POWDERMET INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: A11-119

Description

Powdermet perceives the Phase I program as a success on the basis of achieving state-of-the-art properties in polymer thin film materials and observation of key phenomenon that will enable even greater gains in the state of the art. The microstructure of the thin films reveal both continued porosity and agglomeration of the nanoparticles, issues that if resolved in the Phase II program will enable an estimated device energy density of over 30J/cc with powder loadings as low as 10v%. The percolative composite work was even more promicing with results showing high permitivites over 4000 coupled with breakdown strengths over 30V/um . With the hope of better dispersion and coating of the particles utilizing sol-gel and/or single layer polymer deposition in the Phase II; huge gains in energy density are projected in future work. Powdermet estimates that the achievement of 150V/m breakdown strengths in percolative composites can be used to achieve energy densities over 250J/cc in a final device; this is truly a paradigm shift in capacitor technology if it is successful. An increase to 100V/m in the percolative composites is anticipated by elimination of the last 3% porosity in the samples by using polymers in the matrix phase.