Structural Composites Inc (SCI) specializes in the design and development of composites for marine, Miltiary, commercial and theme park applications. With SBIR funding the firms he firm was able to increase the payload capacity of rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIBs) while also reducing the structural weight of the hull and improving shock absorption to minimize operator and crew exposure to wave impact and injuries. These vessels provide a quickly launched, speedy and maneuverable means of short-range insertion and extraction for special ops forces and transport for resupply, patrol and surveillance missions in coastal and inland waterways. Demand for greater payloads, such as additional troops, equipment, weapons and armor, and their resulting weight increase puts RHIBs and their personnel at greater risk by reducing the boats speed and agility. Worse, a payload increase isnt possible if extra weight exceeds the capacities of the davits (small cranes) used to lower the RHIBs into the water. To address this issue, SCI created a shock-absorbing membrane design with low-section preform framing and single-skin composite laminate, reducing the weight by more than 20%. Functioning similarly to the fabric-covered wooden wings on vintage aircraft, the fabric is flexible and acts as a membrane to transfer load weights to the frames of the wing structure. Although a laminate under bending strain might break with a force as small as 100-200lbs, that very same laminate, under tension, would be able to withstand thousands of pounds of force. By making the laminate thin and not flexurally rigid, it behaves more like a skin, allowing the transfer the loads to the framing with a lighter structure and helping to absorb shock energ
