SCRAM C/C

Hypersonic Supremacy

As nations around the world race for hypersonic supremacy, Northrop Grumman is perfecting a game changing, rapid fabrication process that produces superior, high-temperature materials at up to half the cost and schedule.
Scalable Composite Robotic Additive Manufacturing Carbon/Carbon (SCRAM C/C) is an industrial robotic 3D printer with the ability to layer continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastics into components that meet the unique demands of hypersonic vehicles.

“Hypersonic means traveling faster than Mach 5 — or well over 3,000 mph, depending on the altitude — which generates a lot of friction with air molecules,” said Tim Dominick, a Technical Fellow leading the Propulsion Systems and Controls team in Elkton, Maryland, that is developing this technology. “Temperatures can reach thousands of degrees Fahrenheit, and only a few metals can survive at those temperatures — but they are extremely heavy.”

SCRAM C/C technology can be used to create high-temperature materials that do not erode, melt or change shape when exposed to extreme temperatures. They are also lighter than the metals traditionally used, lowering the weight of a hypersonic vehicle and improving performance.

3D printing, often referred to as additive manufacturing, also allows designers to create unique shapes, meaning components that were once multiple pieces bolted or welded together can now be manufactured as one piece.

“We’ve manufactured a part that started with a circular cross section, swept through an S shape and ended in a rectangular cross section,” Dominick said. “That’s an extremely complex geometry that in the past was only possible to create by hand and could take up to a year to make. Now we can make it in a few weeks.”