Raytheon Company

Hughes Aircraft Company

John F Binnie, Jr

Peter H Vo

Willis B Tolley

Keith W Everill

Roderick M Harris

A missile having an improved dome mounting arrangement, and a method for mounting a sapphire dome to a titanium missile turret that provides for minimum surface deformation and environmental sealing of the dome. A sealing material such as silicone rubber compound that is capable of enduring high temperatures attained during high speed missile flight is employed. The missile has a body with a nose and the dome mounting arrangement is attached to the nose. The dome mounting arrangement comprises a turret secured to the nose, the dome, and a retainer ring attached to the turret for securing the dome to the turret. An annular gap is formed between an outer surface of the dome and an inner surface of the retainer ring. The silicone rubber compound is disposed in the annular gap and cured to seal the dome. A plurality of shims may be disposed between the dome and the turret in a radial gap formed therebetween. A plurality of shims may also be disposed between the dome and the retaining ring around the periphery of the dome during assembly, so that the dome rotates freely after shimming. This ensures that the dome is stress-free during and after curing of the silicone rubber compound. The shims are removed after the silicone rubber compound no longer flows. The silicone rubber compound is cured for high temperature performance by curing for four hours, minimum, at room temperature, and then curing for two hours, minimum, at 160.degree..+-.10.degree. F., and then curing at 260.degree..+-.10.degree. F. for 30 minutes, minimum, and then curing them at 360.degree..+-.10.degree. F. for 30 minutes, minimum. Finally, the compound is cured at 400.degree..+-.10.degree. F. for 30 minutes, minimum, and then cooled to room temperature.

Stress-free dome mount missile design

A first article having a bore therein is provided with a chamfer region at one end of the bore. A second article is assembled into the bore with a clearance region therebetween, preferably using tooling to hold the articles in precisely the desired positions. A flowable, thermosetting adhesive is placed into the chamfer region. The assembly is heated so that the adhesive flows from the chamfer region into the clearance region, and the adhesive is thereafter cured to join the articles together as defined by the tooling.

Precision aligning and joining of two articles using a flowable adhesive

The structural and gas-light bond between a radome and a fuselage in a missile cna be simultaneously fabricated in an improved methodology which reduces the numbers of fixtures required to be utilized, dramatically reduces the time for cure, simplifies the procedure, reduces the cost of fabrication and increases the yield. The fabrication process is comprised of the steps of applying an HT-424 film adhesive on the vertical flange of an etched surface of a fuselage. The film is spaced apart from the butt surface of the flange. A fillet of EA-934 paste adhesive is laid and formed into the corner of the flange between its vertical surface and the radially extending butt surface. The radome is then assembled onto the flange with all the paste adhesive which is extruded from the flange during assembly being immediately removed with a dampened cloth saturated with isopropyl alcohol. The assembled radome and fuselage is set within a fixture and heated to the curing temperatures and times required for the structural HT-424 adhesive on the one hand and the gas-tight sealing EA-934 paste adhesive on the other. The assembled fuselage and radome is then removed from the oven and allowed to cool with the result being a fully cured gas-tight and structurally sound bond between the radome and fuselage.

Growing community of inventors

Tucson, AZ, United States of America

John F Binnie, Jr