Purdue University will expand its hub of hypersonics research with the addition of a center focused on developing high-temperature materials and creating new manufacturing processes to build and join these materials, which will extend hypersonic vehicles’ capabilities and apply to other industries.
The new Hypersonics Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center (HAMTC) will be a single location at Purdue for industry partners, including GE Additive, Dynetics, Lockheed Martin, Aerojet Rocketdyne, GE Edison Works, Boeing and several small businesses, to work on materials and manufacturing innovations and provide access to testing capabilities at Purdue that would enable the U.S. to overtake near peer adversaries in the field.
Air resistance at hypersonic speeds (more than 5 times the speed of sound) creates extremely hot temperatures, causing surface level reactions that break down materials.