Supporting several of NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate projects and the Advanced Composites Project, this project's technologies directly address requirements for acceleration of development and certification procedures for composite materials. This project's technologies provide an objective, value-driven roadmap for the development and integration of hybrid composite materials, leveraging scalable, certifiable design and manufacturing practices. This technology could be used by NASA to design, build, and test future aerospace research vehicles.
The proposed multifunctional hybrid composite technology has high potential for application in public and private sector commercial aircraft systems. This project's technologies, developed for NASA systems and programs, would directly apply to aerospace systems designed, manufactured, and operated by other government and commercial enterprises. Government systems, such as the B1-B, currently utilize multifunctional nanocomposite films to simplify manufacturing processes and reduce maintenance, contributing significantly to life-cycle cost savings. Additional systems that would benefit from this incorporation of this technology and other hybrid composites would include fighters, bombers, transport aircraft, unmanned air vehicles, missiles, spacecraft, satellites, and marine systems operated by the Department of Defense. This technology's attributes enable multifunctional structures and coatings which should yield a high potential for private sector commercialization within commercial aviation platforms through increased efficiency and safety. With sufficient reductions in materials and manufacturing costs, these materials could also be adopted by the automotive, marine, and civil infrastructure industries.
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