Award Data

Nanofiber nonwoven spunbonded materials technology is adapted for use in a personnel lowering device. The resulting device will be simple, easy to use, and relatively low cost.

In composites, not only can properties vary with load direction, fiber based composites also offer the unique ability to tailor material properties locally. Localized matrix or fiber architecture changes can meet local mechanical, electrical, or thermal loads within a component or vehicle, without weight penalty or resort to additional external structures. In Phase I, the team used 3TEX 3-D wea ...

During Phase I, 3TEX designed universal, one-piece, 3D woven fiber preforms which can be used as either a “Butt” (H) joint or as a “P” joint as needed. Composite joints were fabricated and tested, demonstrating the benefit of the integral nature of the 3D preforms. 3D stress/strain and crack propagation analysis of composite Π-joint was performed using 3D MOSAIC code. 3D displacement, st ...

Strength and durability of commonly used bonded and bolted composite-to-composite and composite-to-metal structural joints suffer from sharp geometry variations, mismatch of elastic moduli, Poisson’s ratios, coefficients of thermal expansion and thermal conductivity of the adherends, altogether causing high stress concentration and premature joint failure. The proposed work is focused on develop ...

Military helicopters rotors contend with rain, ice, sand, and flying debris. To prevent damage to the expensive blade protective sheaths or coatings are applied to the leading edge of the rotor blades. A 3-D woven composite sheath with high thermal conductivity fibers running through the thickness can offer the best qualities of both metal sheaths and elastomer coatings. Infused with an elastom ...

Miller Fasteners made from 2-D laminates represent the state of the art in joining CMC panels to metal frames. Despite its success, the extant Miller fastener design is limited by its construction from a laminate of 2-D fabric. The resultant fastener part has poor interlaminar shear strength, and its manufacture and application entails high machining costs and high material scrap rates. 3TEX, i ...

To support its use of MEMS sensors for vehicle health monitoring, the Air Force seeks to couple the harvesting of ambient energy sources with a micro energy storage device. Microbatteries have demonstrated their viability as a high density power source, but their short operating life limits their usefulness. To extend the operating life of microbatteries, ambient energy sources can be used to co ...

Optically addressing a large number of atoms trapped in a periodic lattice would be a critical missing technology necessary to achieve scalable quantum computation. A micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) based beam steering optical system is proposed to meet the needs of this topic. The system utilizes (a set of) tilting mirrors to create reconfigurable spots on a target of square lattice. The s ...

The foundation of any counterspace capability is space/counterspace situation awareness. Existing AFRL/VS funded efforts have established a foundation for robust, multi-level situation awareness through multi-source, multi-level, data fusion. However, situation awareness is only useful to the extent that it informs response to threats, whether natural or man-made. AFRL/VS Space Awareness & Respons ...

Cloud Cap Technology is proposing to develop a stabilized pan tilt zoom camera gimbal system for the Coyote sonobuoy tube launched UAV. Cloud Cap is the maker of the Piccolo autopilot, which is used in many UAV systems, including the prototype of the Coyote. In the spring of 2006 Cloud Cap will introduce a new product, the TASE stabilized pan tilt zoom camera system for small UAVs. TASE is almo ...