A heat shield called the thermal protection system (TPS) is an important structure in hypersonic vehicles as it prevents hot air from entering vehicles and potential impacts from space debris. With the increase in demand for low-cost reusable launch vehicles as well as for searching and exploration of new planets in both unmanned and manned missions, the need for developing an effective TPS has increased across many countries. The structural design of TPSs has become more prominent in the early stage of hypersonic vehicle development. Sandwich structures that have the advantages of low density and high performance are integrated into the structural design of an effective TPS. This paper provides a comprehensive review of recent research efforts on sandwich structures for TPSs. The topics discussed in this paper include aspects of structural and material design, mechanical and thermomechanical performances, and manufacturing methods. In particular, we review and discuss the structural design as well as the material design of sandwich structures for different TPS types with various configurations, including corrugated cores, lattice cores, multilayer cores, foams, honeycomb cores, bio-inspired cores. The materials used for the sandwich structures, such as various types of laminated composite, ceramic matrix composite, and metals, are included. We also discuss the performance of the TPS sandwich structures in terms of temperature gradients, deformation limits, and mechanical strengths and provide a discussion on the manufacturing methods of TPS sandwich structures for hypersonic vehicles. Finally, further research directions and challenges of sandwich structures for TPSs are presented.

称为热保护系统 (TPS) 的隔热罩是高超音速飞行器的重要结构，因为它可以防止热空气进入飞行器并防止空间碎片造成潜在影响。随着对低成本可重复使用运载火箭以及在无人和载人任务中搜索和探索新行星的需求增加，许多国家对开发有效的 TPS 的需求也在增加。TPS的结构设计在高超音速飞行器发展的早期变得更加突出。具有低密度和高性能优势的三明治结构被整合到有效TPS的结构设计中。本文全面回顾了 TPS 夹层结构的最新研究成果。本文讨论的主题包括结构和材料设计、机械和热机械性能以及制造方法等方面。特别是，我们回顾和讨论了具有各种配置的不同 TPS 类型的夹层结构的结构设计和材料设计，包括波纹芯、格芯、多层芯、泡沫、蜂窝芯、仿生芯。夹层结构所用的材料包括各种类型的层压复合材料、陶瓷基复合材料和金属。我们还讨论了 TPS 夹层结构在温度梯度、变形极限和机械强度方面的性能，并讨论了用于高超音速飞行器的 TPS 夹层结构的制造方法。最后，