The primary target market for the proposed SEAL-composites innovation is in the composite portions of advanced xEMU and mEMU suits for future surface exploration missions. Specifically, the hybrid materials and design of the SEAL-composites provide significant increases in impact-resistance and damage-tolerance as compared to conventional composite materials. Phase I results found that the SEAL-composites tolerate 50% more impact energy without sustaining damage resulting in leakage and were 11% lighter than monolithic designs using the materials developed in the prior Z-2 prototype project. The improved durability and self-healing functionality at reduced weight of the SEAL-composites is useful for increasing the reliability of other composite structures and applications including storage tanks, habitats, or surface exploration vehicle components.
The growing market for carbon fiber and fiberglass composites represents a substantial market opportunity for STF composite materials offering improved impact resistance and damage tolerance. Improvement of out-of-plane impact resistance can potentially improve the durability and utility of composite materials in a wide variety of applications and industries including: 1. Automotive - an all composite B-pillar was recently demonstrated by researchers at UD CCM under a collaboration with BMW. Carbon fiber composites are also seeing increased demand in automotive due to the desire for increased fuel economy and growing demand for electric vehicles. 2. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including composite armor and shielding for first responders 3. Storage tanks for water, chemical process, oil and gas industries 4. Aerospace 5. Consumer sporting goods - skis, snowboards, surfboards, bicycle frames, tennis rackets, hockey and lacrosse sticks, helmets, and protective equipment 6. Power generation-increasing demand for wind turbine blades is major driver of growth in the fiberglass and carbon fiber reinforced composite market. Composite materials with damage tolerance and tunable damping properties have applications in large- and small-scale generation infrastructure. 7. Construction and building materials - building cladding, decking 8. Marine
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