Spirit will utilise the funds to build tooling, fabricate composite parts and machine complex metallic parts at its Wichita, Kan., facility. Spirit designs and manufactures both composite and metallic structures for commercial and defence customers.

With long-standing machining capabilities, Spirit produces more than 3 million parts annually for equipment manufacturers at peak production. The 5-axis centre in Wichita focuses on large, complex, soft metal parts for fuselage, pylon and wing structures, all built on high-tech, high-speed, latest-generation equipment and is part of 12M sqft of manufacturing space.

Our growing work on defence programs has provided a measure of stability for the company, and helped us as we shift capacity to serve other needs, particularly in the defence market

Duane Hawkins, Senior Vice President; President, Defense and Fabrication, Spirit AeroSystems

The company supports a number of military programs, including programs for the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army.

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GE is supplying 38 of the lightweight gas turbines to Austal USA for LCS Independence variants up to LCS 38. Like all the Austal USA-built LCS, the future USS Santa Barbara will be powered by two GE LM2500 gas turbines arranged in a combined diesel and gas turbine configuration with two diesel engines.

By using lightweight composites versus the steel enclosure predecessor, wall temperatures are 25oF to 50oF degrees cooler so there is less heat rejected into the engine room.

Kris Shepherd, Vice President and General Manager, GE Marine.

The modernisation program was a four-year collaborative effort with the U.S. Navy, Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, and GE.  Key GE strategic partners in this effort included: RL Industries, Fairfield, Ohio, for help in developing and qualifying the carbon fibre enclosure; and DRS Power Technology, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, a long-time GE Marine packaging partner, who helped lead the way in satisfying all first article inspection quality requirements and package assembly.

Changes to the LM2500 system include the composite module, components, and fewer shock mounts for weight reduction, all while leveraging the experience and loadings from previous LM2500 shock tests with running units. Components such as sensors, transducers, ice and flame detectors and the heater also were updated.

To date, GE has delivered gas turbines onboard 646 naval ships serving 35 navies worldwide and provides 97% of the commissioned propulsion gas turbines in the U.S. Navy fleet.

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The partnership is creating a new materials sub-facility called the Materials Solutions Network which will drive composite manufacturing into a physics-based exact science that can be predicted and modelled allowing faster implementation of low-cost, short-term and limited-life technologies.

It is hoped the new facility will allow breakthroughs in materials, processes and designs for aerospace and military components. The ability to process material models faster than ever will enable shorter times toward certification of new materials and difficult processing methods such as additive manufacturing.

The beamline will allow manufacturers and researchers to observe materials in real-time and at atomic scale for structural components such as the stationary section of a rotary system for DOD technologies or additively manufactured articles for limited life applications.

Obtaining tangible measurement data such as material structure in regards to gaps and interfacial quality is now a reality. Problems and processes can be eliminated sooner and refined for quality control and consistency.

Traditionally, composites manufacturing is mainly done by hand. Hence, the processing is as much art as it is science. Predictive modelling relies on numerous assumptions and experimental data. Reproducibility is low and ever-changing to new and improved material.

This development pushes a real-time, high-resolution understanding of the manufacturing of composites. The research reveals processing effects and variations on thermoplastic and thermoset composites during consolidation processes such as stamping and additive manufacturing.

Two new X-ray beamlines – a structural materials beamline (for which higher-energy X-rays are required to penetrate, e.g., metals) and a functional materials beamline (with lower energies for polymers and composites) are housed at the facility.

The structural materials beamline uses high energy X-rays to understand the evolving internal structure of metals, ceramics and composites during service and processing conditions.

The functional materials beamline is designed for analysis of soft materials, such as organic molecule and polymer-based materials and composites used in lightweight structural components and organic electronics, during processing and under real-life load conditions.

The X-ray beam at the functional materials beamline is only one-hundredth of the width of a human hair and can probe interfaces between the matrix and the carbon fibre, between layers of printed composites and of bonded structures. Images can be taken at fractions of a second to enhance quality control in revealing behaviour during processing. The beamline allows quick switching between different operating modes, such as small-angle X-ray/wide-angle X-ray scattering, phase contrast imaging and X-ray computed tomography.

Partnerships between the Department of Defense, industry and academia to address DOD challenges in materials discovery, processing and manufacturing of disruptive technologies will enable advances in materials and designs for a multitude of military components.

