Just like in the race for space exploration, China seems to be taking the lead in the arms race as well. Their latest technological feat is not in electric vehicles or quantum computers, it lies in something as seemingly simple yet revolutionary as turning the way hypersonic missiles are created upside down.
With rockets capable of reaching speeds of Mach 8, one of the main challenges their industry faces is dealing with the temperatures that the missiles reach when traveling at that speed. Up until now, only tungsten, with its melting point of 3,422 degrees, could withstand the pressure the rockets were subjected to.
An alternative to tungsten “Made in China”
The problem is that, despite leading the world in the production of this type of metal with an 85% market share, it doesn’t make it cheaper. In addition to being a rare metal, using it also involves dealing with a significant increase in weight, which, according to researchers from the Beijing Institute of Technology, is very close to no longer being a problem.
To avoid dealing with the inconveniences of tungsten and be able to use conventional metal even though steel starts to deform at around 1,200 degrees, Professor Huang Fenglei’s team has developed a hypersonic missile by mixing stainless steel with a ceramic layer capable of withstanding temperatures of over 3,000 degrees.
The key, in addition to the alloy, seems to lie in a 5-millimeter thermal insulation layer made of aerogel, which prevents the nose of these missiles from deforming when reaching speeds that increase up to eight times the speed of sound and witnessing the temperature rising uncontrollably. The good news is that this technology could also revolutionize other fields such as space exploration, high-speed transportation, atmospheric research, or even be used for planetary defense in case of potential dangers from asteroids targeting Earth.
Image | Milru
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