ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE AND NON-TDI CONTAINING POLYURETHANE FOAM FOR ARMAMENT APPLICATION

OVER THE PAST TWENTY YEARS, THE NAVY HAS BEEN USING A CASTOR OIL/TDI BASED URETHANE FOAM FOR ABLATIVE WEAR REDUCING JACKETS, TO PROVIDE ENDOTHERMIC PROTECTION TO GUN BARRELS AND REDUCE WEAR CAUSED BY EXCESSIVE HEATING. PRESENTLY THERE IS A NEED TO PROVIDE FORMULATIONS BASED ON LESS TOXIC AND MORE CHEMICALLY CONSISTENT RAW MATERIALS AND FOAMS WITH ANTISTATIC ADDITIVES TO PREVENT THE HAZARDS ASSOCIATED WITH ELECTROSTATIC ARCING. THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROPOSED PHASE I PROGRAM IS TO DEVELOP SUCH RIGID OR SEMIRIGID POLYURETHANE FOAMS BASED ON POLYESTER POLYOLS AND POLYMERIC MDI. ANTISTATIC CHARACTERISTICS WILL BE PROVIDED THROUGH THE USE OF HYDROPHILIC POLYOLS AND/OR CONDUCTIVE CARBON BLACK AS ADDITIVES TO THE FOAM OR THROUGH THE USE OF CONDUCTIVE COATINGS. CANDIDATE FOAMS WILL BE EVALUATED FOR KEY PROPERTIES SUCH AS DENSITY, MODULUS, GAS GENERATION, AND DECOMPOSITION ENDOTHERM. THE MORE PROMISING COMPOSITIONS WILL BE RECOMMENDED FOR MORE DETAILED FORMULATIONS, TESTING AND PROCESS DEVELOPMENT IN PHASE II.