TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT & TRANSFER, INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: The Navy has critical and enabling needs for large, strong transparent windows for electro

TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT & TRANSFER, INC — SBIR Phase I award from Department of Defense.

Amount
$79,950
Agency
Department of Defense · Navy
Program / Phase
SBIR · Phase I
Solicitation
2013.2
NAICS
Place of performance
MD
Period
2013-09-30 → 2014-03-28

Description

The Navy has critical and enabling needs for large, strong transparent windows for electro-optical sensor applications on surface vessels, subsurface vessels and airborne systems that are currently beyond the state-of-the art. The hardness, erosion resistance, and broadband transparency of transparent spinel coupled with large size manufacturing capability makes it a leading candidate albeit its relatively modest strength. A systematic approach for significant strength enhancement of spinel windows with a high probability of success is described in depth. Tradeoffs between the proposed methods include magnitude of strength enhancement, optical properties, ease of fabrication and cost. A clear path to rapid scalability and production of 28"x 30"x 0.6"spinel windows and larger with minimal investment is outlined.