Award Data

Additive manufacturing (AM) processes such as laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) have received a great deal of attention due to their unique capability in producing parts with complex geometries. However, a major challenge limiting the application of LPBF today is the high variability in the quality of finished components. To address this challenge, HIDENN-AI, LLC and Northwestern University (NU) prop ...

This proposal aims to develop a predictive model for characterizing Hydroxyl Terminated PolyButadiene (HTPB) polymer binder resin, used in existing and emerging solid rocket motors. The model will use modern analytical methods to correlate HTPB polymer system chemical and physical characteristics with gum-stock and formulation end-use properties. The objective is to produce a reliable HTPB variant ...

The highest-risk processing step in manufacturing C-CAT’s ACC material is the initial carbonization cycle, during which a C/Ph composite preform is carbonized to produce a low-density C/C part to be subsequently densified using a Polymer Infiltration and Pyrolysis (PIP) process. Though the carbonization steps of the PIP densification cycles also present a risk, it is during the initial cycle tha ...

In today’s aviation world, decreased fuel and emissions are desired, while increased aircraft performance is also a priority.  Since decreasing aircraft drag can address both of these issues, it has received increasing interest.  Whereas reducing pressure drag through streamlining the vehicle has long been understood, reducing the viscous drag that accompanies the flow over any aircraft has be ...

Calcium lanthanum sulfide is an infrared transparent ceramic with many desired properties including its high temperature optical and mechanical properties and its potential use in designing new multi-band optical components.  However current production methods for calcium lanthanum sulfide are relatively immature and often contain impurities that limit optical performance of the produced powders. ...

Through this proposed SBIR effort, QuesTek Innovations LLC will develop a physics-enhanced machine learning (ML) software to reduce exhaustive typical on-destructive testing or enable feed forward control methodologies for fabrication of high-quality additive manufacturing (AM) component. Process induced defects like keyholing and lack of fusion porosity are shown to be strongly correlated with AM ...

Propellant formulations used in solid rocket motors contain highly energetic materials which employ stabilizers to protect the polymeric structure of these propellants. The stabilizer content changes with age and other environmental factors causing the propellant to become increasingly unstable with the potential to self-ignite. Therefore, there is a need to detect the stabilizer content present i ...

TRI Austin will demonstrate that the volumetric heating response of reinforcing SiC fibers and carbon fibers (CFs) can be utilized for processing SiC-SiC and SiC-C composites using the polymer infiltration and pyrolysis (PIP) method. Volumetric heating methods allow for more uniform and out-of-furnace processing of ceramic matrix composites (CMCs). Although preceramic polymers have low electrical ...

The Navy has a requirement to detect when GPS navigation systems are being jammed or spoofed and to calculate an Angle Of Arrival from the navy platform location to the threat transmitter location. UHU Technologies has developed a capability for commercial applications that generally meets this Navy requirement, but not at the performance levels specified by the Navy. This study is to investigate ...

The current Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System (APOBS) consists of grenades, equally spaced on a fabric reinforced detonating cord over-braided in a polyester support structure. The APOBS kit contains 45-meters of line charge, a rocket motor to propel the system over the target, and a drogue chute to ensure straight-line deployment. Currently the launch rod for the APOBS rocket is installed ...