Net Shape Manufacturing of Functionally Grading Nanocomposite Materials for Gear System Components Using High Pressure Combustion Driven Powder Compac

In response to Navy's needs for gear system component and materials development for applications such as V22-Aircraft/Helicopter, UTRON proposes an innovative manufacturing technology called the high pressure (up to 150 tsi) Combustion Driven Powder Compaction (CDC) to manufacture near or net shape quality bearing liner parts, high density, mechanically durable and wear resistant 9310 steel and/or Pyrowear X-53 equivalent matrix alloy materials by suitable CDC compaction conditions, optimal sintering, post-processing and heat treatment. Process advantages include superior sub-micron surface finish, synthesis/process flexibility of novel fine grained microstructures including nanocomposites, less materials wastage, near or net shapes of simple to complex geometry at competitively lower manufacturing costs compared to the traditional fabrication methods. Having developed successfully CDC processing and optimized thermal post-processing for potential gear system alloys in Phase I, We propose in Phase II to further continue extensive CDC process optimization, establish suitable post process steps such as HIPIng/heat treatments, fabricate tensile dogbones and specific geometries of interest to sponsors/subcontractor, and evaluate for microstructual behavior and mechanical properties including fatigue and Contact Wear Testing. The proposed work is planned for collaboration with Southern Research Institute and Bell Helicopter-Textron.