THe problem that caused the Columbia disaster was insulating foam from the external fuel tank hitting the leading edge of the wings on liftoff thus damaging the tiles. This damaged the tile and caused plasma gassing that broke up the shuttle

When the Space Shuttle was first proposed in the late 1960s, planners from NASA wanted a vehicle that would be much larger than any that had flown in space before. But the amount of high-temperature metal required to protect a large vehicle would have been very heavy and this would have affected vehicle performance. Designers chose to use conventional aluminum for the main body and to protect it with a layer of heat resistant material.

THe tiles on the shuttle for the nose cone, and the leading edges of the wings are made of Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (carbon-carbon or RCC) is a composite material consisting of carbon fiber reinforcement in a matrix of graphite, often with a silicon carbide coating to prevent oxidation.

Carbon-carbon is well-suited to structural applications at high temperatures, or where thermal shock resistance and/or a low coefficient of thermal expansion is needed. While it is less brittle than many other ceramics, it lacks impact resistance.

Kevlar on the other hand is used in heat resistant materials and doesn’t melt, but it degrades at temperatures above 400 degrees Celsius and would be unsuitable for a heat shield

Inconel 617 and Inconel 718 metals would be a more viable replacement but they are still heavier then the ceramic tiles, which is the biggest concern when building a spacecraft (and why the space shuttle external fuel take is no longer painted white)

It sounds reasonable to me, but I imagine NASA has explored those possibilities.