CTMA Project #: 140851
Problem: All of the Service branches have the need to use adhesives to promote the light weighting goals, but they also need to provide a means by which lightweight adhesive joints can still be repaired. Reversible adhesives provide the solution so that lightweight adhesives can be used, allowing for better vehicle/vessel/aircraft sustainment in use, and easier maintenance so that the vehicle/vessel/aircraft can be easily repaired and quickly put back into service.
Benefit: Benefits include wider adoption of lightweight composites in vehicles to increase fuel efficiency, with faster and easier repairs of composite vehicles where reversible adhesives used in the joining segments of vehicle components would lead to easier and faster repairs.
Solution/Approach: In this work, the project team will evaluate the reversible bonding behavior of thermoplastic adhesive reinforced with graphene nanoplatelets (GnP) and ferromagnetic nanoparticles (FMnP) for a combination of steel, aluminum, and glass-fiber reinforced composite substrates.
Impact on Warfighter:
- Increased fuel efficiency
- Reduced maintenance time
- Increased readiness
DOD Participation:
- U.S. Army TARDEC
Industry Participation:
- PPG Industries, Inc.
- Michigan State University
- NCMS
Benefit Area(s):
- Costs savings
- Repair turn-around time
- Maintenance avoidance and reliability
- Obsolescence management and continued maintenance capability
Focus Area:
- Reliability improvement
