Integral Fuel Tank Self-sealing Protection

The proposed research and development effort describes a composite material approach capable of providing reliable self-sealing functionality to integral fuel tanks. Since fuel containment systems can make up a large portion of an aircraft"s presented area they can contribute significantly to aircraft vulnerability to impacting threats. The ability to self-seal addresses the issue of potential fuel leakage from impacting threats which greatly increases the risk of catastrophic fire or explosion and reduces operational range. Although techniques do exist to self-seal fuel tanks they tend to be heavy, unreliable, and can be compromised when used with low aromatic fuels like biofuels This proposed technology addresses these aspect with the development of a self-sealing technology that functions autonomously and independent of fuel or air exposure. This self-sealing approach consists of multiple layers which work through a combination of complimentary mechanisms in minimizing impact damage size, managing sealant distribution, and curtailing the leakage of any fuel through the impact damage. The sealant mechanism is based on a concept of localized sealing cells. Since weight is critical for aircraft applications, this sealing mechanism can be selectively applied only to vulnerable areas of the fuel tank thereby minimizing potential weight growth.