Fiscal Year:
2003
Title:
SBIR Phase I: Electron Beam Curing of Polymer Interlayer in Silicon Carbide Joints
Agency:
NSF
Contract:
0232816
Award Amount:
$99,999.00
Abstract:
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project entitled " Electron Beam
Curing of Polymer Interlayer in Silicon Carbide Joints" will develop the technology to
enable economical commercialization of silicon carbide components. Current joining techniques are too time consuming to be economically viable for commercialization and mass production They tend to produce excessive polymer shrinkage and thus require excessive number of polymer infiltrations.
The proposed pulsed electron beam curing technology will remove these obstacles by
completing the polymer cross-linking in the microsecond time scale, which is comparable
to the duration of the electron beam pulse. In this Phase I effort, the polymer shrinkage
in the interlayer material will be studied first by subjecting it to electron beam irradiation.
The resulting samples will be compared to those processed under conventional method,
i.e., without undergoing electron beam processing. This will then be followed by the
production of SiC joints. These joined test samples, produced with electron beam curing,
will again be compared to a control joint sample. Computer simulation code will be used
to guide the experiments.
Success of this project will pave the way for commercializing
SiC components in many different industrial and manufacturing markets, including
petrochemical, semiconductor, heat-treating and heat-exchanger systems, aircraft and
terrestrial gas turbines, and aircraft structural components.
Principal Investigator:
Lek Len
Business Contact:
Small Business Information at Submission:
FM Technologies Inc
4431-H Brookfield Corporate Driv Chantilly, VA 20151
EIN/Tax ID:
DUNS:
N/A
Number of Employees:
Woman-Owned:
No
Minority-Owned:
No
HUBZone-Owned:
No