NASA IS DEVELOPING NANOSTRUCTURED MATERIAL SYSTEMS WITH ENHANCED ELECTRICAL, THERMAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERT…

Public award description

NASA IS DEVELOPING NANOSTRUCTURED MATERIAL SYSTEMS WITH ENHANCED ELECTRICAL, THERMAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES THAT CAN ENABLE STRUCTURAL WEIGHT REDUCTION VIA THE INTEGRATION OF FUNCTIONALITIES SUCH AS ELECTROSTATIC DISSIPATION, PERMEATION BARRIER, DAMAGE SENSING AND THERMAL MANAGEMENT INTO STRUCTURES WHILE ENHANCING MECHANICAL PROPERTIES. THE DESIRED PURPOSE OF THE NANOSTRUCTURED MATERIAL SYSTEMS IS TO ENABLE STRUCTURAL WEIGHT REDUCTION VIA THE INTEGRATION OF FUNCTIONALITIES SUCH AS ELECTROSTATIC DISSIPATION, LIGHTNING STRIKE SURVIVAL, PERMEATION BARRIER, DAMAGE SENSING AND THERMAL MANAGEMENT INTO STRUCTURES. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL CONDUCT FINITE ELEMENT MODELING OF FUNCTIONALIZED GRAPHENE SHEET INTERACTIONS WITH POLYMER MATRICES RANGING FROM SILICONES TO HIGH PERFORMANCE POLYIMIDES, AND ASSOCIATED EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION OF MODELING. REQUIREMENTS: 1. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL CONDUCT FINITE ELEMENT MODELING OF FUNCTIONALIZED GRAPHENE SHEET (FGS) INTERACTIONS WITH POLYMER MATRICES RANGING FROM SILICONES TO HIGH PERFORMANCE POLYIMIDES, AND ASSOCIATED EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION OF MODELING. 2. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DEVELOP TWO VALIDATED FINITE ELEMENT MODELS WITH EMPHASIS ON INTERFACIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FGS AND FOR THE EACH OF THE FOLLOWING COMPOSITIONS OF FGS COMPOSITES: A. SOFT MATRICES FOR SILICONES WITH MODULUS < 500 MPA B. HIGH MODULUS MATRICES WITH MODULUS >3 GPA 3. THE MODEL SHALL BE VERIFIED BY APPROPRIATE CHARACTERIZATION OF NANOCOMPOSITE PROPERTIES INCLUDING MECHANICAL, FATIGUE AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTY TESTING. 4. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL APPLY THE MODEL TO 12 SAMPLES TO OBTAIN CHARACTERIZATION DATA. 5. THE SAMPLES WILL BE SUPPLIED BY NASA NOT LATER THAN 6 MONTHS AFTER AWARD. THE SAMPLES ARE CONSIDERED TO BE CONSUMABLE ITEMS AND DO NOT HAVE TO BE RETURNED TO NASA.