Nickel-free Conductive Fillers(1001-030)

Modern fighter aircraft incorporate conductive materials to control radar signature and lightning strike resistance of the vehicle. The conductive materials are incorporated in chopped fiber, fiber mat, or woven form. Unfortunately, current conductive materials are in the form of a nickel-coated graphite fiber. While nickel has advantageous conductivity and environmental resistance, nickel is considered a hazardous material that requires extra safety and health restrictions. This impacts both the handling and the utilization of the materials. Triton proposes to replace the nickel with another conductive, environmentally resistant coating that does not have the safety and environmental issues of nickel. In Phase I, Triton will show the feasibility of coating graphite fiber with the alternative coatings. In Phase II, Triton will optimize the coating and qualify the conductive filler for use in LO materials.