Dismounted Warfighter Antenna System

Not Available Feasibility of fabricating nanophase reinforced Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) will be demonstrated. MMCs are a class of materials that have superior physical, mechanical, and thermal properties; including specific strength and modulus, high temperature stability, thermal conductivity, and controlled coefficient of thermal expansion. Because of inherent differences to traditional materials, MMCs provide the properties necessary for many advanced structural, aerospace, electronic, thermal management, and wear applications. Extending microstructural refinement of MMCs down to the range of nanostructures should result in significant property improvements. A novel aspect of this work is the in-situ production of nonoxide composite powders through Gas-Phase Combustion Synthesis. The powders are coated in a fully removable encapsulation material to ensure they retain their purity until consolidation. We will also employ a novel encapsulation method that removes the encapsulation material just prior to consolidation so that powders are never directly exposed to oxygen. The proposed synthesis and consolidation technologies address the critical issues facing the successful implementation and commercialization of nanostructured MMCs. They represent the first scalable means of producing high purity, unagglomerated powder in a way that the as-produced powder can be processed using cost effective, commercially-viable handling procedures. For this program we will produce and mechanically test aluminum-aluminum nitride MMCs