Award Data

The goal of this program is to develop nanosacle electronics and packaging technology that is hardened to space and nuclear radiation. Vanderbilt will assist AET in the development of packaging technologies for lateral emission-based diamond devices characterized for temperature insensitivity and radiation hardness. A laterally configured diamond emission device can offer significant advantages ...

Thermal batteries are a mission-critical component utilized in virtually every weapon system. All thermal batteries require four types of pellets that comprise the cell stack(s), i.e., the energy-producing portion of the battery. Pellet size (diameter and thickness) and the number of pellets required vary by battery type and application. Pellets are manufactured by compaction of their powdered co ...

Although there are numerous types of primary and secondary batteries which now fulfill a variety of roles within the Department of Defense (DOD), primary thermal batteries are arguably among the most important in terms of their impact across all service branches, to include the Missile Defense Agency. Along with increased performance capabilities and packaging flexibility, thermal battery manufac ...

Thermal batteries are employed in virtually every strategic defense and tactical weapon system. As systems capabilities continue to increase, future thermal batteries will be required to deliver higher power and energy in packages smaller and lighter than those available with baseline lithium-silicon (LiSi) / FeS2 technology. Although ENSER’s proprietary LiSi / cobalt disulfide (CoS2) system p ...

Gallium Nitride (GaN) substrates are ideal materials for fabrication of high-power and high-frequency devices based on III-V materials. The current state-of-the-art Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) methods are plagued by several challenges, including, surface charge affects due to surface contamination, and sub-surface damages, which can limit the quality of III-V devices. Furthermore, there is ...

Silicon Carbide (SiC) due to its superior thermal and mechanical properties serves as an attractive candidate as mirror material. The manufacturing of such mirrors is a critical challenge because of the hardness and chemical inertness of the material. The current state-of-the-art polishing methods are either typically very slow or introduce a high density of defects, scratches, or large stresses. ...

The overall goal of the Phase II effort is to develop the novel ultra-rapid chemical mechanical finishing (UCMF) process for SiC mirror manufacturing, and commercialize this process in collaboration with existing vendors using existing equipment infrastructure. Unlike glass and metallic systems, the high hardness and chemical inertness of SiC currently limit the finishing of SiC mirrors to mechani ...

The objective of this proposal is to establish the feasibility of developing an integrated decision support tool that transforms the current time-consuming and reactive (post-design) sustainability assessment into a real-time, proactive approach available in the early phases of product design. This tool, called Sustainability Integrated into Early Design (SIED), will define and capture lifecycle-w ...

A DEVICE IS HEREIN PROPOSED WHICH CAN BE INCORPORATED INTO A PROJECTILE, SUCH AS A RAIL GUN PROJECTILE, TO CONTROL ATTITUDE. THE DEVICE, A MODIFIED NUTATION DAMPER, HAS ESSENTIALLY ONLY ONE MOVING PART AND SO CAN BE MADE, TO EXHIBIT EXTREME STRENGTH. BY CONTROLLING THE PROJECTILE'S ATTITUDE DURING FLIGHT, A STRAP DOWN SEEKER CAN BE MADE TO MECHANICALLY SCAN FOR TARGET ACQUISITION. THE ATTITUDE CON ...

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