Development of Low-Cost Fiber Reinforced Materials for Sonar Domes (MSC P5027)

Legacy material systems (e.g., steel reinforced rubber) that meet the insertion loss (IL) requirements of current acoustic windows have been shown to have difficulty meeting the structural and damage tolerance goals associated with U.S. Navy undersea operations. Newer tuned core sandwich concepts, while showing promise to improve overall reliability, are markedly more expensive than the simpler reinforced rubber domes. In this proposal, Materials Sciences Corporation (MSC) outlines a plan to develop and demonstrate an innovative fiber reinforced composite material sonar dome for the SQS-53C system used on destroyers and cruisers. During the Phase I study MSC, its manufacturing partner Seemann Composites Inc., and Applied Physical Sciences Corporation, will conduct design studies, perform panel tests and manufacturing engineering studies, and conduct acoustic analyses to establish the technical and cost feasibility of using a specialized fiber reinforced composite material to meet the structural and IL requirements of a SQS-53C sonar dome.