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This latest body armour will protect the wearer from even the most vicious and brutal types of edged weapon and shanks imaginable. Utilising the strength of carbon fibre with the auxetic properties of Auxilam technology and some additional ‘top secret’ assets derived from the specially developed composite structure giving the armour excellent balance of weight, protection, performance and durability.

Comparing it with PPSS Group’s polycarbonate-based stab-resistant vests, the company is claiming a reduction of 19% in thickness (utilising a 3.9mm carbon fibre composite) and a 6.6% lower aerial density and reduced weight for its latest development.

The company said the new armour will be certified to KR2/SP2 according to the UK Home Office Body Armour Standard, as well as NIJ Level 2 (Stab & Spike) and VPAM K2/D2 meaning it will offer a higher level of knife and spike protection. Thoroughly field-tested, the body armour will be made available from January 2020.

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Mr Pourghannad was extradited from Germany to face charges in July and was charged with violating United States sanctions by circumventing export control orders on carbon fibre.

Between 2008 and July 2013, Pourghannad and his two codefendants, Ali Reza Shokri and Farzin Faridmanesh lived and worked in Iran.  During that period, they worked together to obtain carbon fibre from the United States and surreptitiously export it to Iran via third countries.  In particular, Shokri worked to procure many tons of carbon fibre from the United States; Pourghannad agreed to serve as the financial guarantor for large carbon fibre transactions, and Faridmanesh agreed to serve as the trans-shipper.  Carbon fibre has a wide variety of uses, including in missiles, aerospace engineering and gas centrifuges that enrich uranium.

In or around late 2007 and early 2008, Shokri and a Turkey-based co-conspirator successfully arranged for the illegal export and transhipment of carbon fibre from the United States to an Iranian company associated with Shokri.  They contacted a United States supplier of carbon fibre, who in turn enlisted a third individual for assistance with the transaction.  Through this individual, they purchased carbon fibre from the United States supplier and arranged for the shipment of the carbon fibre from the United States, through Europe and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to the Iranian company, operated by Shokri, in Iran.

In May 2009, Pourghannad and Shokri attempted to arrange another illegal purchase and transhipment of carbon fibre from the United States to Iran however the carbon fibre shipment was intercepted before it could be trans-shipped to Iran.

The US department of justice did not specify how much of the carbon fibre actually made it through to Iran, or what would become of the co-defendants Faridmanesh and Shokri. Pourghannad , 65, who is an Iranian citizen, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.  He will be sentenced by Judge Briccetti on Dec. 13, 2019.

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Currently available structural carbon composites are often unsuited for high-energy, high fire-risk applications such as fuel tanks, engine components, high-rise buildings, elevators, rockets, trains, and lithium battery casings, to name just a few.

Resveratrol is an ingredient found in certain plants that is associated with a range of functional effects when the plant is subjected to extreme stress from things like heat, dehydration, or disease. Many of the functional effects associated with resveratrol that are observed in nature are thought to be mediated by its induction of “survival” genes.

The polymer resin matrix being tested for this new class of composite materials is made from a special formulation of resveratrol, which can be economically and sustainably manufactured on an industrial scale using advanced biotechnology and fermentation, converted to a thermosetting monomer, and then polymerised and shaped/moulded using standard fabrication techniques.

Prototype materials made from Evolva’s resveratrol have performed well in preliminary tests, exhibiting a number of advantages over existing fire-resistant materials. Resveratrol polymer composites are lighter than aluminium, halogen free, and able to withstand prolonged exposure to intense heat and flame impingement without combusting or structurally degrading. More testing is needed, but if results remain consistent it could usher in a new class of structural composite materials.

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Polymer matrix composites offer up to 40% weight savings over standard titanium structures resulting in annual fuel savings of hundreds of dollars per kilogram of titanium replaced per aircraft in addition to potential increased service life and improved fatigue resistance.

The Air Force Small Business Innovation Research program is providing an additional $750,000 to PROOF ACD to help transition these technologies in support of the Air Force’s Technology Program for Integrated Computational Methods for Composite Materials.

Dr. Brent Volk, the AFRL researcher managing the effort said;

This maturation effort supports the warfighter by providing new capabilities and performance at a reduced cost. It completes development of an advanced materials ‘toolbox’ that includes a higher temperature polyimide matrix composite, a computational process model for the material integrated into a commercial, off-the-shelf software package, validation of the process model on complex geometries, and a materials design-allowable database.

