MATERIALS SCIENCES LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: AF181-060

Description

There is a need for an improved analytical methodology that allows designers to reduce material and structural test programs corresponding to accelerated insertion of new composite material systems, particularly the new generation of structural grade short fiber composites, which can be competitive with traditional continuous fiber composite mechanical properties, while providing advantages in terms of part complexity, integrating inserts and stiffeners, lower recurring part cost, and higher volume throughput. The goal of the proposed research is to leverage an extensive existing composite database and extend a methodology demonstrated to aid in reducing the cost and/or schedule of allowables test programs for continuous fiber composites to develop and validate a computational tool specifically designed for short fiber composites. The resulting database tool would account for the unique parameters of short fiber materials and permit cross-correlation with continuous fiber material properties in order to develop relations that can lead to improved estimates of short fiber composite allowables and, when supplemented by limited physical testing, reduce the time and cost associated with experimental characterization for this material form, as well as contributing to the ability of engineers to design/tailor new short fiber composite forms.