Advanced Additives to Improve Fire Resistant Fuels (FRF)

The Army needs a fire resistant fuel (FRF) that is safe from incendiary threat, limiting the ability of the enemy to use fuel as a weapon. We propose a fuel additive that will severely reduce the vulnerability of Army vehicles upon ballistic impact by preventing the fuel forming a mist of small droplets, inhibiting explosive combustion and flame propagation. Recent discoveries at Caltech have led to the design of an associative polymeric additive that will overcome limitations inherent in previous efforts by the Army and the aviation industry to develop mist-control FRFs. Such materials will represent a disruptive advance, combining effectiveness at extremely low concentrations (<1000 ppm), resistance to shear degradation, little-to-no impact on fuel performance or logistics, and no increase in fuel toxicity. Materia proposes to develop these mist-control polymeric additives at acceptable cost using its Nobel Prize winning metathesis technologies, working with Caltech and JPL. In Phase I, we will demonstrate associative polymeric additives effective as FRF. In Phase II, we will scale up the synthesis to enable large scale Army tests. In both Phases we will consult with the Southwest Research Institute to collaborate on a diversity of experiments relevant to full-scale implementation as the project evolves.