SBIR PHASE II - OPTIMIZED CELLULAR CORE FOR ROTORCRAFT PATZ MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGIES HAS DEVELOPED, PRODU…

Public award description

SBIR PHASE II - OPTIMIZED CELLULAR CORE FOR ROTORCRAFT PATZ MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGIES HAS DEVELOPED, PRODUCED AND TESTED, AS PART OF THE PHASE I SBIR, A NEW FORM OF COMPOSITE CELLULAR CORE MATERIAL, NAMED INTERPLY CORE, THIS NEW PRODUCT IS A MAJOR STEP FORWARD IN COMPOSITE CORE TECHNOLOGY. THE INTERPLY CORE WAS PHYSICALLY TESTED TO HAVE TWICE THE COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH COMPARED TO THE SAME DENSITY ARAMID PAPER AND GLASS FABRIC CORE PRESENTLY AVAILABLE TO THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY. IN ADDITION, THE NEW CORE MATERIAL HAS THE ABILITY TO BE UTILIZED WITHOUT ANY CHANGE IN THE COMPOSITE AEROSPACE STRUCTURES MANUFACTURING PROCESSES. THE PHASE II PROJECT WILL BE TO DEVELOP THE PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT TO MAKE SIGNIFICANT QUANTITIES OF INTERPLY CORE AND THEN BUILD AND TEST DIFFERENT MATERIAL ITERATIONS TO QUANTIFY ALL PARAMETERS OF INTERPLY CORE'S ABILITIES. AT THE END OF PHASE II, THE ROTORCRAFT, AS WELL AS OTHER AEROSPACE INDUTSTRIES, WILL HAVE A NEW MATERIAL TO SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER WEIGHT WITHOUT CHANGING PLATFORM PRODUCTION METHODOLOGIES. STRUCTURES SUCH AS MILITERY AND COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT, GROUND VEHICLES AND MARINE VESSELS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO UTILIZE INTERPLY CORE TO INCREASE STRENGTH WHILE REDUCING WEIGHT. THE NEW CELLULAR CORE MATERIAL COULD ALSO BE UTILIZED IN NUMEROUS SPORTING GOODS, OPTICAL BENCHES AND EVEN CARGO CONTAINERS. ROTORCRAFT INDUSTRIES: ONE OF THE PRIMARY GOALS OF NASA IS TO IMPROVE THE STATE OF THE ART TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE TO THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY. SUPPLYING A NEW HIGH-PERFORMANCE CORE MATERIAL TO THE ROTORCRAFT INDUSTRY IS THE MAIN FOCUS OF THIS PROPOSAL. SPACE PLATFORMS: THE COST PER WEIGHT OF MATERIAL PLACED INTO SPACE IS ASTRONOMICAL. THE CREATION OF STRONGER LIGHTER CORE MATERIALS COULD SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE THE WEIGHT OF A STRUCTURE AND EVEN THE LAUNCH VEHICLES ENABLING HIGHER PAYLOAD CAPACITIES LESS FUEL CONSUMED AND LESS OVERALL COST TO PRODUCE THE STRUCTURE. MARS UNMANNED ROTORCRAFT VEHICLE: THE REDUCTION OF WEIGHT ON AN UNMANNED ROTORCRAFT VEHICLE FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXPLORING MARS IS AN IMMEDIATE APPLICATION IN WHICH SAVING EVEN A FEW POUNDS OF WEIGHT WILL YIELD IMMENSE SAVINGS IN ASSOCIATE LAUNCH COSTS.