Award Data

Cured aircraft composite materials present a particularly difficult challenge for recycling technology. Those materials have mostly thermosetting epoxy matrices and occur in intimate association with metals, paints, and coatings. Current techniques for recycling thermoset composites, mostly for automotive sheet molding compounds (SMC), involve pulverizing the material for use as fillers. Th ...

The goal of this program is to develop a low cost, flexible manufacturing method for the production of high temperature ceramic composites for rocket propulsion systems. The matrix materials selected for this program will be ZrC, HfC, and TaC. These-materials have good oxidation/corrosion and ablation resistance at elevated temperatures, but typically do not possess the thermal shock resistance an ...

Advanced Protection Products, Inc. (APPI) will use advanced materials and processes to develop and certify Very Light Body Armor (VLBA) plates that are capable of defeating a variety of ballistic threats. The VLBA plates will be designed using a titanium allow based metallic-composite armor system to provide cost-effective, lightweight protection. Composite facing and backing materials will be u ...

Shipboard structures employing composites typically use glass/vinyl ester (VE) manufactured with vacuum assisted RTM. This composite system offers reduced weight, no corrosion and improved signature performance but lacks the fire performance characteristics required for shipboard use. Phenolic resins (PH) provide outstanding fire performance but are difficult to process and offer lower structur ...

Effective aircrew teamwork is critical for insuring mission success and reducing accidents. There is a requirement for a tool that helps aircrew trainers conduct standardized evaluations of teamwork performance. In the proposed research, a portable Instructor's Associate will be designed and constructed to help standardize the measurement process and provide assistance to the instructor. A vari ...

We will develop high-temperature high-power mid-infrared (2-5 micron) diodes based on InAs/InGaSb/InAlSb type-II quantum wells. In pulse mode operation, we will investigate the pulse-to-pulse reproducibility with repetition rates > 50 KHz. Recently, we have demonstrated room-temperature optically pumped lasers from 2.8 to 4.5 microns based on InAs/InGaSb/InAs/AlSb type-II quantum wells. For 4.5 ...

We propose to develop multi-color mid-infrared (IR) sources at 2.5 to 5 um based on InAs/InGaSb type-II quantum cascade (QC) structures. A compact mid-IR dual wavelength source could be extremely useful for the environmental gas and pollutant sensing, such as differential absorption lidar, where the light scattering has to be evaluated and compared at two different wavelengths. Recently, we have d ...

This Phase I SBIR will develop a general purpose probabilistic finite element analysis system, ProFEA, that allows designers to perform probabilistic finite element analysis in a graphical environment that is completely familiar and similar to modern deterministic FEA. We have developed an innovative architecture that takes advantage of emerging file exchange and database standards (I ...

We propose to develop a layered real-time and fault-tolerant CORBA-based software architecture as a means to realizing an open standards-based middleware for Naval combat systems. The key features of our approach are (1) a low-level interface to a distributed network infrastructure consisting of an integrated real-time and fault-tolerant extension to CORBA patterned after existing and emerging COR ...

Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) proposes to develop a high-speed optical pyrometer which can be used on impact tests of reactive materials with metal plates where flash radiography equipment is in use. The unit will measure five narrow spectral bands of light and use their ratios to determine the temperature of the area of interest. It will also utilize an internal video camera to allow ...