SBIR-STTR Award

Improved Electrical Contact Materials for Extremely High Current Sliding Contact Materials
Award last edited on: 10/26/2018

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
DOD : Navy
Total Award Amount
$1,020,489
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
N091-069
Principal Investigator
David P Bauer

Company Information

IAP Research Inc (AKA: Iap)

2763 Culver Avenue
Dayton, OH 45429
   (937) 296-1806
   info@iap.com
   www.iap.com
Location: Single
Congr. District: 10
County: Montgomery

Phase I

Contract Number: N00014-09-M-0221
Start Date: 5/18/2009    Completed: 5/23/2010
Phase I year
2009
Phase I Amount
$99,990
For Naval railgun technology to be a reality launch package armature mass and armature induced rail wear must be significantly reduced. Lighter materials with enhanced electro-thermal properties and mechanical properties equivalent to current aluminum alloys are required. IAP is proposing the development of a powder metal (P/M) magnesium armature material reinforced with aligned carbon nano-tube (CNT) fibers, which will significantly enhance the electro-thermal performance of the armature material. With appropriate alignment of the CNT fibers we expect to achieve armature mass reductions of 15-45% over conventional Al6061-T6 and Al7075-T6 materials. In addition, Magnesium P/M armatures may be beneficial to bore life in that they will not with potential rail surface materials such as steel.

Benefit:
If the proposed Phase I effort is successful, we will have shown the feasibility for a radically new approach for fabricating rail gun armature materials. The proposed use of PM carbon nano-tube reinforced composite technology will allow for the tailoring of electro-thermal armature properties. This could lead to significant reductions in armature parasitic mass and reduction in rail wear. The composite powder metal technology proposed in this Phase I effort, has significant commercial potential especially in the area of thermal management for power electronics. As the service temperature of power electronics devices increases, lightweight high thermal conductivity heat sink materials are required. The growing development of SiC devices will increase the demand for heat sink materials with tailorable thermal properties.

Keywords:
armatures, armatures, powder metal, Rail Guns, magnesium

Phase II

Contract Number: N00014-10-C-0341
Start Date: 6/25/2010    Completed: 10/25/2012
Phase II year
2010
Phase II Amount
$920,499
Our Phase II objective is to scale-up the advanced armature materials developed in Phase I to large bore railguns, with bore sizes as large as 120 mm and lengths up to 10 m. This will be accomplished through a proven methodology of Integrated Launch Package (ILP) development at IAP. During the baseline Phase II effort we will develop the processes demonstrated in Phase I and scale them first to the IAP Scale launcher then to the BAE/IAP Medium Cal launcher and then to the full scale 32 MJ Lab Launcher. Although this may be viewed as an aggressive approach for Phase II we feel that it is important to quickly scale the CNT enhanced and fiber enhanced armature materials to a full scale environment. Based on a successful demonstration in the 32 MJ Lab Launcher (LL), we will be in an excellent position to build ILPs for future Navy tactical guns.

Benefit:
The composite powder metal technology proposed in this Phase I effort has significant commercial potential especially in the area of thermal management for power electronics. As the service temperature of power electronics devices increases, lightweight high thermal conductivity heat sink materials are required. The growing development of SiC devices will increase the demand for heat sink materials with tailorable properties

Keywords:
EM launchers, advanced armature materials, carbon nanotubes, metal matrix composites