The unique requirements for air and space travel put extreme demands on vehicles and components such as weight limitations, strength and stiffness, temperature extremes and debris resistance.  Foster-Miller has developed components that perform in such severe aerospace applications.  Common challenges we have addressed include composite components for vehicle bodies, propulsion components for engines, manufacturability of low volume parts and protection from debris and thermal conditions.

One program that illustrates a solution common to air and space vehicles involves cost-effective manufacturability.  High fabrication costs prevent composites from entering some aerospace applications despite excellent properties.  Our UTL^TM ultrasonic compaction technology has allowed us to make components with properties equal to autoclaved parts without having to use an autoclave, which can be prohibitively expensive, especially for large parts.  UTL^TM compaction may also be the only economically feasible process capable of producing a composite fuel tank for the next-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV).

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