Low Cost High Strength High Toughness Corrosion Resistant Materials for Marine Corps Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAAV)

The Marine Corps Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAAV) has a need for low cost titanium alloys for use in major components such as the Hydro-pneumatic Suspension Unit (HSU) and for low cost, high strength, high toughness, corrosion resistant materials for use in other critical components. The Phase I effort will involve trade-off studies on commercial alloys/processes (Ti-6Al-4V investment castings and Custom 465, MP35N, IN718), on near term commercial materials (Ferrium S53) and on far term materials (nanomaterials) to evaluate their applicability for use in selected components for the AAAV. Phase I will also involve testing of the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of the Ti-6Al-4V castings and the Custom 465 and MP35N and developing preliminary design concepts for the use of these materials in the AAAV. Phase I will provide recommendations of specific materials and/or process substitutions which will achieve cost reduction with equivalent or improved performance over the currently used titanium alloy and steel components. An Option Phase will involve (1) designing the titanium casting process to produce AAAV components and (2) laboratory testing of selected near term commercial materials.