In addition to the SBIR funding, this program leverages more than $1.6 million in funding from industry partners, including Lockheed Martin, GE Aviation and Triumph Aerostructures. These funds will help ensure the SBIR Phase II effort graduates into a program that successfully transitions its technologies into military or private sectors.

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In urban warfare, troops will often use abandoned buildings or structures for defensive purposes instead of building their own or digging foxholes. The problem is that when these buildings come under fire by an RPG or tank round, a wall that is hit will implode sending shards of rock and mortar flying at the occupants sheltering inside.

To solve this, engineers at the U.S. Army’s Research and Development Centre have come up with the idea of fortifying these shelters with rolls of lightweight adhesive backed ballistic wallpaper that can quickly be put up on the inside of the walls

The wallpaper which consists of Kevlar fibre threads embedded in flexible polymer film, is still in early testing phase although the research centre has already conducted blast testing at Fort Polk, Louisiana and Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The wallpaper is still in the research and development stage and does not yet have an official name, but it could one day be produced and fielded and hopefully save lives.

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One of the biggest problems with composites is getting them to stick to the portions of a gun that must continue to be manufactured of steel, such as the barrel, In one of the early days of testing, composite material were wrapped around the steel tube of a howitzer, like a jacket. During the first test firing, the gun recoiled, but the jacket didn’t.

A gun must also exhibit “stiffening” properties, which is necessary to lessen vibration and ensure targeting accuracy. Some composites are two to three times stiffer than steel. Another factor that needs to be controlled is dynamic strain, meaning the possibility of the material breaking apart. Dynamic strain failure during testing has actually resulted in the muzzle end of the gun shearing off and flying downrange.

Composites also allow tailorability in design, with different composite formulations used for different parts of a gun. In critical areas, stiffer, more expensive composites can be used, whereas in other areas, less expensive and more flexible composites can be used.

For instance, certain layerings of composites can induce a desirable effect known as coupling/extension-twist coupling, this design has been successfully used on experimental helicopters to change the rotors’ attack angle during flight. These composites would allow portions of a gun to twist slightly during recoil, like a rubber band, so the parts don’t shear or crack.

The XM360 120mm cannon, part of the now-cancelled Future Combat Systems, remains one of the most mature examples of composites development.

To ensure that the composite jacket fits securely over the barrel of the XM360, the steel core was first contracted by chilling it with frozen carbon dioxide, then, thermal plastic was wrapped tightly around it. Finally, as the frozen barrel warmed up, it expanded into the composite jacket.

Fourteen barrels were produced in this manner and each was tested. Some of them fired as many as 250 rounds. Tests were a complete success and this technology is sitting on the shelf, ready for use.

Among crew-served weapons, the 81mm mortar tube and baseplate are now being researched for composites integration, with testing getting underway in about another year.

Metal and ceramic composites are being tested to help with excessive overheating in mortar tubes. Composites could also help reduce the weight of mortar tubes, placing less of a burden on the teams that use them. Composites could reduce the entire weapon from 90 pounds down to 50 pounds, with the base plate alone going from 25 to 15 pounds.

Work is also being done to lighten the M109A6/M284 Paladin Cannon bore evacuator, using composite technology similar to that used on the M256 cannon of the Abrams tank. Composites should lighten the M284 Bore Evacuator from 200 to 78 pounds. The new composites should be ready for use in about five years and may also be used for the 155mm howitzer.

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While heavier ships use their size to push through oncoming waves, the lightweight powerboats that are currently used to get soldiers to drop off points are too light to do this, instead its quite a rough ride for the troops as the boat goes bouncing through the waves.

The M80 however, can push through rough seas with ease thanks to its patent-pending technology, the ships M-hull uses bow wave energy to create an air cushion for more efficient planing. This not only reduces the Stiletto’s draught to just 3 feet even when fully loaded with crew and up to 20 tons of equipment, but it also drastically improves the ride and fuel efficiency with very minimal drag.

Along with comfort the M80 has also been built for speed and is equipped with four caterpillar engines capable of a top speed in excess of 60 knots with a range of 500 nautical miles (900 km) when fully loaded. The body of the vessel is constructed almost entirely from carbon fibre, which reduces its weight to just over 45 tonnes while maintaining the ships structural strength.

Although not intended to become operational just yet, the Stiletto was deployed to Colombia to help fight the U.S. war on drugs and made a high-speed, shallow-water drug interdiction that resulted in the capture of 1,800 lbs of cocaine.

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