Carbon Fiber Composites for Spacecraft Thermal Management Opportunities

Under a prime contract (No.F33615‐00‐C‐5009) with the U.S. Air Force Materials Lab, Cytec Carbon Fibers, LLC has completed a program to identify high risk, high payoff thermal management applications for the insertion of high thermal conductivity carbon fiber composite materials in future spacecraft. The program involved the identification of relevant design requirements, the design of components for thermal management applications utilizing the most appropriate high‐conductivity carbon fiber composite material solution, the fabrication of prototype test articles, performance and characterization tests on the prototype articles, and test data correlation of measured results. The final step in the program required end‐user acceptance or qualification testing of the designed components. This paper provides a technical overview of two of the most recent applications: 1) an aluminum‐clad carbon fiber composite as a thermal doubler for efficient, light weight satellite radiator panels, and 2) a laminate‐wrappe...