Fully Automated Cargo Handling System

KCI, working with Bath Iron Works, proposes to design, develop and ultimately (in Phase II) install composite hatches and scuttles on DDG51's for sea trials. Our Phase I program has two important parts. First, we will select three DDG51 hatches and/orscuttles and develop replacement designs based on conventional composite material and processing technology. We expect leading designs selected in a Phase I trade study will be E-glass fiber reinforced sandwich panels produced by VARTM processing. We willinvestigate numerous matrix options including vinyl ester and epoxy loaded with fire-retardant thermosets, phenolics and new materials such as phthalonitrile, to deveop a design that cost-effectively meets MIL-STD-2031 requirements plus goals for weightand impact resistance. We will consider skin-stiffened designs as a potentially superior configuration to damage-prone sandwich panels.A second and perhaps far more important component of our Phase I research will be an investigation of a conceptual tri-component material system termed KCISTM. In Phase I will fabricate KCISTM test specimens and subject them to mechanical, EMI and FSTtesting. If this new materials technology performs as expected, it could be nearly impervious to expected shipboard fires conditions and could revolutionize the application of composites to shipboard structures.Demonstration of technology for making light-weight, cost-effective, damage-resistant composite hatches and scuttles accepted for use on DDG51 will open a market for similar products on a vast array of commercial and military ships. The same compositetechnology demonstrated for hatches and scuttles could be applied to a wide range of other shipboard structural parts. A new technology concept, KCISTM, if proven to perform as postulated in this proposal, could revolutionize the entire high temperatureand fire-resistant composites industry by providing a material that is nearly impervious to fire at a cost that is competitive with conventional composites meeting the same performance requirements.