Improved Protective Coatings for High Strength Steels

The U.S. Air Force has successfully introduced the C-17 Globemaster III into its inventory. This modern airlift aircraft is capable of rapid strategic delivery of troops and cargo to main operating bases, or directly to forward deployment areas. Thedesign of this aircraft lets it operate on small, austere airfields as short as 3,000 feet and as narrow as 90 feet. Unfortunately, foreign object debris (FOD) is pervasive on such unembellished airfields. The landing gear components of aircraft arehighly susceptible to FOD damage during take off and landing. Protective coatings are used on the landing gear components to prevent corrosion. However, impact and abrasion caused by FOD on tactical airfields has led to damage of the coating. Thiscondition has jeopardized the safety of the aircrew and the success of the mission, and has extended maintenance downtime. It is evident that an improved coating with performance capabilities to prevent corrosion and FOD damage is necessary. Our uniqueeffort will develop a new impact and abrasion resistant polyurea spray coating for the application. This VOC and HAP compliant technology offers outstanding abrasion and chemical resistance, exceptional hydrolytic stability, blast mitigation, weightreduction, and superior FOD damage resistance. The benefits for the military and commercial sectors from the development of these new, abrasion resistant coatings include extending the life of landing gear components and decreasing maintenance costs.This increased longevity will also decrease down time and increase full force projection. Additionally, the threat of landing gear failures caused by corrosion that occurs from poor performing coatings will be eliminated. The novel, high-performancepolyurea coatings will be applicable to the general and commercial aviation markets. These coatings may also be applied to radomes, aircraft propeller blades, and other high-speed armaments and vehicles.