Corrosion Resistant Missile Cell Hatch Cover

PEI will development and design a light weight, resistant to corrosion and ice adhesion, water tight and low maintenance VLS Composite Missile Hatch. PEI design will include polymers and nanofibers and materials, will utilize low costs composite manufacturing, design, performance evaluation, and analysis techniques will enable us to develop a cell hatch that will meet all performance requirements. PEI objective is to develop conceptual design of the cell hatch based on VLS performance requirements. PEI will evaluate and select candidate materials (fiber(s), nanofibers, resin(s) and coatings) that will achieve both structural and environmental performance requirements. PEI will also develop a low cost manufacturing process using the selected materials. This could include the evaluation of hybrid structures which utilize various fiber type reinforcements, nanofibers and resins. PEI will fabricate sub scale prototype components for evaluation and review. PEI will investigate incorporating continuous nanocyrstallline nanofibers, into the Composite Missile Cell Hatch. Orders of magnitude improvements of the interlaminar static, dynamic, and fatigue fracture toughness and damage tolerance in carbon-epoxy laminates are achievable by utilizing nanofibers without any appreciable increase in weight. Nano coatings will also be investigated to reduce ice adhesion and increase toughness and durability.