High Temperature, Wear Resistant Bore Insulator Material for Electromagnetic Rail Guns(1001-193)
Navy SBIR FY2008.1

Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2008.1
Topic No.: N08-074
Topic Title: High Temperature, Wear Resistant Bore Insulator Material for Electromagnetic Rail Guns(1001-193)
Proposal No.: N081-074-0017
Firm: TRITON SYSTEMS, INC.
200 TURNPIKE ROAD
Chelmsford, Massachusetts 01824
Contact: Tom Carroll
Phone: (978) 250-4200
Web Site: www.tritonsys.com
Abstract: Triton System Inc. (Triton) proposes to develop an ultra-high temperature polymer composite tailored to address the electrical, thermal, mechanical and wear resistance performance required of an electromagnetic (EM) rail gun bore insulator. Utilizing a thermoset silicon based polymer originally developed and qualified for Peacekeeper Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) 3D Quartz fiber antenna windows, two polymer based composite materials will be developed for testing reinforced with quartz (fused silica) fiber and Nextel 610 (alumina) fiber. Phase I testing will consist of high temperature electrical arc testing conducted at Texas Tech University - Center for Pulsed Power and Power Electronics. Texas Tech has over 20 years experience in the design, development and testing of electromagnetic rail guns and will be a vital team member possessing the facilities, equipment and expertise to evaluate the materials. Finally, Triton has the endorsement of BAE Systems, Armament Systems Division, Minneapolis MN, a system developer of EM rail guns for the Navy. BAE will provide guidance in Phase I and review the technical results with more active participation to be implemented should a Phase II effort be awarded.
Benefits: The materials and processes developed could be applied to many electro-mechanical applications particularly under conditions of high heat and high stress requiring both the beneficial thermal and high mechanical strength aspects of the materials proposed by Triton satisfying the need for higher toughness and relatively long section bore insulators. Examples of alternate applications could be high-speed mag-lev applications and very large bore MRI applications.

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