In-situ Cold Spray Repair of AM-2 Aluminum Matting

The Navy uses EAF AM-2 matting, which is made of aluminum, for expeditionary airfields. These mats allow air vehicles to land on various soil surfaces. However, the mats often get damaged and worn out. Currently, the Navy removes the damaged mats and ships them to a refurbishment center for maintenance. This process is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and causes downtime for the airfield.   Triton Systems aims to develop an in-situ repair process for aluminum matting that is quick, cost-effective and has a comparable flexure strength to the original matting. The process will also explore methods for adding friction properties to the repair area. The design analysis and lab demonstrations will help establish the feasibility of the process during Phase I. We will evaluate a variety of hole and crack sizes to determine the limits of the repair system and compare the repaired sections to virgin material to assess their flexure loading properties.   In Phase II, we will refine the repair process with a prototype and estimate the costs, including repair times. The repairs will be conducted on 6-to-12-foot aluminum mats and full-scale mechanical testing will be performed. The data generated will be compared to the existing baseline AM-2 mats mechanical analysis data.   Finally, Triton will partner with the PMA and the Arresting Gear IPT to produce new repair/refurbishment cost and logistics estimates based on the materials and processing parameters established. This will help validate and transition the technology.