Rocket Tanks of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic Proven Possible
PARIS (ESA PR) — Future rockets could fly with tanks made of lightweight thanks to ground-breaking research carried out within ESA’s Future Launchers Preparatory Programme.
Building on earlier studies, MT Aerospace in Germany has demonstrated a novel design of a small scale tank made of a unique carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) that is not only leak-proof with liquid hydrogen, but also compatible with liquid oxygen, without the use of a metal liner.
A tank made solely of CFRP is much lighter than metal, requires fewer parts and is therefore faster and cheaper to manufacture.
This is a milestone achievement as normally, storage of cryogenic propellants such as these which are cooled to -253˚C requires tanks with metallic liners to make them leak-proof, with or without a composite overwrap.
“Fuel tanks are safety-critical elements in any propulsion system,” explained Hans Steininger, CEO at MT Aerospace. “We have provided proof that a high-performance pressure tank made of CFRP can withstand cryogenic stress. In the future, the use of CFRP high-performance tanks should not only enable safe rocket launches, it can also exploit the advantage of significantly lower mass compared to metallic tanks.”
“This is a tremendous step forward. We have found a very specific carbon composite and processing method that will allow us to consider new architectures and combinations of functions for rocket upper stages which are not possible using metal,” added Kate Underhill, Upper stage and propulsion demonstrators project manager in the Future Launchers Preparatory Programme at ESA.
“Metal is leak-tight. To recreate the same property with carbon composite required a complex weave of black carbon fibre and a special resin. The material resisted cryogenic temperatures, pressure cycles and reactive substances over a number of separate tests.”
Following these ‘bottle’ tests, small-scale tank demonstrators with integrated thermal protection will soon be built for further tests. Data collected will feed into development of a full-scale demonstrator of a future highly-optimised upper stage, called Phoebus.
Phoebus will have 3.5m diameter hydrogen and oxygen tanks, thermal protection, structural assembly elements and feature new technologies in avionics, structures and propulsion equipment. CFRP will be applied in the tanks, the interface structure between the two tanks and the outside cylinder representative of the upper stage outer skin.
The Phoebus demonstrator will be tested with cryogenic fluids in 2023 to confirm the functional performance of the technologies and new cost-efficient production methods as part of a new contract to advance the development of highly optimised upper stages.
“Here is an excellent example of how ESA’s support to mature cutting-edge technologies leads to major breakthroughs. This new lightweight carbon-based material would allow the manufacture of an Ariane 6 upper stage that is two tonnes lighter – mass made free for payloads,” said Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA Director of Space Transportation.
The Phoebus project is a joint initiative by MT Aerospace and ArianeGroup in Germany to validate key technologies developed with support from ESA since May 2019.
12 responses to “Rocket Tanks of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic Proven Possible”
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Would it be usable for the many tanking / flight / de-tanking events of an RLV?
Also what would the cost of each tank be compared with say stainless steel?
Well Elon did the numbers and cost / benefit analyses on carbon-based materials and decided it wasn’t worth it.
Gee guess he must be wrong!!!!
Cheers
Neil
Elon needed to do something quickly and cheaply. Steel cans are very light and can be built on a beach, in a tent.
I have trouble believing that cryo composites are cost-effective for small launchers, but I haven’t done the math. Maybe so.
Good question. An answer is likely some ways off.
According to the article, this is going to be used first in an upper stage demonstrator named Phoebus. ULA has, from what I can tell from the outside, the most technically advanced upper stage in Centaur. Centaur uses stainless steel tanks. Stainless steel, while not as “advanced” as composites could very well be cheaper to manufacture.
Sometimes I think aerospace engineers gravitate towards the most technically advanced solutions without regards to cost.
They do when that is what is rewarded.
CFRP tanks might be worth the extra cost for LH2/LOX or LH2-only vehicles intended for deep space. But I agree that steel cans are awesome.
Pretty neat stuff. I hope the cost isn’t too brutal – it’s not going to do you a lot of good to make a better tank if it’s not cost-effective.
I was under the impression that a number of other outfits have previously come up with plastic-lined composite tankage that can handle LH2. One of these, supposedly, was the late XCOR. It would be interesting to see whether this latest claim of a “first” is actually true. Not interesting enough to me, personally, to go do the digging required though.
Since about 2000 in the US. I don’t know what ESA’s talking about.
Beal was to go that route…I don’t know what went with that filament winding machine. Musk got the stand. Maybe that coating could allow high test peroxide to be stored with initiating a Kursk. If so, room temp kero/HTP might make a comeback
I’m confused.
By the time X-33 ended, several entities in the USA were routinely making cryo CFRP tanks that withstood multiple cycles. I attended several paper sessions in 2000 detailing successful results with both LH and LOX CFRP tanks. Had X-33 continued for another year, whatever its other problems, the tanks would have succeeded.
So…what is it ESA has developed? Something different? Something better? Or is this their first CFRP tank?