High performance materials for Defence applications

The complex tasks in operational scenarios require specific technical characteristics for the defence equipment and materials. The performance and life-cycle cost of defence platforms and equipment directly depend on the materials properties of the solutions available for their manufacturing. In particular, the resistance to high temperatures is an important feature for use in specific environments or for components that need to withstand high thermal loads due to their functionality. At the same time, future materials and structural solutions should exhibit low weight and keep the same material performances necessary for specific defence applications.

Furthermore, in addition to the physical and chemical required properties of the materials themselves, there are challenges related to availability, production, processing, export control and environmental concerns which also need to be taken into account.

Specific objective

Defence applications require the investigation and improvement of materials that are able to withstand hypersonic flight, extreme thermal loads, ballistic loads, electromagnetic pulse, etc.

The development of material solutions for civil applications is a broad and dynamic technological field. Temperature resistance and weight reduction are aspects of interest for civil applications also and R&D efforts in this regard regularly result in new materials, design, structures, processes or standards that improve material performance. However, due to the harsh and particular conditions of defence-related use-cases, civil technologies need to be adapted, further improved or combined with defence-specific technologies through additional R&D efforts to make them suitable for defence applications.

The capacity to withstand high temperatures is a particularly important characteristic for materials used in many defence applications. Parts of aircraft, both airplanes and helicopters, especially close to the engine, need to yield the necessary temperature resistance, weight and structural characteristics. Concerning ground systems, components withstanding high temperatures do not only need to have acceptable weight but should also demonstrate good ballistic performance, for example to gain protection against kinetic energy penetrators. For missile, air and space applications, materials need to reach the state of the art in terms of lightness, structural strength as well as withstanding extreme thermal loads (e.g. typical of hypersonic flight). High temperature materials used for naval applications need to additionally be protected against salty water corrosion or other types of corrosion but also to save weight by reducing insulation or to enhance heat resistance. Sensor systems need materials that exhibit transparency in spectral band suitable for their function, such as visual frequencies, near infrared, radiofrequencies or others, while maintaining mechanical properties in terms of hardness and temperature resistance.

All of these application examples will additionally benefit from materials that feature a certain level of protection against effects of electromagnetic pulse and contribute to ensuring electromagnetic compatibility.

Several key components and structural parts of defence systems are subject to extreme conditions (like high temperatures, ballistic impact or explosions), often in combination with harsh conditions in terms of stress, chemical environment, etc. In these conditions, material properties at high temperatures and/or when subject to high velocity impact represent a limiting factor for the performance of the system as a whole. In addition, for some applications, the critical components consist of or are protected by insulation materials. This leads to a considerable increase in total weight and a significant rise in material costs.

The proposals must focus on design and/or adaptation of high performance materials for future use in defence applications while achieving weight saving. The proposals must also address demonstration of material performance in a laboratory environment that recreates realistic conditions for the materials used.

Types of activities

The following table lists the types of activities which are eligible for this topic, and whether they are mandatory or optional (see Article 10(3) EDF Regulation):

The proposals must cover at least the following tasks as part of the mandatory activities:

• Generating knowledge:
  • determination of the property ranges (density, mechanical properties, temperature resistance, etc.) for new materials;
  • determination of components exposed to operating conditions;
  • description of the chemical, physical and mechanical requirement profile.
• Integrating knowledge:
  • identification and selection of candidate materials from suppliers within the EU and EDF associated countries (Norway) and that are not subject to export restrictions by non-associated third countries;
  • setting-up cross-disciplinary collaboration between material suppliers, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), research institutes and defence end-users on the considered use-cases.
• Studies:
  • evaluation of components exposed to operating conditions on the basis of their performance characteristics.
• Design:
  • test of partial demonstrators in a representative defence environment (e.g. plasma wind tunnel, mechanical and chemical testing, ballistic testing, electromagnetical testing, fire testing, etc.);
  • demonstration of the feasibility of the manufacturing in industrial conditions typical of the considered application.

In addition, the proposals should cover the following tasks:

• Generating knowledge:
  • Investigation and evaluation of processing parameters through process simulation, thermal analysis and manufacturing tests;
  • Investigation and evaluation of different material and/or coating configurations according to the defined requirements;
  • If the proposal targets materials for hypersonic environment or protection against kinetic energy penetrator impacts, it should address adequate advanced ablation kinetic/fragmentation models under high-temperature hypersonic conditions or kinetic energy penetrator impacts respectively.
• Integrating knowledge:
  • use of high performance computing, application of digital twin methods, multiphysics and multiscale 3D simulation;
  • characterisation of materials, and/or coatings, including, if relevant for the envisaged application, aspects of:
    • fire/heat resistance;
    • erosion;
    • adhesive strength;
    • advanced ablation;
    • electromagnetic (EM) transparency;
    • structural strength.
  • investigation of manufacturing processes, including, when relevant, aspects related to:
    • joining of (smaller) tiles;
    • electromagnetic compatibility protection;
    • high thermal flux in oxidising environment, e.g. with usage of Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMC), Ultra-high-temperature ceramics (UHTC), Ultra high temperature ceramic matrix composite (UCTCMC), Organic Matrix Composites (OMC)…
    • high temperature application of ceramic-like materials (CMC) for ballistic protection.
• • investigation of processes with a high reproducibility and repeatability for the manufacturing of the new material.
• Studies:
  • evaluation of fire test procedures according to IMO (International Maritime Organisation) related to military relevant operational conditions and requirements in particular for materials considered for navy applications;
  • determination of operating temperature critical areas;
  • feasibility of recycling processes by evaluating the overall material performance impact while paying attention not to downgrade its quality and properties.
• Design:
  • implementation of material design to optimise the tailored properties of the components and to predict their limits in expected conditions;

The proposals may also cover the following tasks:

• Design:
  • design of tests facilities on material coupons, including for mechanical, thermal and chemical stresses, thermomechanical, oxidation, and other functional properties.

In order to avoid unnecessary duplications and to best complement R&D efforts already targeting civil applications, the research conducted must build on R&D results of projects funded by EU programmes targeting civil applications for efficient spinning-in of knowledge and innovative solutions to the defence sector.

Functional requirements

The proposed technologies should meet one or several of the following functional requirements that are specific to defence applications:

• hypersonic flight, characterised by high thermal flux in oxidising environment;
• high specific strength in severe environments for both engine and platform parts for military aircraft and missiles;
• passive ballistic protection against opponents with similar characteristics, e.g. threats such as armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot;
• protection against explosive and blast effects used against physical systems like infrastructure, vehicles and/or personnel;
• protection of electromagnetic sensors by ensuring specific mechanical properties such as mechanical hardness and extreme thermal loads, while maintaining transparency in specific sensors’ spectral bands;
• materials to enhance electromagnetic compatibility and protection;
• fire/heat resistance for defence purposes such as in case of fire of unexploded fuel of missiles, missile and ammunition carriage, requirements for structural engine parts, etc.;
• compliance with military standards and regulations for the intended use-case and mission efficiency requirements;
• adjustment of dimensions according to the actual process and test environment;
• operation for time periods that uphold the structural integrity of the material itself, and the system properties it is intended to uphold for the defence application considered;
• efficiency of solutions to equip heat-sensitive components with materials with adapted properties.