Lightweight sandwich composites for improved thermal and acoustic performance

In this phase I SBIR program, Advanced Ceramics Research, Inc. (ACR) proposes the development of an innovative, one-step co-curing fabrication process for sandwich composite structures with a flexible insulating material encapsulated by an fiberglass/epoxy face sheet for thermal and acoustic barrier applications. The flexible insulating material has excellent thermal and acoustic properties, is commercially available but its use has been limited due to the lack of structural integrity. The advantage of the proposed method is that in a stitched sandwich construction it can provide exceptional thermal and acoustic properties at half the thickness of current fiberglass/epoxy composites. ACR's patented water soluble tooling material will be used in the fabrication of sandwich panels with complex geometry. This provides the opportunity to make sandwich panels to fit any given profile further reducing size and weight. The composite panels can also be fabricated for modular construction to provide high repair/replaceablity at low cost.