For decades, rocket engine designers have worked within the limits of existing materials, selecting the closest available alloy and accepting the associated performance tradeoffs. But as reusable launch systems push the boundaries of propulsion, engineers are encountering challenges that cannot be solved with existing materials. Additive manufacturing has been a critical enabler for the modern space race – providing a path to rapidly on rocket designs and inserting new materials. Advanced rocket engines need alloys that combine high strength, resistance to extreme high-pressure oxygen environments, and compatibility with additive manufacturing – properties that are difficult to achieve simultaneously.

In this special issue of JMEP on the “Space and Aerospace Exploration Revolution: Metal Additive Manufacturing” Dr. Gradl of NASA MSFC, Dr. Hofman of NASA JPL, and Dr. Nafisi of Rocket Labs are bringing the state-of-the-art to the forefront at a critical time as the commercial space industry rapidly expands.

QuesTek’s latest peer-reviewed research demonstrates how Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) makes it possible to design materials specifically for these demanding applications while dramatically reducing the time required to develop them.

Instead of relying on years of iterative trial-and-error, the team leveraged QuesTek’s Materials by Design® technology within ICMD® to apply physics-based predictive modeling, exploring a broad design space and optimizing the alloy before physical production and testing.

The result is the computational design of Sunaloy, a novel nickel-based superalloy designed to combine high strength, LPBF printability, and burn resistance for reusable rocket engine applications.

Beyond a single alloy design, the research demonstrates a repeatable computational framework for rapidly designing application-specific materials—shifting the question from:

“Which existing material is the best fit?”

to

“What material should exist for this application?”

Read the full paper: Using ICME to Design a Novel High-Strength, Printable, and Burn-Resistant Nickel-Based Superalloy for Reusable Rocket Engines, to explore the methodology and results.