Improved Skirt System for Air Cushion Vehicles

Both the Deep Skirt and Advanced Skirt System material used on Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) experience significant wear during normal operations, which require expensive, time-consuming maintenance repairs. The US Navy is looking for innovative new material and manufacturing method for skirt systems to improve it durability and reduces Total Ownership Cost (TOC). Rubber skirts experience two modes of periodic motions, stick-slip oscillation and micro-vibration generated during frictional slidings of rubber. Liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) fiber, such as para-aramid fiber Kevlar and polyarylate, is known for its high tensile strength =25g/d that is 5 times of nylon fiber, high cut resistant and vibration damping properties. By placing a small amount of expensive LCP fiber on the surface would protect from stick-slip oscillation and micro-vibration to reduce surface abrasion.Kubota Research Associates has demonstrated abrasion resistant on a vinyl ester hard composite surface in the NAVY SBIR N091-047 title; Innovative Weight Reduction Concepts for Unmanned Surface Vehicles.We propose the development of a co-vulcanized 2 layers composite structure, which is a nylon fabric reinforced Neoprene laminate layer and small amount of LCP fiber doped Neoprene elastic composite thin layer that would greatly extend the life with minimum cost of the skirt.