N252-118 TITLE: High Sensitivity Piezo-Ceramic Materials for Hydrophone Devices
OUSD (R&E) CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Advanced Materials;Integrated Sensing and Cyber
The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.
OBJECTIVE: Demonstrate improved piezo-ceramic materials and hydrophone devices with at least 6 dB gain in sensitivity over existing solutions for Navigational Sonar Systems (NSS) applications.
DESCRIPTION: Piezo-ceramic materials provide the heart of nearly all Navy acoustic transmit and receive systems. There are a wide range of transmit materials available for system designers to choose from. However, for passive receive applications, the number of materials available to design around are limited to 2-3 choices. This technology space has not evolved in 20 years and thus sensor design has also stagnated. With the development of textured ceramic processing technology, new possibilities exist for creating enhanced hydrophone materials [Ref 1]. This could offer system designers more freedom in terms of size reduction, shape, configuration, enhanced signal to noise ratio, and a wider supplier base for material procurement.
Prior Navy investments in textured ceramics have focused heavily on materials for transmit applications [Ref 2]. As such, this technology space is maturing rapidly. This SBIR topic seeks to leverage these previous investments and provide new materials for receive-only applications. Specifically materials and manufacturing methods designed to deliver piezoelectric voltage coefficients, g33, g31, and g15, of at least 100 V·m/Nx10-3, 35 V·m/Nx10-3, or 75 V·m/Nx10-3 respectively, with a dielectric constant of at least 500 (unitless) and a dielectric loss tangent of < 0.005 (unitless) (all at 1V drive, 1 kHz frequency) are targeted, as are advanced manufacturing techniques [Refs 2,3,4]. These g-coefficient values represent a 2x increase over the best available materials and are expected to yield the desired minimum improvement in hydrophone sensitivity over a wide range of possible sensor designs. The targeted dielectric constant and loss tangent values are mandated by the need to maintain signal to noise ratio (SNR) performance [Ref 5].
PHASE I: Conduct an initial study of the required material properties of highly sensitive piezo-ceramic materials to include the following items:
The Phase I Option, if exercised, will include the initial design specifications and capabilities description to build prototypes solution in Phase II.
PHASE II: Produce prototype materials in sizes and shapes allowing for prototypes of relevant Navy sensors to be constructed. Produce and demonstrate on representative test pieces, with the accompanying full matrix of piezoelectric coefficients required for accurate simulation of sensor devices per ANSI/IEEE STD 176-1987 [Ref 6]. Demonstrate new device concepts possible with enhanced material properties at the prototype level. Provide advanced characterization of the materials and devices, including property variation with pre-load stress, property variation with temperature, and material microstructure. Deliver three (3) prototype devices for testing as well as the modeling and simulations for further integration including simulated free field voltage sensitivity (FFVS) and beam patterns for devices over the frequency range of 1 to 100 kHz. These simulations should include an assessment of survival of grade A and grade B underwater explosive shock per MIL-S-901D [Ref 7] with recommendations on how to improve the design for shock tolerance. The prototypes shall be delivered by the end of Phase II.
PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Based on the prototypes developed in Phase II, continue development that must lead to productionization and demonstration of an array of hydrophones leading toward integration within existing submarine housings. Address minimizing lot unit variability. These arrays should be characterized for FFVS and beam patterns. In addition, the arrays should be characterized for survival of grade A and grade B underwater explosive shock per MIL-S-901D test conditions and procedures.
In addition to military application, these hydrophones are applicable for other commercial maritime applications. These areas include commercial shipping vehicles, underwater unmanned vehicles (UUV), and submarines.
REFERENCES:
KEYWORDS: Piezoelectric voltage coefficient; Textured ceramic; Piezoceramic; Hydrophone; Sensor; Ceramic processing
TPOC 1: SSP SBIR POC
[email protected]
** TOPIC NOTICE ** |
The Navy Topic above is an "unofficial" copy from the Navy Topics in the DoD 25.2 SBIR BAA. Please see the official DoD Topic website at www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/solicitation-documents/active-solicitations for any updates. The DoD issued its Navy 25.2 SBIR Topics pre-release on April 2, 2025 which opens to receive proposals on April 23, 2025, and closes May 21, 2025 (12:00pm ET). Direct Contact with Topic Authors: During the pre-release period (April 2, 2025, through April 22, 2025) proposing firms have an opportunity to directly contact the Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) to ask technical questions about the specific BAA topic. The TPOC contact information is listed in each topic description. Once DoD begins accepting proposals on April 23, 2025 no further direct contact between proposers and topic authors is allowed unless the Topic Author is responding to a question submitted during the Pre-release period. DoD On-line Q&A System: After the pre-release period, until May 7, 2025, at 12:00 PM ET, proposers may submit written questions through the DoD On-line Topic Q&A at https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/login/ by logging in and following instructions. In the Topic Q&A system, the questioner and respondent remain anonymous but all questions and answers are posted for general viewing. DoD Topics Search Tool: Visit the DoD Topic Search Tool at www.dodsbirsttr.mil/topics-app/ to find topics by keyword across all DoD Components participating in this BAA.
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