SBIR-STTR Award

Thermoplastic composites such as fiberglass/pps are strong, lightweight, tough materials suitable for harsh environments where weight savings and durability are required. This program is designed to apply those benefits to temporary roadway surfaces for military bridge site acess/egress. After a review of prior work, especially testing of sandwich panels, improved panel utilizing fiberglass/ppd skins, aluminum honeycomb core and integral traction cleats will be designed. Small samples will be built and tested to compare durability with previous designs and measure weight savings. A final report is provided which summarizes this effort and proposes guidelines for phase ii development.

A Phase I feasibility study has demonstrated that thermoplastic composites such as glass/pps can provide substantial weight savings for the army's access/egress roadway surface hardware while also meeting operational requirements. Preliminary testing was very encouraging, indicating that the simple, integrally molded panel design met structural and durability requirements. The objective of the full scale development activity proposed herein is to advance the composite roadway surface hardware from the subscale feasibility stage, production-ready state. The major issues to be addressed include scale-up of the manufacturing process, demonstration/validation of a low cost, high volume production process, and minor redesign to further optimize weight and production cost. A total of five full size (13.1 feet wide x 24" long) composite roadway surface panels are to be fabricated for the army's evaluation.