SBIR/STTR Research Award
Alumina Fiber-Reinforced 9310 Steel Metal Matrix Composite for Rotorcraft Drive System Components
Award amount
$100,000Program and phase
SBIR · Phase IAward year
2010Award details
- Awarding agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Branch
- Not reported
- Recipient company
- ULTRAMET
- Proposal award date
- 2010-01-29
- Contract end date
- 2010-07-29
- UEI
- N8ZRMWX85NZ6
- Solicitation number
- Not reported
- Topic code
- A2.09
Research abstract
AISI 9310 nickel-chromium-molybdenum alloy steel is used extensively in military helicopter rotor shafts and gears. This reliable alloy provides excellent fatigue life combined with high hardness, elastic modulus, and tensile strength. However, to facilitate rapid speed changes of variable drive systems in high-performance rotorcraft, these steel components must weigh less and have lower rotational inertia. Ultramet will develop and demonstrate a material system consisting of continuous alumina fiber-reinforced 9310 steel. Relative to the unmodified alloy, this material system will offer reduced weight, increased strength, and increased stiffness while maintaining the excellent heat treatment properties and hardening schedules of 9310 steel. The composite will be lighter than the base alloy by 1523%, possess significantly higher specific strength and stiffness, maintain comparable corrosion resistance, and allow the continued use of proven 9310 steel. The composite will be produced using an innovative variant of Ultramet's rapid, low-cost pressureless melt infiltration technology previously demonstrated for fabrication of fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites.
Technology keywords
Not reported
Other awards by this recipient
Verified by the same UEI. These are other public SBIR/STTR award pages, not a merged company record.
- Thin, Flexible Oxidation-Resistant Coatings for 3D-Woven Carbon Fabric TPS Materials
- High-Performance Deorbit Engine with Minimal Power Requirements, Phase II
- Highly Insulating Structures for Thermal Preservation of Sample Return Mission Samples
- High-Density Scintillation Detector Materials
- Lightweight Zirconium Carbide Insulation for High Temperature Space Nuclear Propulsion Systems
Awards with the same topic code
Verified by an exact topic code match. This is not a text-similarity match.
- Tunable Interior Rotorcraft Noise Control
- Braided Composite Technologies for Rotorcraft Structures
- Large Civil Tiltrotor Wake Hazard Assessment Tool
- Fast Responding Pressure-Sensitive Paint for Large-Scale Wind Tunnel Testing
- Tunable Interior Rotorcraft Noise Control
Research funding history
380 SBIR/STTR records share this UEI (1983–2025). Reported award amounts total $105,154,309. Reported amounts are not federal obligations.
Phases: Phase I, Phase II, Phase II – Direct to Phase II
Agencies: Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, Department of Transportation, Department of Health and Human Services