Award Data

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 ...

Fastening and joining technology has lagged behind the progress that has been made in other areas of composites for advanced air vehicles. Aerotech proposes the development of reversible polymeric adhesive bonding of composites using variable frequency microwave energy. With this method, composites are bonded using Poly Ether Ether Ketone (a high temperature thermoplastic) which is cured using v ...

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 ...

The electromagnetic directed energy method (lasers, particle beams, and high power microwaves) of defending against missiles relies on generating a large amount of energy at the defense site, locating the target, and then transporting a large fraction of that energy to the target along a line of sight at the speed of light, to either destroy or destabilize the threat at as long range as possibl ...

The proposed program has the potential to completely eliminate water-borne hydrazine using a new and novel approach. Currently, wet air oxidation is the most popular method used. This novel approach uses 2450 MHz microwave energy to decompose hydrazine and related compounds in a water solution. We have discovered that microwave energy couples directly to hydrazine in water solution resulting in ...

Ultrafiltration membranes offer great potential for compact, low cost clean-up of Navy surface ship graywater and blackwater. A major limitation of these ultrafiltration membranes is significant loss in flux with time associated with membrane fouling from proteins, polysaccharides, and other waste products. Backflushing can only be used to a limited extent. Chemical treatments are undesirous si ...

An automated dynamic firing zone generation imaging system is needed to increase the effectiveness and utility of shipboard weapon systems. The current manual firing zone definition process is manpower intensive, complex, and cannot account for motion or changing topside configuration. These limitations greatly restrict the lethality and utility of shipboard weapons. This project proposes a dyna ...

A significant problem for modern combat control system implementations is the incompatible development and deployment environments. These applications have specific performance requirements that until recently were only accurately obtained on the target installation system. However, for various logistic and economic reasons, the platforms utilized for advanced applications have typically been inc ...

During Phase I Dakota Technologies, Inc. (DTI) will demonstrate a fuel leak detection system that is vastly superior to the costly, manpower-intensive techniques currently used in repair, overhaul, and production facilities. The technique uses resonance enhabced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) spectroscopy to test the airspace outside the tank for the presence of certain hydrocarbon constituents o ...