Scramjet Thermal Barrier Coating Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Only 32 families total. a narrow, specialised corpus where the core structural-cooling and ceramic-matrix claims were staked out early.
- Filing peaked in 2020 at 5 records. and has flattened since, with no assignee showing activity in the latest tracked year.
- F02C and C04B account for 19 of the records. while joining methods, powder metallurgy and fuel-supply branches sit at just 3 to 4 records each.
A narrow, structurally-concentrated field
Scramjet thermal barrier coating patents form a small corpus of 32 published families filed between 2015 and mid-2026, concentrated overwhelmingly at the United States receiving office. The field combines two distinct engineering problems under one search: coating a substrate against extreme heat, and actively cooling the structure the coating sits on. Filing activity has been driven less by a steady stream of new entrants than by a small group of gas-turbine and ceramics specialists refining a structural-cooling approach that was substantially claimed before 2015.
The technology composition confirms this: gas-turbine plant design and ceramic or refractory chemistry account for well over half of the dataset, while additive manufacturing, powder metallurgy and joining methods remain minor branches. Filing peaked in 2020 and has since flattened, a pattern worth reading alongside the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication that always understates the most recent years.
Filing trend and technology composition
Thirty-two published families since 2015 show a narrow, structurally-concentrated field rather than a broad emerging one. The trend and the IPC spread both point to a technology where the core claim space was staked out early and has not been substantially reopened.
Filing activity has flattened since its 2020 peak
Filings rose from a single record in 2017 to a peak of 5 in 2020, then held around the 2022 midpoint of 3 without a clear recovery. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the final one to two years of this window will read lower than actual filing activity turns out to be.
Gas-turbine and ceramics classes dominate the IPC spread
F02C (gas-turbine plants) and C04B (ceramics, cement & refractories) together account for 19 of the underlying records, with F01D (turbines) close behind. Additive manufacturing (B33Y), powder metallurgy (B22F) and joining methods (B23K) each register only 3 to 5 records, marking them as thinner, less-contested branches.
Shares are the percentage of the 32 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Scramjet Thermal Barrier Coating with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about scramjet thermal barrier coating and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
Thermal and environmental barrier coating for ceramic substrates (US20170015600A1)
A thermal and environmental barrier coating composed of ceramic hollow microspheres sintered together. In one embodiment the microspheres are sintered together with a powder of another material that acts as a binder, or with a powder of a material that may be the same as the material of the hollow microspheres, forming a matrix in which the hollow microspheres are embedded. The hollow microspheres may be composed of a material with a high temperature capability, and with a low coefficient of thermal expansion.Filed by HRL Laboratories, LLC, published 2017-01-19; the second most-cited record in this dataset at 21 citations.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5720339A | Refractory-composite/heat-pipe-cooled leading edge and method for fabrication | 80 |
| 2 | US20170015600A1 | Thermal and environmental barrier coating for ceramic substrates | 21 |
| 3 | US11535360B1 | Hypersonic leading-edge heat pipe with porous wick, and methods of making and using the same | 20 |
| 4 | US20090158748A1 | Direct induction combustor/generator | 15 |
| 5 | US20210277796A1 | Method and system for fuel nozzle cleaning during engine operation | 14 |
| 6 | US20210156339A1 | Cooling system for an engine assembly | 12 |
| 7 | US20100162725A1 | Gas turbine engine device | 9 |
| 8 | US20120195744A1 | Engine hot section component and method for making the same | 8 |
| 9 | US8146371B2 | Direct induction combustor/generator | 8 |
| 10 | WO2016153543A2 | Thermal and environmental barrier coating for ceramic substrates | 7 |
Ranked by citation count within the searched corpus; older records accumulate more citations by nature of time in force, so treat this as a measure of influence rather than current relevance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the filing data signals
Three patterns stand out once the 32 families are broken down by technology class, citation weight and co-filing behaviour: a concentrated core, a flattened trend, and a small set of tightly linked inventors holding the structural-cooling claims.
The core claim space sits in two IPC classes
Gas-turbine plant design and ceramic/refractory chemistry between them cover the majority of this dataset. That density means a new filer targeting a ceramic barrier coating on a gas-turbine-style hot section is filing into occupied ground, not open space.
Filing activity has not recovered since its 2020 high
The midpoint year of 2022 sits at 3 records, below the 2020 peak, and no assignee in the recent-momentum data shows filings in the latest tracked year. Given the roughly 18-month publication lag, the most recent one to two years likely understate true activity.
