SBIR-STTR Award

In this Phase I SBIR program, MATECH proposes to demonstrate production of continuous carbon fibers from a domestically sustainable rayon fiber precursor as a drop-in replacement for legacy viscose rayon based fiber in extreme Ultra High Temperature (UHT) Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) nozzles. The SRM industry has identified rayon precursor fiber as a critical material for the continued long-term production and development of SRM systems. To date, there is no domestic equivalent nor is there a commercially viable equivalent process to make these cellulosic fibers without the use of highly polluting and toxic chemicals. MATECH has partnered with the University of Alabama in Huntsville to leverage the Kaukler-Process (a green process that employs safe and recyclable ionic liquids) and MATECHs substantial experience in process scale-up, heat treatment, and spool-to-spool continuous fiber manufacturing, to lift an innovative low cost, low conductivity, domestically sustainable aerospace-grade carbon fibers as reinforcement for carbon phenolic ablative rocket nozzle insulators as an alternative to NARC/Enka rayon-based carbon fibers still in use today. MATECH and its corporate partners plan to identify potential road-blocks to scale-up to mature this technology, raising both the TRL and MRL of ILCF in activities notionally planned for the Phase II effort.

MATECH proposes to demonstrate rapid, low-cost 500-750 filament manufacturing capability for production of carbon fibers from any ionic liquids (ILCF), providing a drop-in replacement for traditional viscose rayon-based carbon fibers for extreme environment composites in Solid Rocket Motors (SRM). Use of ionic liquids for cellulose dissolution/regeneration has been practiced in university settings and optimized by industrial chemical producers for over a decade. The SRM industry identified rayon fiber as a critical material for continued long-term production and development of SRM systems due to lower conductivity, predictable erosion and superior fiber matrix interfacial bonding. Currently no domestic equivalent nor commercially viable process to make these cellulosic fibers exists without the use of polluting, toxic chemicals. In the Phase I program, MATECH, with partners, synthesized and characterized ILCFs thermo-mechanical properties with direct comparison to retired legacy NARC fibers, benchmarked laboratory-scale methods to produce regenerated cellulose carbon fibers, and identified a low risk path to demonstration of pilot-scale production in an environmentally compliant, economically competitive trade space. MATECH, in partnership with corporate partners Lockheed Martin (Palo Alto, CA) and Aerojet- Rocketdyne (Sacramento, CA), shall apply these methods to deliver ILCF feedstock critical to the manufacture of SRM components for ARMYs PAC-3 and GMLRSs.