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 ...

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and Raman spectroscopy are developing rapidly for chemical and biochemical sensing applications. There is an urgent need for high-sensitivity detectors so as to minimize sample quantity and maximize detection range from the source. In most field-deployable spectrometers, a photo-detector array is used for analyzing the spectral contents. The sensitivitie ...

CUBE Technology has created an extremely compact and efficient enclosed combustor dubbed a Micro-Furnace. These Micro-Furnaces have demonstrated an unprecedented operating range and operate on fuels from alcohol to diesel to JP-8. This Micro-Furnace combustor will be the core of the flameless personal water heater. This combustor is fast-starting and delivers its heat via radiation and convecti ...

CUBE Technology has created an extremely compact and efficient enclosed combustor dubbed a Micro-Furnace that have demonstrated an unprecedented operating range. They operate on fuels from hydrogen to alcohol to JP-8. This Micro-Furnace combustor is fast-starting and burns less than 200gm of JP-8 fuel to deliver 400cc/minute of CO2 Mosquito attractant over 12 hours. In addition, this system inc ...

A nearly universal trend in modern technology is the continued integration of systems, and their associated devices, on decreasingly smaller scales. While this has led to personal computers that offer more functionality and faster computational speeds, ithas also spurred the development of hybrid optoelectronic systems on a chip (SOCs). Currently, such SOCs are receiving significant interest fro ...

For Phase II, Kutta proposes their Autonomous Multi-Mission Planner and Controller Tool (AMMPACT) solution to produce a lightweight, modular, ruggedized heterogeneous unmanned vehicle controller. The AMMPACT product goal is to assist the Army with increasing the lethality and survivability of the warfighters while reducing the amount of equipment required to be carried. Kutta’s AMMPACT product ...

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 ...

A novel approach for the development of a lightweight, low-cost, compact, and quick start-up on-board fuel reformer is proposed in this Phase II program. The approach is based on a novel MER¿s technique for the fabrication of multichannel mini-reactors incorporating hydrogen separating membrane. Multichannel mini-reactor shrinks the dimensions through which energy and reactants travel to their ...

Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) such as SiC/SiC offer higher temperature capabilities than metals with cooling channels in turboshaft engines. Even higher operating temperatures are possible if cooling channels can be produced in SiC/SiC composites as well as silicon free environmental barrier coatings (EBC). The Phase I program demonstrated that cooling channels can be in-situ formed in the fa ...