One 1997 structural patent still anchors the field
The refractory-composite, heat-pipe-cooled leading edge patent is cited far more than any other record in this set, including the second-ranked HRL Laboratories coating patent at 21 citations. High citation counts in an older record reflect influence within this corpus, not that the approach is still the newest option.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to scramjet thermal barrier coating, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the core claims
Corporate assignees and a tightly linked group of named inventors share this space. The recent-year momentum data shows no assignee filing in the latest tracked year, consistent with the broader flattening trend rather than pointing to any single company's exit.
HRL Laboratories holds the second most-cited coating patent
HRL Laboratories' sintered hollow-microsphere barrier coating sits inside the dense C04B ceramics cluster and is the highest-cited coating-chemistry record behind the much older 1997 structural leading-edge patent.
A small inventor group co-files across structural-cooling claims
Teague, Naik and Loebig appear together across several of the strongest co-assignee pairs in this dataset, indicating a concentrated body of related filings around structural cooling and joining rather than one filed by a single large company alone.
Established propulsion OEMs show no recent-year filing
General Electric, Pratt & Whitney Canada, United Technologies and Rolls-Royce entities all register zero filings in the latest tracked year in this dataset, matching the overall flattened trend since the 2020 peak.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| HRL Laboratories, LLC | 0 | — |
| General Electric Company | 0 | — |
| Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. | 0 | — |
| TEAGUE CHARLES J | 0 | — |
| NAIK SUBHASH K | 0 | — |
| United Technologies Corporation | 0 | — |
| Rolls-Royce plc | 0 | — |
| Rolls-Royce North American Technologies, Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis next
The filing and citation data point to specific follow-up work depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, white-space filing, or tracking a small group of active inventors.
Run a claim-chart comparison against the top-cited records
The 1997 structural leading-edge patent and the HRL Laboratories coating patent between them anchor most of the citation weight in this dataset. A detailed claim chart against both is the starting point for any freedom-to-operate check in this space.
Compare claims in EurekaTest a first claim in the thinner IPC branches
Joining methods, powder metallurgy and fuel-supply-adjacent durability all show only 3 to 4 records apiece. Drafting and stress-testing a claim in one of these branches is a faster route to open ground than filing into the dominant gas-turbine or ceramics clusters.
Draft and test a claim in EurekaTrack the named-inventor cluster for new assignments
Teague, Naik and Loebig co-file repeatedly across the structural-cooling and joining claims in this dataset. Watching for new assignments or continuations tied to this group is a practical way to catch the next filing before it is widely cited.
Set up inventor tracking in EurekaFrequently asked questions
This dataset counts 32 published patent families filed between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from a search combining scramjet and supersonic-combustion-ramjet terms with thermal barrier, actively-cooled panel and thermal protection coating terms. That is a small, specialised corpus compared to broader aerospace coating fields, reflecting how niche the scramjet-specific application is relative to general gas-turbine thermal barrier coatings. Most records sit in the United States receiving office, with smaller counts at the EPO, WIPO and a handful of national offices.
Filing is split between corporate assignees such as HRL Laboratories, General Electric, Pratt & Whitney Canada, United Technologies, Rolls-Royce and Rolls-Royce North American Technologies, and a cluster of named inventors — Teague, Naik and Loebig — who co-file repeatedly across several records. None of the assignees in the recent-year momentum data show activity in the latest tracked year, which is consistent with the overall flattening filing trend rather than any one company exiting the space. Ranking details for each assignee are shown in the table on this page.
A thermal barrier coating is a surface layer, often ceramic, designed to insulate a substrate from combustion heat, while an actively cooled panel uses internal channels or heat-pipe structures to carry heat away by circulating a coolant or working fluid. The most-cited record in this dataset, a refractory-composite heat-pipe-cooled leading edge, combines both ideas in one structure. Newer filings under C04B and B33Y increasingly explore ceramic coatings applied over or alongside actively-cooled substrates rather than treating the two approaches as separate technologies.
The trend data shows a peak of 5 records in 2020, dropping to around 3 by the 2022 midpoint, with no clear recovery to date. This could reflect a genuine slowdown in new claim filing after the core structural-cooling and ceramic-matrix approaches were established, program-level funding cycles in hypersonic propulsion research, or simply the 18-month publication lag understating how much filing has actually happened in the most recent years. Readers should treat the last one to two years of any trend chart as a floor, not a ceiling.
The IPC composition shows joining and bonding methods (B23K, 3 records) and powder metallurgy (B22F, 3 records) are thin relative to the dominant gas-turbine and ceramics clusters, suggesting the interface between a ceramic barrier layer and its metallic or composite substrate is comparatively under-claimed. Fuel-supply-adjacent coating durability (F02M, 4 records) is similarly light. These are areas where a well-drafted first claim on a specific bonding or fuel-cooled durability method could find open ground rather than dense prior art.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.