HIGH QUALITY FABRICATION OF LAMINATED COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR IMPROVED STRUCTURAL... (CLASSIFIED)

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS EFFORT IS TO ESTABLISH PROCESS METHODS AND PARAMETERS NECESSARY FOR INCORPORATING COMPRESSION MOLDING TECHNIQUES IN THE FABRICATION OF LAMINATED COMPOSITES TAILORED TO THE SPECIFIC GEOMETRIC AND STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS OF KE PROJECTILES. THIS WORK INVOLVES DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF TWO REPRESENTATIVE KE PROJECTILE CONFIGURATIONS INCORPORATING LAMINATED COMPOSITE COMPONENTS THAT FUNCTION AS PRIMARY ELEMENTS OF SUPPORT: 1) A LONG ROD PROJECTILE;AND 2) A ROCKET ASSISTED PROJECTILE (RAP). DETAILED PLY-BY-PLY FINITE ELEMENT MODELS OF EACH PROJECTILE CONFIGURATION WILL BE DEVELOPED INCORPORATING MATERIAL MODELS AND GEOMETRIC ASPECTS THAT REPRESENT FABRICATION RELATED PARAMETERS SUCH AS NON-UNIFORM COMPOSITE STIFFNESS ALONG INTERFACES, THROUGH-THE-THICKNESS STIFFNESS GRADIENTS, AND VARIABLE INTERFACE BEARING CONTACT BETWEEN COMPONENTS. RESULTS FROM ANALYSES OF THESE MODELS WILL BE USED TO GUIDE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROJECTILE CONFIGURATION DESIGNS AND TO ESTABLISH REQUIRED FABRICATION SPECIFICATIONS REGARDING FIBER STRAIGHTNESS, FIBER ORIENTATION, RESIN VOLUME FRACTION, AND DIMENSIONAL TOLERANCES IN LAYING UP THE COMPOSITE. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - RESULTS FROM THIS WORKWILL HELP TO DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRACTICAL LIMITATION ARISING FROM FABRICATION CONSTRAINTS ON DELIVERED PERFORMANCE OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS IN KINETIC ENERGY PROJECTILE APPLICATIONS. POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENTS IN DELIVERED STRENGTH OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS IS A BENEFIT TO ANY APPLICATION IN WHICH WEIGHT AND STRENGTH PLAY AN INTEGRAL ROLE IN THE FINAL DESIGN.