Light-weight, Low-Cost Fire Barrier Navy SBIR FY2006.2 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2006.2 Topic No.: N06-141 Topic Title: Light-weight, Low-Cost Fire Barrier Proposal No.: N062-141-0504 Firm: Skyward, Ltd. 5100 Springfield Street, Suite 418 Dayton, Ohio 45431-1264 Contact: John Haas Phone: (937) 252-2710 Web Site: www.skywardltd.com Abstract: Skyward will develop a low-cost, light-weight, and extremely effective fire barrier to protect Navy ships. Skyward's unique design solution utilizes a lightweight honeycomb structure to support a lightweight intumescent coating. Intumescent materials form a char with excellent insulating properties when exposed to fire's heat, however the char is fragile and will not adhere well to flat surfaces by itself. Honeycomb structure is required to support and protect the fragile insulating char produced as it is exposed to a fire. This design has shown great promise in testing for Air Force applications. For Navy applications, the design is further enhanced by adding a front and back face to encapsulate the intumescent and the char it produces. The encapsulation minimizes smoke generation and provides additional protection to the coating both due to normal shipboard activities and from potential fire-fighting actions. The weight savings over current designs will permit the use of labor saving installation systems that will further reduce the total cost of ownership for this system. Skyward is well positioned to execute this design effort based on its large body of experience in evaluating and reducing the vulnerability of DoD weapons systems, and specifically with honeycomb/intumescent designs for USAF systems Benefits: The creation of a low-cost, lightweight, effective fire barrier will provide great benefit to the Navy and commercial market in general. The design concept could be utilized to both retrofit existing assets and in the construction of new assets. For the Navy, benefit will be immediately accrued by lower procurement costs and lower installation costs. Further benefits may be realized by preventing a fire from spreading aboard ship (also making fire-fighting efforts easier/more effective) thereby saving lives and property from loss/injury/damage. Fuel savings would be anticipated due to the lower weight. Lower maintenance costs are also anticipated due to reduced effort required to remove and reinstall the fire barrier (due to more effective installation methods developed under this effort and made possible by reduction in barrier weight) for various maintenance activities. Beyond the Navy, the barriers could provide increased levels of fire protection in a large number of commercial applications. Commercial shipping (both freight and passenger cruise ships) could benefit by employing honeycomb/intumescent designs (e.g, cargo containers and passenger cabins) in their construction. These designs could potentially both reduce weight and increase fire protection. Reduction in weight translates directly into fuel savings. It also increases the amount of paying cargo that can be transported. Increases in fire safety could lead to direct saving of lives and property in the event of afire, and could also lead to indirect savings in the form of reduced insurance premiums. The benefits provided by the fire barriers also apply to assets on land. Buildings and vehicles (both commercial and military) are also subject to damage/loss by fire and need adequate protection. Similar savings from an effective fire barrier (due to decreased fuel costs, property loss, lives saved, etc.) apply on land as well as on the sea. The low-cost, modular design concept adopted in this SBIR proposal allows for easy customization to meet market needs which will allow adoption of this cost and life saving technology across the widest possible market. Return