Rugged Metal Rubber™ Sensor Film for Force and Shear Measurement of Aircraft Tires

The purpose of this Air Force SBIR program is to develop and demonstrate normal and shear force sensor films made of NanoSonic’s novel Metal Rubber™ sensors that will be used to provide continuous, dynamic measurements of the forces generated under aircraft tire treads. The use of Metal Rubber™ films provides a flexible sensor film which can be patterned with an array of sensors. Sensors can be configured as a normal force or shear force sensors. An array of small flexible sensors allows the measurement of normal/shear forces by monitoring electrical changes in individual sensors. Different material properties result in forces being conveyed to the sensor site in various levels, depending on the desired measurement. Controlling material properties allows the sensors to measure the various loading profiles across the film. Sensor layering/patterning provides the film with the ability to measure a wide variety of forces in the contact patch. Test data acquisition using standard devices record the sensor responses in the entire contact patch and will provide inputs needed for FEM and post-processing analysis. The result of a successful Metal Rubber™ sensor film will be a rugged test mat that responds to both normal and shear forces in aircraft tires. BENEFIT: NanoSonic’s plans to develop a novel embedded Metal Rubber™ sensor film systems for force measurements in aircraft tire contact patches. Similar, multifunctional nanocomposite materials are also being developed for other applications by NanoSonic building on our ever-growing Metal Rubber™ family of materials, in 1) electronics, 2) aerospace and defense, and 3) biomedical engineering areas. Metal Rubber™ materials also have commercial use in flexible electronics, as interconnects in prosthesis and robotic devices, and in a range of aerospace system applications. Anticipated product sales would come from several areas related to integrated sensors, interrogation electronics and data links for monitoring components/parameters that currently cannot be monitored accurately or with such unobtrusive methods.