An Australian manufacturing collaboration between Hypersonix Launch Systems and The University of Queensland has developed high-temperature ceramic matrix composites and associated manufacturing processes designed to withstand the extreme conditions of hypersonic flight, according to the Australian Composites Manufacturing CRC (ACM CRC).
Supported by the ACM CRC, formerly known as SOMAC, the two-year project focused on improving ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), manufacturing methods for producing the components, and aircraft designs that account for the varying heat loads generated when travelling at more than five times the speed of sound.
The project was announced in 2023 after Hypersonix secured a contract under the US Defense Innovation Unit’s Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing (HYCAT) program.
ACM CRC CEO Luke Preston said the project demonstrated the potential of Australian manufacturing and research collaboration.
“We are hugely proud to have supported this two-year project early on in the CRC’s term,” Preston said.
He said the project had “developed important and valuable technology in service of an incredibly ambitious Australian company’s goals, and with commercial potential across space, energy and defence.”
Preston also pointed to investor confidence in the company, noting Hypersonix’s $46 million Series A funding round announced in October last year.
According to ACM CRC, the project drew on expertise from The University of Queensland’s Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing (AMPAM) to address the challenges of producing components capable of operating in temperatures ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 degrees Celsius.
Hypersonix Head of Manufacturing Sam Grieve said Australia is still developing capability in ceramic matrix composite manufacturing.
“To my knowledge, the capability for these types of CMC parts doesn’t exist beyond a lab level in Australia. There are no large-scale production facilities for CMCs in Australia,” Grieve said.
He said while Europe, particularly Germany, has a more established CMC industry, facilities developed by Dr Michael Heitzmann at UQ were helping build sovereign capability in Australia.
The materials were tested during the first flight of Hypersonix’s DART AE aircraft, which reached speeds above Mach 5 on 27 February at Wallops Island, Virginia, after being launched aboard Rocket Lab’s HASTE vehicle. According to ACM CRC, the autonomous aircraft gathered flight data while evaluating its propulsion, materials and control systems under hypersonic conditions.
Dr Michael Heitzmann, who served as program lead within the CRC during the project, said the work addresses a capability gap in Australia’s high-temperature materials sector.
“These are materials that perform at temperatures where most metals start to become soft or too heavy. We’re talking here about temperatures somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 degrees Celsius,” Heitzmann said.
He added that more than seven years of sustained investment and collaboration with the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) and other partners had helped establish one of Australia’s leading concentrations of expertise in high-temperature materials and manufacturing.
