Advanced Joining Technologies For Hot Structures

The present paper gives an overview (design, manufacture, characterisation and validation) of novel joining approaches for the integration of materials and hot-structures parts, which have been development in different collaborative European projects (FP7 project SMARTEES, HYDRA and very recently THOR). The overall aim is the use of “in-situ” joining technologies, which is an alternative to the use of systems based on bolts avoiding, thus, the exposure of mechanical attachments to the plasma environment or the potential failure by vibration during the re-entry application. There is a strong interest in the development of new system concepts (lighter, cost efficient, more robust) to accessing and return from Space. I.e. new reusable systems, novel ablator materials, hybrid material concepts, etc…Those new solutions demands a huge effort, not only in the development of new materials but also in the integration of them into the subsystems. Current state-of-the-art protection materials is mainly based on bolted solutions. The approach is now to keep the bolted solution at the cold structure. In this sense, the use of advanced joining technologies is proposed as method for integration of multilaterals on complex thermo-structural shield, but the integration with substrate and subsystems is a big challenge. The development and verification approach according to the different envisaged missions is showed, including physical, mechanical and thermal characterisation addressed to the envisaged applications, such as capsules for earth re-entry, leading edges for hypersonic vehicles and so on.