SBIR-STTR Award

This project will research materials and develop a design and concept for making electronic equipment shelters using advanced materials. The advanced material shelter will be designed to take advantage of a number of significant advances in materials and proprietary technological advances in manufacturing developed by advanced composite technology, inc. (act). Act has developed two technologies significant for this project. The first technology is to lay wet laminate fibers at commercial speeds while producing a smooth product with low voids at precise angles. The second technology is the ability to lay complex geometric matrix parts using robotics. The ability to manufacture at commercial speeds using non prepreg materials allows for tailoring a matrix using different fibers within the bundle and offers potentially major reductions in costs. New materials have been developed that act believes will satisfy the air force requirements for a composite electronic equipment shelter. As part of this proposal, act will investigate using a high modulus polyethylene product, spectra 900 and spectra 1000, for the outer shell. In addition to the lighter weight, the product offers superior ballistic protection when compared to Kevlar. The product offers extremely low electrical conductivity and it floats. To provide RFI integrity, an interior wall could be made of a product such as nickel coated graphite (NCG) or a combination of graphite and metallic fibers to form a mesh.

This Phase II project will continue materials research and refinement of the Phase I design and concept for constructing electronic equipment shelters using advanced materials. The most significant benefit of this phase is that it will move the composite shelter off the drawing board and out of the laboratory onto the manufacturing floor. Using proprietary technology advances in manufacturing developed by Advanced Composite Technology, Inc. (ACT) and the design developed in this project, shelter components will be manufactured and then tested. A sub-scale shelter will be manufactured and delivered to the Air Force. ACT has developed two technologies significant for this project. The first technology is to lay wet laminate fibers at commercial speeds at precise angles producing a smooth product with minimal voids. The second technology is the ability to fabricate complex geometric shapes using robotics. The ability to manufacture at commercial speeds using non pre-preg materials allows for tailoring composites employing hybrid fiber mixes and offers comparatively major reductions in costs. The shelters will feature a design that lends itself to modularity which can be used to tailor a shelter configuration to specific needs plus providing integral RFI shielding and ballistic protection.