STRUCTURAL COMPOSITES INC — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 17c

Description

High-volume, high-performance, and low-cost composite vehicle applications facilitate improved fuel economy and reduced environmental impact. With objective weight savings of 60-70%, and attendant amortized costs at imposition to existing parts and tooling. The proposed approach will also reduce lead/lag time for market entry, and reduce comparable production cycle times for equivalent assembly sequencing in accordance with the principles of Lean Processing. Phase I will formulate and deploy advanced development of marine composite materials and process solutions for low cost-of-entry investment in manufacturing methods suitable to rapid and interchangeable automotive product model conversions to widen the spectrum of differentiated products in high and low volume market segments starting at nominally twenty thousand units annually. Composite resins and laminates will meet higher performance goals with improved energy economy at lower objective cost, through the inter- mixing of nanometer and micrometer sized additive chemical and mineral fortifiers within the resin (known as nano-particles) and through incorporation of specialized preforms of macro- meter scaled specialty preformed fabrics and fibers used in molding of finished composite parts. Improved resin strength and toughness achieved through inter-mixed conventional nano-particles such as single walled carbon nano-tubes relies heavily on sensitive precision measurement, dispersion and anti-agglomeration mixing of the combined resin and additive content. Over a decade of work in the defense and private sectors has shown nano-particle additives to yield noteworthy improvements in fatigue strength and strain. Though the additives may have negligible material cost impact, in order to achieve measurable improvement- there remain on- going processing challenges to establish and maintain thoroughly blended mixing without agglomerated clumping of the nano-particles within the resin slurry. Phase I efforts will develop alternative dispersion techniques for superior resin and nano-particle mixed distribution with molecular dynamic modeling, and laboratory methods applicable to carbon nano-tubes, nano fibers and fibrils, and nano carbides. Phase I efforts will also apply model based engineering design and analyses for advanced development of micrometer and macro-meter scaled specialty fibers ranging from synthetics to bio-fibers- in formats such as fabric, bi-axial aligned on-lays, three dimensional nonwoven wools and fleece products. Ultra-light weight ruggedized composite technologies will be capable of immediate deployment into commercial, industrial, and defense market sectors for incorporation into vehicles, structures, and infrastructure. Phase I will also focus on advanced manufacturing processes enabling opportunity for new material adoption by the existing industrial base and for new market entries of energy sensitive cordless products including electric ground and air vehicles.