Fenglei, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology, published the design of the hypersonic anti-ship missile in the Chinese journal Acta Armamentarii last month.
Partial blueprints show the warhead casing – located at the front of the missile – is made from widely available, high-strength stainless steel.
Steel begins to melt at around 1,200 degrees Celsius (2,190 degrees Fahrenheit), but the nose of a hypersonic weapon can reach temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees in flight due to being heated by the atmosphere.
The team says their rocket is designed to reach speeds of Mach 8 - or eight times the speed of sound - and this represents a major step forward in thermal protection technology.
The use of cheap materials also fits with the Chinese military's strategy to reduce costs in the hypersonic arms race with the United States and Russia.
The article did not specify what stage the missile was in or whether it had undergone testing.
In the United States, tungsten alloys are often used for the parts of hypersonic vehicles that generate the most heat because tungsten has a melting point of over 3,400 degrees. For example, Boeing's X-51 Waverider aircraft has a tungsten nose to withstand the high temperatures of Mach 5.
Tungsten alloys also store a lot of thermal energy, and a US congressional investigation last year identified inadequate thermal protection as a major reason why US hypersonic weapons tests failed.
According to the Beijing research team, a steel hypersonic missile would not be able to survive more than 20 seconds at maximum speed without advanced thermal protection technology.
Their missiles are designed to shoot up into the atmosphere after launch, then drop to an altitude of 30km to 20km as they glide towards the target ship.
After 18 seconds of traveling at Mach 8, the temperature inside the warhead can reach 300 degrees — not enough to melt steel but enough to ignite the explosive.
Adding a thermal shield layer to the steel shell could solve the problem, the team suggests. They propose using ultra-high-temperature ceramics that can withstand temperatures of 3,000 degrees or more. That would make up the top 4mm layer of the shield. Beneath and attached to the steel shell would be a 5mm-thick layer of aerogel—a thermal insulator that would keep the temperature of the explosive at around 40 degrees during high-speed flight.
Project leader Huang is one of the most influential scientists working in China's defense industry. He has served as deputy research director of a military program, technical adviser to the powerful Central Military Commission, and deputy director of an engineering unit within China's Equipment Development Department.
China does not disclose the cost of producing its hypersonic weapons, but according to public reports, some of these weapons are being mass-produced and deployed for use on mobile missile launchers, warships and bombers.
As part of its ongoing reform and modernization program, the Chinese military has recently sought to reduce the cost of military products by requiring suppliers to take advantage of the country's manufacturing technology and economies of scale.
One example is a new method for creating silicon carbide gas gel developed by Chinese scientists, which costs only 1/100 as much to produce and is ten times faster.
Source: https://baoquocte.vn/ten-lua-sieu-thanh-cua-trung-quoc-co-the-duoc-che-tao-tu-thep-285069.html
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