What materials are used in space shuttles and what are they for?
Hundreds of different materials in tyres, windows, airframe, insulation, wiring etc.
There is an enormous number of different materials used in the space shuttle, way more than I can list here. The space shuttle has been called the most complex machine ever built. The engines produce a tremendous amount of force using a controlled explosion (solid fuel and liquid fuel rocket engines) which create very high temperatures. The liquid oxygen storage tanks have to survive being cooled to - 200°C, less than 80° above absolute zero. The shuttle requires computers to control it in flight (the glide from orbit to landing) and computers, by themselves, use hundreds of different materials. In general, there are structural components, thermally conductive components, thermal insulation materials, electrical conductors, electrical insulators, magnetic materials, composites, plastics, polymers, ceramics, metals, ballistic windows (so they don't shatter when struck by tiny meteors), reactive materials (the manuvering thrusters), and the list goes on. You could get a more specific answer from a more specific question. Maybe, what materials are used in solid fuel rocket engines?
the area return and forth makes use of ceramic and carbon-carbon composite tiles to stand up to the warmth. maximum spacecraft in background have used ablative components as a replace. An ablative is something which, while heated, vaporizes to form a protective gas layer. The gas contains away the warmth, protecting the spacecraft. The ablative cloth is lost, and as a result isn't reusable. Ablatives have been used on Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Soyuz, etc. One occasion of an ablative cloth is phenolic.
