NASA SBIR 2005 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
MER Corporation
7960 S. Kolb Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85706-9237
(520) 574-1980

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
James C Withers
jcwithers@mercorp.com
7960 S. Kolb Rd.
Tucson, AZ  85706-9237
(520) 574-1980

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
The completed Phase I work was directed at the application of nanotechnology to graphite/epoxy composites. A novel approach to the application of the nanotubes onto the carbon fiber surface was investigated. As a result, a very significant increase in compressive strength of 120% was attained, compared with 20% reported in the literature.

The Phase II builds on the success of the Phase I. It will address the key issues of scale-up, reproducibility and component fabrication. The batch fiber coating process employed in the Phase I will be replaced with a continuous fiber coating process. Manual pre-pregging of the Phase I will be replaced with a continuous pre-pregging process. Specific CEV type composite applications will be identified. Subsequently, a cost/benefit ratio for CEV will be provided.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The key emphasis of this proposal is the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). In addition, all spacecraft systems can directly benefit from this work.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The non-NASA commercial applications include: commercial aircraft, racing cars, speed boats and sporting goods.

NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Airframe Composites Multifunctional/Smart Materials Radiation Shielding Materials