Efficient On-Aircraft Composite Repair Process Requiring Minimal Support Equipment (MSC P4277) Navy SBIR FY2016.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2016.1 Topic No.: N161-017 Topic Title: Efficient On-Aircraft Composite Repair Process Requiring Minimal Support Equipment (MSC P4277) Proposal No.: N161-017-0570 Firm: Materials Sciences Corporation 135 Rock Road Horsham, Pennsylvania 19044 Contact: Luke Colone Phone: (215) 542-8400 Web Site: http://www.materials-sciences.com Abstract: Composite material systems have been more widely inserted into Today's Fleet in an effort to enhance the capabilities and meet the operational demands of the 21st century warfighter. In doing so, the Navy has come to rely on these enhanced capabilities and is now looking to improve upon legacy repair and maintenance methods in order maximize the life of these high-performance composite components and structures. In an effort to meet the objective of developing an on-aircraft repair process that minimizes the needs for processing support equipment, Materials Sciences Corporation (MSC) will develop the necessary technical data for long out-life, off-the-shelf (OTS) Out-of-Autoclave (OoA) prepreg systems that may be processed in a wide range of operational environments using vacuum bag consolidation and elevated temperature cure cycles. MSC will leverage their experience in establishing OoA material processing standards for large-scale marine structures as well as their comprehensive composite damage/repair knowledgebase, to evaluate material systems and establish processing procedures that lay the foundation for the development of shelf-stable, high-performance repair kits which may ultimately be distributed and utilized throughout the Fleet. Benefits: In order to successfully execute the future assault roles envisioned for the Naval rotorcraft platforms, the Navy will continue to rely on the enhanced structural performance that composite materials provide. It will be paramount to improve upon legacy repair and maintenance methods in order maximize the life of these high-performance composite components and structures. The technical thrust of this SBIR effort is the development and qualification of "Composite Repair Kits" that make use of long out-life OoA prepreg material solutions to result in a repeatable process for executing high-quality composite repairs on-aircraft, in the Fleet. The leading application for the "Composite Repair Kits" developed under this effort will naturally be the repair scenarios that exist on the Navy's fixed wing and rotorcraft platforms. In addition to this direct application, MSC will pursue applying the concepts developed under this SBIR to a wide range of other DoD composite applications, including but not limited to:  Army and Air Force fixed wing and rotorcraft platforms  High performance marine craft for special forces  Composite military bridging applications  Large-scale composite submarine structures in addition to commercial applications requiring high-quality, repeatable composite repairs. Return