KAI has been at the forefront of using material microstructures to understand and predict the behavior of Thermal Protection System (TPS) materials. KAI has conducted micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT) of TPS materials using facilities at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) Advanced Light Source (ALS), the University of Texas at Austin Computed Tomography Laboratory (UTCT), and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). KAI has multiple publications in this field including the below:
1. Bernstein, S., et al., Validation of Porous Microstructure Analysis (PuMA) against Experimental Thermal Conductivity of Thermal Protection System Materials, in AIAA SCITECH 2024 Forum. 2023.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2024-0363.
2. Bernstein, S., et al., A Novel Approach to Analyzing the Microstructures of Thermal Protection Systems Materials for Hypersonic Applications. London Journal of Engineering Research, 2023. 23(3): p. 1-16.
3. Koo, J.H., S. Bernstein, and L. Pilato, A Novel Approach to Investigate Thermal Protection Systems Materials. SAMPE Journal, 2024. 60(2): p. 26.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33599/SJ.v60no2.03.
4. Bernstein, S., et al., Micro-Tomography Based Analysis of Thermal Protection System Materials – Overview. SAMPE Journal, 2023.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33599/nasampe/s.23.0039.
Below is a sampling of projects completed by KAI using TPS microstructures:
