Federal award (DEFINITIVE CONTRACT, fiscal year 2021)
Recipient: STF TECHNOLOGIES LLC
Awarding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Period of performance: 2018-09-27 to 2021-11-30
Current total value of award: $746818
Description: EO14042 WE PROPOSE AN INNOVATIVE HYBRID COMPOSITE MATERIAL CONTAINING SHEAR THICKENING FLUID (STF) ENERGY ABSORBING LAYERS (SEALS) THAT PROVIDES SUPERIOR IMPACT PROTECTION AND NOVEL, SELF-HEALING FUNCTIONALITY TO PREVENT LEAKAGE AFTER IMPACT. THE PROPOSED INNOVATION DIRECTLY ADDRESSES THE NEED FOR THIN, LIGHTWEIGHT, IMPACT-RESISTANT COMPOSITE MATERIALS THAT CAN BE FABRICATED IN COMPLEX GEOMETRIES FOR NEXT-GENERATION SPACE SUITS. THE PROPOSED PHASE II RESEARCH LEVERAGES SUCCESSFUL PHASE I R&D AND EXTENSIVE COMPOSITE MATERIALS AND SPACE SUIT EXPERTISE OF OUR PARTNERS TO ADVANCE COMMERCIALIZATION AND TRL OF IMPACT-RESISTANT, DAMAGE-TOLERANT SEAL-COMPOSITES INNOVATION TO PRODUCE A PROTOTYPE SUIT COMPONENT SUITABLE FOR SYSTEM-LEVEL INTEGRATION AND TESTING. IN PHASE I IT WAS SHOWN THAT THE SEAL-COMPOSITES PROVIDE SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED IMPACT PROPERTIES AND WEIGHT SAVINGS VS. LEADING CONVENTIONAL COMPOSITE MATERIALS FROM THE Z-2 PROTOTYPE. FUTHERMORE, SEAL-COMPOSITES IMPART SELF-HEALING FUNCTIONALITY TO MITIGATE AIR LEAKAGE IF DAMAGED. THE PHASE II OBJECTIVES AND WORK PLAN FOLLOW A LOGICAL SEQUENCE TO TEST AND DOWNSELECT IMPROVED SEAL-COMPOSITE MATERIALS, TO DEVELOP AND VALIDATE A COMPUTATIONAL MODEL AND CONDUCT MODEL-BASED DESIGN OPTIMIZATION, TO DEVELOP HIGH-FIDELITY TEST METHODS, TO REFINE THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS TO MAKE AEROSPACE-GRADE SEAL-COMPOSITES, AND TO DELIVER A VALIDATED SUIT PROTOTYPE COMPONENT MADE FROM SEAL-COMPOSITES. FURTHER, WE WILL LEVERAGE SYNERGISTIC ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION GARMENT (EPG) RESEARCH BEING CONDUCTED AT STF TECHNOLOGIES AND THE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE TO PERFORM SYSTEM-LEVEL DEVELOPMENT AND OPTIMIZATION OF THE SEAL-COMPOSITES COMBINED WITH EMERGING, STATE-OF-THE-ART EPGS. OVERALL, THE PROPOSED PHASE II WILL PRODUCE A VALIDATED SEAL-COMPOSITE PROTOTYPE SUIT COMPONENT MEETING THE NEEDS FOR IMPROVED IMPACT-RESISTANCE AND DAMAGE-TOLERANCE TO OFFER SUPERIOR ASTRONAUT PROTECTION IN A WIDE RANGE OF FUTURE MARTIAN AND LUNAR SURFACE EVA SCENARIOS.