Aerospace applications thermal protection systems

Aerospace applications of ceramic matrix composites to date have been limited. Perhaps the most significant are the aircraft engine flaps used on a French fighter. There are two types. Both use silicon carbide matrices. One is reinforced with carbon fibers, and the other with a multifllament silicon carbide fiber. Another application is a missile diverter thruster made of carbon fiber-reinforced silicon carbide. Again, the process used to make this part is CVI. The Space Shuttle Orbiter thermal protection system (TPS) makes extensive use of tiles composed of a three-dimensional network of discontinuous oxide fibers with silicate surface layers. While there is no continuous matrix for most of the tile, the surface region is a form of CMC. In a sense, this can be considered to be a type of functionally graded material. 

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