Metal Foam Missile Structural Components
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Solution Overview
Problem
The high production costs of operational missile systems with low or medium accuracy requirements, due to complex manufacturing processes and significant unit costs, which are exacerbated by issues like 'lost cores' and tool wear, while maintaining mechanical, thermal, and EMC requirements, as well as aerodynamic influences.
Innovation Solution
The use of metal foam for structural components in missiles, which provides mechanical reinforcement, damping, and electrical shielding, allowing for lightweight and resilient designs with reduced material consumption and tool expenditure, enabling cost-effective production, especially in large quantities, by forming complex shapes with foaming and subsequent machining.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional manufacturing processes are used for structural components, then mechanical strength and structural integrity are ensured, but production costs increase significantly due to complexity and tool wear
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies composite materials by combining metal foam with traditional structural materials. The metal foam provides lightweight structural support while maintaining mechanical integrity, reducing the need for complex reinforcement and expensive manufacturing tools. This composite approach allows cost-effective production of structurally sound missile components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes porous metal foam materials to create structural components with reduced weight and material consumption. The porous structure provides adequate mechanical strength while simplifying manufacturing processes and reducing tool wear, directly addressing the contradiction between structural integrity and production cost.
2Reliability
If complex structural designs are used to meet mechanical and thermal requirements, then performance is improved, but manufacturing complexity and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The metal foam structural components perform multiple functions simultaneously: they provide mechanical support, thermal management, and electromagnetic shielding. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate complex components, simplifying the overall structure while maintaining reliable performance across multiple requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The composite nature of metal foam allows it to inherently provide both mechanical strength and thermal management capabilities in a single component, reducing structural complexity while ensuring reliable performance for both mechanical and thermal requirements.
3Manufacturing precision
If traditional manufacturing methods are used for large quantity production, then consistency is maintained, but unit costs remain high due to lost cores and tool wear
Solution Approach 1:
The metal foam manufacturing process creates consistent porous structures through controlled foaming, maintaining production consistency across large quantities. The material's inherent properties ensure uniform structural characteristics while the simplified production method reduces unit costs by eliminating lost cores and minimizing tool wear.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes in the metal foam fabrication process to achieve consistent structural properties across large production runs. By controlling foam density, pore size, and material composition, the process maintains manufacturing precision while enabling cost-effective high-volume production.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach results in reduced unit costs, simplified manufacturing processes, and enhanced mechanical and electrical damping properties, allowing for cost-effective production of missiles with improved performance and reduced weight, while maintaining necessary mechanical and thermal interfaces.
Implementation Method 1
The mechanically and electrically strong damping properties of metallic pore structures can be used directly with regard to EMC
Implementation Method 2
The metal foam body can be used for mechanical reinforcement and/or mechanical damping and/or electrical shielding or grounding of the structural component or missile
Implementation Method 3
A metal foam can be described as a solid made of metal, which has randomly distributed cavities (or pores) in its interior, the volume of which makes up the largest part of the volume occupied by the solid
Data Source
AI summary
The structural components (18a-18d) have segments (14a-14d) that are provided on outer surface of operational missile system. The segments have metal foam portions (20a-20d, 20a') containing aluminum or aluminum alloy. The metal foam portion is formed by processing the metal froth slug and is inserted with missile component (22c). An independent claim is included for manufacturing method of structure component for operational missile system.