Advanced Control of Shape Memory Alloys (ACSMART)

Reactive gases such as fluorine present a significant safety and health threat. Despite this, large quantities of these gases are used in a variety of industrial, medical, military, and aerospace applications. Their toxic nature requires accurate andefficient monitoring during manufacturing, transportation, storage, and end use.The goal of this project is to develop a miniaturized sensor and associated monitoring system that can detect low levels of reactive gases in real time. Such a system is of prime importance for detecting/locating fluorine leaks in high-power excimer lasersystems used in military weaponry. During Phase I, NRC successfully demonstrated concept feasibility. The resulting sensors offer a combination of low cost and high performance that is not achievable with SOA electrochemical or solid-state fluorinesensors. The Phase II challenge is to further develop and optimize performance, fabricate prototypes for extended testing, and address packaging of the end product.We anticipate annual sales over $600K from this SBIR technology, providing a significant return on the DOD investment (350%) within a few years. Coupled with our existing expertise in gas sensors, NRC projects annual sales over $15M within the next fiveyears.