FABRICATED BY PRECISION CASTING

SPARATA SYSTEMS, INC., PROPOSES A PROGRAM TO DEVELOP A LOW COST PRECISION CASTING MANUFACTURING APPROACH FOR APPLICTION TO COMPLEX STRUCTURES USING A SILICON CARBIDE/ALUMINUM (SIC/AL) METAL MATRIX COMPOSITE (MMC). THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY IS TO EVALUATE THE POTENTIAL ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES AND SYSTEM IMPLICATIONS OF MANUFACTURING A GENERIC MISSILE COMPONENT USING THE PRECISION CASTING PROCESS. THE RESULTS FOF THIS EVALUATION WILL BE COMPARED WITH INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON SIC/AL MATRIAL MANUFACTURED BY THE POWER METALLURGY PROCESS. THE STUDY APPROACH IS AS FOLLOWS: (1) INITIALLY,IDENTIFY A GENERIC NON-FLAT PANEL COMPONENT, ITS ASSOCIATED CHARACTERISTICS AND STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS AND ESTABLISH A SET OF MATERIAL PROPERTIES GOALS FOR THE RESULTING MMC MATERIAL; (2) PER FORM PARAMETRIC PREDICTIONS OF MATERIAL PROPERTIES USING SEVERAL ANALYTICAL FORMULATIONS WITH VARIOUS CANDIDATE MATERIALS AND USE THE RESULTS TO DESIGN THE COMPOSITE CONSTITUENTS AND THEIR PROPORTIONS WITHIN THE LIMITS OF THE MANUFACTURING CAPABILITY; (3) DESIGN AND CAST A TYPICAL NON-FLAT PANEL COMPONENT USING THE INGOT METALLURGY CASTING PROCESS DEVELOPED BY SCIENCE APPLICATIONS, INC.; (4) EVALUATE THE RESULTING NON-FLAT PANEL COMPONENTS AND COMPARE THE RESULTS TO MATERIALS FABRICATED FROM OTHER SIC/AL MANUFACTURING PROCESSES WITH REGARD TO MATERIAL PROPERTIES, MANUFACTURING COST, POTENTIAL GROWTH AND LIMITATIONS. ETC.; AND FINALLY, (5) DOCUMENT THE RESULTS IN A FINAL REPORT.