An Air Deployed Multi-cycle Ocean Profiler for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance

Engineered Coatings, Inc. (ECI) proposes in Phase II to scale and demonstrate, on hardware components, a novel thin-film composite coating technology that will offer improved fretting wear resistance for moving mechanical components in U.S. Navy aircraftapplications. Based upon the technical feasibility (low friction, low wear, and galling resistance) demonstrated in the Phase I program for TiC & Gr & (metal) and MoS2-matrix co-deposited films, ECI will expand the composite coating technology tolarger-size sputtering targets and sources that incorporate unbalanced-magnetron technology. This will enable the more uniform coating of larger-size components and the processing of an increased number of components in a single deposition run, resultingin higher throughput. In Phase II, ECI will optimize coating adhesion, toughness, and reciprocating wear resistance on coated test coupons, characterize the high-frequency fretting behavior of coated parts, corrosion resistance to salt spray, and testfull-scale coated components in a bench-top aircraft proprotor assembly at the original equipment manufacturer. This bench-top test will represent a pre-qualification subsystem test to demonstrate the coating technology on actual hardware components. Apreliminary materials & process specification will be developed documenting the coating materials and processing protocols / parameters.