Composite braiding is a high speed production method which may significantly reduce costs and also enable fabrication of innovative new motor case and ordnance designs as well as commercial products. Application of braiding to these uses has been limited due to a lack of analytical and experimental data, particularly with end closures and cross sectional transitions. Furthermore, braiding is not limited to a single construction, but represents a family of possible architectures: biaxial, triaxial, and now asymmetrical biaxial and triaxial (patents pending) braids. Phase I research provided initial analytical and experimental data for braided end closures. Braiding of an integral rocket motor case/nozzle merged as an attractive candidate for a Phase II demonstration. Phase II research will also expand the analytical foundation and point to innovative means of optimizing the producibility and structural efficiency of braided composite tubes with nozzles or end closures. Anticipated
Benefits: The proposed research will be directly applicable to the future development of braided composite tactical rocket motor cases. Lower cost, improved propellant mass fraction and IM performance will result. The Phase II results will also be applicable to commercial pressure vessel applications which could include oil industry products, alternate fuel vehicle tanks, chemical process equipment, hydraulic cylinders, and firefighting bottles.
