IN Brief:
- AeroZero laminates were evaluated on Toray TC380, Cetex TC1225, and BTCy-1 composite systems under controlled heating.
- Protected TC1225 retained approximately half its original compressive strength and up to 67% of interlaminar shear strength after 500°C testing.
- BTCy-1 remained comparatively stable at 1–6GHz, while measurements at higher frequencies showed increased dielectric loss, particularly from 40–60GHz.
Blueshift has presented thermal, mechanical, and dielectric results from AeroZero polyimide aerogel laminates applied to Toray composite systems, showing that reducing heat transfer is only one part of the design problem when thermal protection is integrated into structural or RF-sensitive hardware.
The research, developed with Toray Advanced Composites, evaluated AeroZero laminates with three material systems: TC380 epoxy-based carbon fibre reinforced polymer, Toray Cetex TC1225 thermoplastic CFRP, and BTCy-1 low-dielectric composite. Blueshift thermal engineer Modess Seyednezhad presented the work at CAMX 2026 in Atlanta on 23 September.
TC380 and TC1225 specimens underwent controlled conductive heating using a heater setpoint of 500°C before mechanical testing. BTCy-1 was evaluated under 300°C conductive heating, with dielectric measurements used to examine how the addition of the thermal protection system affected electrical behaviour.
Increasing the number of AeroZero layers reduced the temperature measured on the cold side of the composite, with the largest benefits observed in the thinner TC380 and TC1225 specimens. The result demonstrates why an insulation material cannot be selected solely from its own thermal conductivity: substrate thickness, thermal mass, resin system, and complete laminate construction all influence the temperature reached by the protected structure.
The mechanical results made that interaction more obvious. AeroZero-protected TC1225 specimens retained approximately half of their original compressive strength after the 500°C exposure and up to 67% of their interlaminar shear strength. TC380 showed substantially greater degradation under the tested conditions.
Those differences are important for lightweight structural design because a barrier that reduces heat transfer does not automatically preserve every composite system to the same degree. Resin chemistry, fibre architecture, interface behaviour, and the temperature reached within the substrate can all influence residual strength once the heating event has passed.
For aerospace and spacecraft structures, residual properties can be as important as peak protected temperature. A laminate may remain physically intact during exposure yet lose enough compressive or interlaminar performance to fall outside the structural requirement afterwards. Thermal protection therefore has to be qualified against the mechanical duty of the complete assembly rather than against insulation performance alone.
The BTCy-1 testing added an electrical constraint. The supplied study results showed comparatively stable dielectric behaviour between 1GHz and 6GHz after the thermal protection laminate was added. Measurements between 10GHz and 60GHz were more frequency dependent, with higher dielectric losses than the control becoming particularly apparent from 40GHz to 60GHz.
That result matters for structures close to antennas, phased arrays, radomes, or other high-frequency electronics. A thermal laminate can change the effective dielectric stack even where its individual constituents have attractive RF properties. Adhesives, aerogel layers, composite resin, fibres, thickness, and interfaces collectively determine how an electromagnetic field propagates through the finished construction.
The sensitivity becomes greater as frequency rises. Layer dimensions that are electrically insignificant at a few gigahertz can have a larger effect at millimetre-wave frequencies, making data from a low-frequency dielectric test insufficient for applications operating much further up the spectrum.
Blueshift describes AeroZero as a thin polyimide aerogel with an approximately 85% porous structure. Its combination of low heat transfer, low mass, flexibility, and dielectric characteristics has allowed the material to be considered for thermal barriers as well as electronic and RF applications. The Toray work is useful because it moves the assessment from properties of the standalone film into complete composite stacks.
Tim Burbey, Co-Founder and President at Blueshift, said: “This work demonstrates the importance of evaluating thermal protection across the wider composite system, rather than as an isolated material property.” The test results support that distinction: the protected substrates retained different levels of mechanical performance, while RF behaviour changed with frequency despite the same underlying thermal-protection concept.
The study does not establish one optimum laminate for every application. It instead provides a set of trade-offs between AeroZero thickness, composite substrate, residual mechanical strength, and dielectric response. Those variables have to be balanced differently in a spacecraft panel, radome, antenna structure, high-speed aircraft component, or electronics enclosure.
Blueshift is also using CAMX to discuss thermal management for higher-power orbital computing systems, where lightweight protection has to coexist with dense electronics and communications hardware. The composite work provides a practical warning for that class of design: reducing heat transfer is useful, but qualification still has to cover the structural and electromagnetic behaviour of the complete stack after the thermal event.
