Award Data

Touchstone Research Laboratory has developed a novel material, CFOAMr. The primary enabling carbon foam characteristic is that the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) values are comparable to carbon fiber polymer matrix systems in manufacturing advanced composites. Other advantages of carbon foam-based tools are low mass, reduced energy, easy modifications, unmatched repair capabilities, and r ...

Touchstone Research Laboratory is currently producing carbon foam in its pilot production facility. In the Phase I feasibility study, Touchstone identified opportunities to reduce the production cycle by combining manufacturing processes. The results indicated that a batch foaming process was optimum and the heat treatment step should be converted to a continuous process. This would lead to a s ...

A newly developed "coal-based" porous graphite material has been recently produced. This development is a direct result of Touchstone Research Laboratory's Phase I funding to develop enhanced-strength carbon foam heat-exchanger materials for aerospace applications since low density carbon foams cannot endure high bleed air pressures in aerospace pre-coolers and heat exchangers. The newly develope ...

The D.N. American research and development team proposes a novel approach to improving the process of multidisciplinary optimization for composite laminate designs. In Phase I, we successfully demonstrated the feasibility of our approach to the problem. The Phase II effort leverages these results along with the team's experience-in design optimization with Genetic Algorithms, composite laminate ...

Military and commercial aircraft operators are moving toward predictive maintenance to minimize costs while maximizing asset availability and safety. Key technological prerequisites for this new approach are the ability to monitor the condition of critical components, and the ability to accurately forecast their remaining useful life. Phase I of this project clearly demonstrated the feasibility of ...

Innovative rocket motor case materials and manufacturing processes are required to drive improvements in performance of today's rocket motors. Currently evolving missile designs, for example the Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM), are moving towards higher pressures, higher and longer duration aeroheat temperatures, and increased maneuverability. Future case designs will require m ...

Numerous DoD systems critically rely on accurately capturing nanosecond transient signals. For sampling rates of 1 GS/s or greater, conventional flash A/D converters (ADCs) suffer from limited resolution (~8 bits), high power (ca. 5 watts/channel), and high cost. Extensive modeling conducted by Dakota Technologies, Inc. (DTI) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) during Phase I proved t ...

Reliable and sensitive detection of biowarfare agents (BWAs) such as Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis, Francisella tularensis, ricin, botulinum toxin, etc. is an important challenge for both military operations and domestic anti-terrorism efforts. We are proposing to develop a biomimetic polymer coating, containing receptors for BWA targets, that becomes fluorescent when exposed to samples con ...

The continued development of hypersonic vehicles and high performance space access vehicles has highlighted the importance of light-weight, load-bearing structures capable of prolonged exposure at elevated temperatures. The optimal solution to this problem would be a hot primary structure capable of supporting the required loads at elevated temperature while also providing the necessary thermal pr ...

Modular concepts will be applied to round parachutes and parafoil parachutes for the purpose of improving utility and reducing cost. Round parachute designs will be formed from the alteration of uniform fabric panels and limited sewing operations. Fabric panels of round parachutes will be connected with structurally suitable cordage ties to facilitate rapid fabrication and maintenance repairs. ...