REINFORCED FLUOROPOLYMERS FOR TORPEDO WINDOWS

FLUOROPOLYMERS WOULD MAKE SUPERIOR TORPEDO NOSE WINDOWS BECAUSE THEY HAVE GOOD SONAR RANGE ACOUSTIC VELOCITIES, SELF-NOISE CHARACTERISTICS AND ARE ENVIRONMENTALLY STABLE. THEY DO NOT ABSORB WATER AND THEY DO NOT BLEED. THEY ARE NOT USED NOW, HOWEVER, BECAUSE THEY CREEP MECHANICALLY AND THEY ARE DIFFICULT TO PROCESS AS COMPOSITES. CERTAIN NEW FLUOROPOLYMER ALLOYS HAVE GREAT PROMISE FOR IMPROVING THE PROCESSING. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROGRAM IS TO SPECIALLY FORMULATE MIXTURES OF COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE FLUOROPOLYMER AQUEOUS DISPERSIONS AND THEN COAT REINFORCEMENT FABRICS TO THE APPROPRIATE THICKNESS VIA MULTIPLE COATING AND FUSION STEPS. THE ALLOYS WILL FORM DURING THE FUSION PROCESS BY DISSOLUTION AND CONSOLIDATION OF MELTED DISPERSION PARTICLES. MULTIPLE PLIES WILL BE CONSOLIDATED AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURES AND PRESSURES, TO FORM DENSE, VOID-FREE STRUCTURES THAT EXHIBIT UNIQUE ACOUSTIC WAVE PROGATION PROPERTIES. THE ACOUSTIC AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THESE COMPOSITE STRUCTURES WILL BE DETERMINED. PHASE I WILL DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF COATING FABRIC REINFORCEMENTS WITH FLUOROPOLYMER ALLOYS, FUSING AND CONSOLIDATING THE FLUOROPOLYMERS, AND FABRICATING THEM INTO COMPLEX STRUCTURES BY APPLICATION OF HEAT AND PRESSURE. PHASE II OF THIS STUDY WILL INCLUDE SCALEUP OF OPTIMIZED BLENDS OF FLUOROPOLYMER COATED FABRIC REINFORCEMENTS IN QUANTITIES SUFFICIENT TO MAKE PROTOTYPE TORPEDO NOSE WINDOWS.