Application of Product Line Engineering to Enhance Command and Control for Multiple Mission Planning for Multiple Precision Guided Munitions.

Not Available Li-Alloy/FeS2 thermal batteries are the predominant thermal cell chemistry today. Despite progress, the use of pressed powders for thermal battery cathodes, anodes, and separators has several intrinsic limitations, including high labor costs associated with material processing (blending, pelletizing, and QC of thickness and weight). A more efficient means of providing thin electrodes would dramatically increase the volumetric and gravimetric efficiency as well as the rate capability of thermal batteries. In another Phase I program, US Nanocorp (USN) and Sandia successfully demonstrated the feasibility of fabricating viable thin film large-area FeS2 cathodes for thin cell thermal batteries using the industrial technique of thermal spray. USN developed a patent pending process (to repress pyrite decomposition in the plasma) to spray FeS2 cathodes. The proposed program leverages the remarkable success of that effort to optimize thermal battery electrode structures for high rate applications using DC arc plasma spray, specifically with regard to controlling porosity and pore size, in a continuous low-cost manufacturing process. USN has engaged Sandia in the Phase I program to assemble and evaluate thermal battery cells using USN's thermal sprayed electrodes.