Patents from the Naval Postgraduate Faculty (NPS) are a measure of novel innovations, however every additionally tells a narrative of a related thought with warfighting influence. NPS Division of Physics Affiliate Professor Ray Gamache and his former graduate pupil, NPS alumnus U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Chris Phifer, developed and lately patented a brand new polymer-based, self-sealing gasoline line able to withstanding a .50 caliber bullet with out shedding a lot as a single drop.
“We’re not only a physics division, we’re the utilized physics division,” Gamache stated. “Whereas we’re doing issues that contain elementary analysis, what we’re finally doing is pursuing utilized options with our navy college students which can be essential to the warfighter.”
Gamache credit the operational expertise and tenacity of Phifer to develop and check a number of prototypes for his thesis to reach on the proper design of a “heterogeneous elastomer system” for a pressurized gasoline line to right away snap again into place sealing simulated fight harm.
“It was a course of to construct, check, study till we bought it proper,” Phifer recalled. “The problem was that I needed to fear about each entry and exit factors, so we created a number of 8-inch lengths of hose produced from the polymers we chosen, sealed on one facet and a stress fixture on the opposite, and located sure properties carried out higher on sealing the entry wound and others carried out higher sealing the exit wound.
“It was throughout the second section of this course of that we determined to include multilayered polymers with opposing materials traits, and found by trial and error that too many layers decreased the efficiency however the design with two completely different composites was capable of self-seal.”
Self-sealing expertise has been round for a while – since World Conflict I, to be exact. Legacy methods relied on particular interactions with fossil fuels to operate and thus proved out of date with the introduction of latest forms of gasoline. The problem, Gamache defined, was discovering the right supplies to make use of.
After testing out varied supplies to various results, Gamache and Phifer discovered that polyureas and polythioureas labored greatest. Able to 300 p.c elongation – “rubber on steroids,” in accordance with Gamache – the supplies instantly “snapped again” after being pierced by the bullet.
“It isn’t rocket science,” Gamache stated. “You merely want a cloth that has elongation and energy to it in order that it has a reminiscence of what it was once like. When the bullet pokes a gap by it, it simply goes again and pushes every little thing to the place it was once.”
Whereas the analysis by Gamache and Phifer was initially conceived for aviation purposes, Gamache famous that the expertise can even apply past gasoline traces.
“It may be any sort of line,” he stated. “It’s a expertise that provides you self-sealing and – most significantly – instantaneous self-sealing. There’s lots being revealed on self-healing, i.e., closing up over time, however you don’t need self-healing on a gasoline line since you’re going to be out of fuel earlier than lengthy. Self-sealing is what we’re after and elastomeric supplies try this.”
Phifer is now stationed at U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) serving to develop the joint Superior Reconnaissance Car (ARV) for the Marine Corps, and agreed that the expertise is essential, however so is the method.
“This was a group effort with Dr. Gamache, the machine store, the physics lab techs and even a summer time highschool intern,” Phifer added. “I’ve used what I realized from each my physics research and my utilized analysis course of in my function with the ARV program. My time at NPS allowed me to work and perceive physics and engineering ideas and develop my problem-solving abilities to deal with the every day points that come up in a program workplace.”
The analysis into self-sealing gasoline traces could not essentially alter the face of contemporary warfare, however the expertise developed has the potential to offer a marked battlespace benefit for America’s navy forces. Elevated survivability of warfighter and tools, prolonged loiter instances and decreased upkeep calls for are just some examples of this expertise’s potential influence.
Entitled “Self-Sealing Hose,” the patent went public in November 2022 and is out there for licensing by NPS’ Know-how Switch Program.
Innovation pushed, NPS develops warfighters and warfighting options. Learn extra in regards to the expertise patent:
https://techlinkcenter.org/applied sciences/self-sealing-hose/7b946c58-00de-4437-8505-e98747d7295e
The first goal of the NPS Know-how Switch Program is to provoke partnerships with business and/or academia, license current applied sciences, and encourage and help school and workers to switch newly-developed applied sciences to the personal sector. For extra info on this system and work with NPS, go to https://nps.edu/internet/analysis/technology-transfer.
