Development of Vat Polymerization Materials for Additive Manufacturing of Gun Propellant

The US Army and Department of Defense are continuing in their investment in the development of energetic materials for use in additive manufacturing (AM) for propellants.  Nalas Engineering is partnering with Dr. Lori Groven at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology to develop innovative liquid resin systems for use in additive manufacturing, specifically UV light-based curing technologies, for vat polymerization.  The focus of Nalas’ work on the collaboration will be to synthesize novel energetic monomers which offer the ability to reduce the amount of energetic solid ingredients (or fill) that typically would be required to achieve a final printed part with desired propellant performance.  Dr. Groven’s team will incorporate the novel monomers into vat resins. They will also build 3D printed test pieces for evaluating performance and final mechanical properties of the vat resins. The ultimate goal of the project is to develop scalable, affordable vat polymerization resins that can be used in additive manufacturing to build propellants with impetus of at least 950 J/g, with a goal of reaching 1100 J/g.  These impetus targets are necessary for the printed propellants to compete with traditional propellants such as JA2 and M31A2.