Award Data

In the phase I program, Advanced Ceramics Research, Inc. (ACR) fabricated in situ metallic foams by using a unique water-soluble polymer blend and ACR's Extrusion Freeform Fabrication (EFF) method. When the green parts were heated for binder burnout, thebinder was found to foam and create uniform closed, high-aspect ratio porosity. The freeform fabrication also could create open porosity ranging f ...

We propose synergistically implementing two emerging ballistic materials,aluminum foams and 3-D woven polymeric composites, in theconstruction of lightweight armor with ceramic facing. In the recentballistic studies both materials have separately demonstrated improvementsin ceramic-faced armor. 3-D woven FRP enables to reduce dynamic deflection,localize damage and increase multiple hit capabilit ...

As the current trends in transistor miniaturization are continued down to the molecular level ( in a dimension of tens of nanometers or less), the electronic properties of solids and solid-solid interfaces are inherently different on the nanometer level.It is becoming clear that continued increases in circuit density will require fairly dramatic changes in the way transistors are designed and ope ...

This SBIR Phase II project proposed to develop a new fabrication technology that would lead to ultra low-cost, high quality radial gradient refractive index (GRIN) rods, which are widely used in fiber optic communications. Drastic cost reduction isexpected because several cost and labor intensive manufacturing processes will be eliminated, the product yield will be increased significantly compare ...

With the advent of satellite telephone services, it is now feasible to provide secure voice communication to any location on Earth. In a Phase I SBIR for AFRL, Black & Ryan Engineering (BRE) developed VAWCS (Voice Authenticated Wireless CommunicationSystem), a computer model of a Communications Waveform, combining Voice Authentication, Speech Compression, Encryption, and Forward Error Correction ...

The overall goal of the proposed research is to develop a comprehensive, efficient, and well validated model of various remelting processes used for the production of ingots of superalloys and titanium alloys. Phase I research has demonstrated thefeasibility and the validity of developing a unified computational model for efficient and accurate prediction of AC and DC electromagnetics, fluid flow, ...

High-performance GaN-based devices, such as microwave transistors, laser diodes and light emitting diodes have been demonstrated on sapphire and silicon carbide substrates, Gallium nitride substrates are expected to further improve the performance of thesedevices due to close lattice and thermal expansion match with GaN-based device structures. The development of a low defect density GaN substrat ...

SiC-based materials exhibit excellent thermal, mechanical, and optical properties. In addition, excellent polishability has been established for CVD-SiC. The use of CVD-SiC in optical applications requires the joining of dissimilar materials. Thisproposal offers an integrated approach to fabricate optical structures. No conventional joining is required. Ultralightweight, extremely stable stru ...

Nanocomposites consisting of nanotubes in a polymer matrix have the potential tosignificantly enhance the energy absorbing capacity and ballistic impact resistancefor ultr-lightweight personnel armor. Multiwalled nanotubes (MWNT) in polycarbonateshowed substantial compressive strength enhancement and improved ballistic impactresistance over the unreinforced polymer. MWNT in polyurethane also show ...

The Phase I program demonstrated molybdenum-rhenium (Mo-Re) alloys exhibited negligible erosion and wear in terms of weight loss, which was nearly 100 times less than chromium plated gun steel in vented bomb test at 40,000 lbs/in2 using EX-99 propellant.Laser fusion fabrication was utilized and a short 155mm barrel section, including rifling, was formed that contained Mo-Re functionally graded int ...