THE APPLICATION OF HIGH TEMPERATURE HEAT PIPE TECHNIQUE ON HYPERSONIC VEHICLE THERMAL PROTECTION

The sharp leading edge of hypersonic wave-rider vehicles needed non ablation thermal protection technique, which faces big challenge. Based on the requirement, the high temperature heat pipe technique was applied on the sharp leading edge thermal protection. The high temperature heat pipe can reduce the temperature of the stagnation point and the thermal stress of the leading edge. The nickel based super alloys integrated sharp leading heat pipe was designed. The shape was designed irregularly to fit the hypersonic vehicle configuration, the strengthening ribs was designed inside the heat pipe to reinforce the structure strength. The test model was fabricated. The startup performance of integral sharp leading heat pipe was tested on quartz lamp heater, the thermal protection performance was tested on the arc heated wind tunnel. The results indicated that the heat pipe start up and performed well.