Innovative Concepts for Low Cost, Light Weight, Highly Durable, Tooling for Composite Structural Component Fabrication Navy SBIR FY2012.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2012.1 Topic No.: N121-033 Topic Title: Innovative Concepts for Low Cost, Light Weight, Highly Durable, Tooling for Composite Structural Component Fabrication Proposal No.: N121-033-1350 Firm: Renegade Materials Corporation 3363 South Tech Blvd Miamisburg, Ohio 45342-0826 Contact: Susan Robitaille Phone: (937) 350-5274 Web Site: renegadematerials.com Abstract: Renegade Materials Corporation in collaboration with Janicki Industries (JI) proposes to develop a low-cost, precision master tool using Renegade's out-of-autoclave (OOA), high-temperature bismaleimide (BMI) prepreg material as the tooling face sheet. The testing and evaluation of these materials by Renegade in collaboration with Janicki will include: BMI formulation effects on resin rheological properties and degree of cure; effects of ply thickness on laminate consolidation; effects of composite cure schedule on thermo-mechanical properties; and the effects of cure schedule and master tool type on laminate porosity. Results of these tests and evaluations will show that the cure schedule for the BMI prepreg requires optimization for OOA processing in order to produce the requisite composite properties at minimum cure cycle temperatures. Once optimized, the OOA processed BMI face sheet will be combined with a rapidly-processed, underlying support structure that will be unlike an industry-standard eggcrate structure. Combining Renegade's OOA BMI with Janicki's novel tool design will 1) remove the limitation of scale imposed by autoclave size restrictions, 2) increase the available industrial supplier pool for the manufacture of BMI composite tools, and 3) reduce cost and lead times for the manufacture of composite tooling. Benefits: The objective of this proposal is to develop an innovative approach to the manufacture of low-cost, light-weight, and highly durable composite tooling for subsequent use in the molding of composite airframe structural components. The proposed approach will enable the production of mold tools capable of sustaining autoclave pressures up to 100 pounds per square inch (psi) and temperatures in excess of 375�F while significantly reducing the cost and lead time required to build a tool. These mold tools will also be repairable thereby enabling the manufacture of hundreds or thousands of molded parts from a single tool. Composite tooling manufactured using this innovative approach has broad applicability across many sectors of the aerospace, defense and commercial industries. Such tooling will be of immediate use to the Navy's JSF program in the manufacture of structural polymer matrix composite components. Return