Durability Improvement of Lightweight Track and Suspension Components for Armored Vehicles

"The limitations of conventional metals processing limits the features that can be designed into track suspension components such as road wheels. These designs tradeoffs results in less than optimum performance, excessive weight and high cost. Solid freeform fabrication of metals can produce the required geometries, but production rates with some energy sources including laser are very slow, resulting in high cost components. These objections can be overcome by using a CAD/CNC controlled high energydensity beam as te energy source that directly forms the 3D metal net shapes. Durable lightweight components will be designed in steel and Titanium, using the road wheel for the Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle as the leading example. The steelcomponents will also be dispersion strengthened. Wear in the Ti wheel will be addressed by incorporating a TiC surface layer functionally graded into the Ti using the high energy deposition process. Applicability of high strength continuous fiberreinforced A1 composites to reduce weight and improve performance will also be considered. Thress alternative designs will be evaluated leading to selection of one candidate for fabrication in Phase II.Benefits: The low cost and design flexibility of the systems evaluated will have a broad range of applications in both military and commercial markets."