SBIR-STTR Award

Eikos proposes to provide electrical conductivity to proven surface coating formulations to enable a complete solution to protect polymeric aircraft transparencies. Resultant nanocomposite coatings will provide the full range of protection to environmental and operational conditions by combining advanced rain erosion polymers with carbon nanotube conductors to form a highly durable transparent and conductive shield. The overall goal is to extend coating and canopy operational life by overcoming present issues with delamination, pinholes caused by static discharge and poor interfacial adhesion. The proposed approach allows deposition by common atmospheric processing methods that are scalable to coat large areas and complex curvature. Invisicon® nanotube technology will be used to form the conductive web across the surface that eliminates charge build up and the potential for electrical breakdown, thereby eliminating the primary mechanism of failure and greatly extending the lifetime of proven protective coatings. In this project Eikos will formulate, coat, and conduct a wide range of tests to demonstrate that enhanced protective coatings are capable of extraordinary operational lifetimes.

Benefit:
The worldwide transparency market is roughly 300M$/yr. This included all commercial aviation and military markets. US production of transparencies is <100M$/year and is dominated by commercial aerospace purchases that do not require p-static protection. The military market is difficult to measure but is likely between 20-40 M$/year most of that being cost associated with the windows structure and not the coating. Given the niche of a niche market potential for transparency protective coatings we can only estimate the potential market value of the p-static layer at a few 100K$/year. This however does not diminish the value brought by solving this problem since the entire transparency system fails when the coating fails, and very valuable assets become unavailable. Never the less, given the nature of this market Eikos intends to license IP and know-how to canopy producers and utilize any applicable technology advance develop during the project to pursue commercial applications.

Keywords:
Carbon Nanotubes (Cnt), Aircraft, Canopy, Esd, Layered

F/A-18 canopies and windshields are prone to accumulate high (> 70 kV) levels of electrical charge on the outer surface during operation due to precipitation static charging that is carried and stored until discharged. Currently this charge is removed, after landing, by ground personnel, by wiping with a conductive glove. This process of allowing accumulation of charge and subsequent removal by personnel is a process that the Navy would prefer to eliminate due to inherent hazards to flight and ground crew and potential scratch damage to the transparencies. The solution is to eliminate the possibility of charge accumulation during flight. Eikos Inc, teamed with The Boeing Company, proposes that the solution is to make part or the entire surface of the transparencies conductive by enhancing that surface with Invisicon technology, which utilizes carbon nanotubes in an extremely thin veil that can conceivably be deposited either in bands or over the entire transparency surface. In this effort the team will produce and test subscale and full scale transparencies against Boeing procurement specification to validate and position the technology for insertion into the F/A-18 program.

Benefit:
Elimination of safety issues associated with electrostatic discharge on F-18 canopies. Applicable to a wide variety of ESD application both on DoD and commercial products. Related coatings are already in use commercially in clearoom windows and related applications.

Keywords:
Windows, nanotube, conductive coating, canopy, coating, p-static, ESD