Electrically conductive aircraft transparency materials via Innlay surface-embedding

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project proposal to the U.S. Department of Defense, NAVAIR, Navy, outlines the plan for the qualification of robust, non-delaminating, highly conductive aircraft transparency materials using the Innlay (TM) surface-embedding technology platform. The technology approach addresses issues with existing electrical-shielding aircraft transparency technologies, such as delaminating coatings, material incompatibility, compromised conductivity, inadequate charge dissipation, and inadequate electromagnetic interference shielding, which contribute to increased mission risk and can lead to catastrophic failure. The primary innovation of the current proposal focuses on applying the Innlay surface-embedding technology to embed aircraft transparencies with inherently built-in electrical conductivity, while retaining the transparency's robustness, providing a superior aircraft transparency material. The material enhancement can be tuned for specific levels of transparency and conductivity to meet various military specifications. This approach fundamentally departs from conventional approaches, such as sputtering secondary layers of conductive metal oxide coatings that can embrittle, corrode, crack, delaminate, and degrade.