Canopy/Transparency Advanced Coating Technology

Eikos proposes to provide electrical conductivity to proven surface coating formulations to enable a complete solution to protect polymeric aircraft transparencies. Resultant nanocomposite coatings will provide the full range of protection to environmental and operational conditions by combining advanced rain erosion polymers with carbon nanotube conductors to form a highly durable transparent and conductive shield. The overall goal is to extend coating and canopy operational life by overcoming present issues with delamination, pinholes caused by static discharge and poor interfacial adhesion. The proposed approach allows deposition by common atmospheric processing methods that are scalable to coat large areas and complex curvature. Invisicon® nanotube technology will be used to form the conductive web across the surface that eliminates charge build up and the potential for electrical breakdown, thereby eliminating the primary mechanism of failure and greatly extending the lifetime of proven protective coatings. In this project Eikos will formulate, coat, and conduct a wide range of tests to demonstrate that enhanced protective coatings are capable of extraordinary operational lifetimes. BENEFIT: The worldwide transparency market is roughly 300M$/yr. This included all commercial aviation and military markets. US production of transparencies is <100M$/year and is dominated by commercial aerospace purchases that do not require p-static protection. The military market is difficult to measure but is likely between 20-40 M$/year most of that being cost associated with the windows structure and not the coating. Given the niche of a niche market potential for transparency protective coatings we can only estimate the potential market value of the p-static layer at a few 100K$/year. This however does not diminish the value brought by solving this problem since the entire transparency system fails when the coating fails, and very valuable assets become unavailable. Never the less, given the nature of this market Eikos intends to license IP and know-how to canopy producers and utilize any applicable technology advance develop during the project to pursue commercial applications.