Durable Amphiphobic Coatings for Aircraft Landing Skis/Skids

ABSTRACT: Landing skis and skids on both rotary and fixed-wing aircraft must withstand extreme operational and environmental conditions and maintain their structural integrity. Depending upon the aircraft Mission Design Series (MDS) and its mission, these conditions can include frequent high-impacts landings, sand/snow/dust abrasion, and constant fluid contact (leading to fluid intrusion). Nanotrons propose a low-cost fabrication process to produce a low-friction, impact-resistant, abrasion-resistant, and super-fluid repellent amphiphobic coating that can be applied to aircraft landing skis and skids. The coating is expected to maintain the desired properties under the extreme operational and environmental conditions. Building on the results obtained from the Phase I study, during Phase II we will carry out field studies/tests to correlate and validate the numerical performance data that we will achieve during Phase I with real Air Force application needs and performance requirements. BENEFIT: All military and commercial aircraft and vehicles with skis/skids would benefit from this coating technology. Research into very low friction water resistant skis would also have logical crossover into various marine areas. In addition, coatings with super-fluid repellent property can also provide tremendous value in textiles, construction materials, and automobile industries.