SBIR/STTR Award attributes
With the increased reliance on enhanced composite material system capabilities to meet the operational demands of the 21st century warfighter, there is a need to improve upon legacy repair and maintenance methods in order to maximize the life of these high-performance composite components and structures. Under this SBIR program, the Navy is seeking novel, light-weight, fast-curing filler materials with enhanced mechanical properties that will facilitate larger potting repairs. Streamlining these larger honeycomb repairs has the potential to return a significant cost-savings to the Navy while also positively impacting the OPTEMPO of the associated platforms. Under the Phase I program, Materials Sciences LLC (MSC) has worked to develop a low density, fast-curing honeycomb filler material that facilitates the execution of in-situ repairs quickly and efficiently without the need for special environmental or post-curing requirements The material formulations that have been developed by MSC under the Phase I program have achieved a TRL-4 through laboratory measurement of material characteristics as well as successful repair demonstration on a representative honeycomb sandwich structure. Under this Phase II SBIR program, MSC proposes to leverage Phase I successes to optimize a honeycomb filler material that meets NAVAIR’s repair material qualification requirements while concurrently scaling up the processing infrastructure needed to meet fleet-wide distribution of this shelf-stable, rapid-cure repair solution.
