A novel NiTi (Nitinol) lattice for reusable hypersonic thermal protection systems (TPS). The design combines stress-induced martensitic phase transformation for latent-heat absorption with phononic bandgap engineering (Δω/ωc = 0.42) for vibration localization. Coupled thermo-mechanical simulations under Mach 5 heat flux (50 kW/m²) show: Peak temperature reduced from 458 K to 404 K 62% faster thermal recovery 258 kJ/m² latent heat absorption per cycle 77% improvement in entropy proxy Includes the full manuscript and validated Python simulation code that reproduces all results. Keywords: hypersonic TPS, Nitinol, shape memory alloy, barocaloric effect, phononic metamaterial, active thermal management, reusable spacecraft
Francis Procaccia (Sun,) studied this question.