NASA SBIR 2010 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Eltron Research & Development, Inc.
4600 Nautilus Court South
Boulder, CO 80301 - 3241
(303) 530-0263

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
James H. White
eltron@eltronresearch.com
4600 Nautilus Court South
Boulder, CO 80301 - 3241
(303) 530-0263 Extension :114

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 3
End: 3

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
The identification of new, structurally sound, thermally stable materials for aviation applications will enable a wide range of technologies. The identification of new materials is hindered by the lack of information about compositions outside the existing composition space. New materials and new methodologies for selection of these materials are essential. Eltron will develop a correlational/theoretical approach to materials selection that follows its previous work in the selection of cathode electrocatalysts, oxygen evolving anodes for high temperature melts, solid electrolytes, and mixed ion/electron conducting materials. This approach will allow the exploration of composition properties space by the use of existing data. Phase I will develop and demonstrate a model for selection of new materials and confirm predictions by synthesizing new materials.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
There are opportunities for developing both new materials and a software package for prediction of new material structures and their properties. Eltron's previous activity has established a groundwork for development of such a package.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Stakeholders in this technology will be aviation companies, fuel cell companies, scientific software companies, and customers of these companies as well as DoD. Potential customers include the aforementioned companies. The resulting materials technology would compete with existing metal alloys and composite materials.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING (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.)

Composites Nanomaterials Smart/Multifunctional Materials