Incorporating more composites into our warships means greater reliability, increased performance, and reduced costs and weight.

ARDI’s Composites Manufacturing Technology Center, or CMTC, is developing improved manufacturing processes for composites materials and facilitates technology transfer for the resolution of manufacturing and repair issues. Identified and prioritized by the Navy’s Program Executive Offices, other DoD Services, and industry, the developed technologies have application to modern military aircraft, surface ships, submarines, land vehicles, and associated weapons and missiles.

The technology resource for the CMTC is The Composites Consortium (TCC), which is chaired by ARDI. TCC is an integrated team of weapons systems prime contractors, composites industry suppliers, universities, and non-profit institutes. The CMTC draws upon the strong in-depth knowledge, experience, and collective expertise of the consortium membership to quickly and effectively resolve composites-related manufacturing and repair issues.

Harnessing the Composite Consortium's Expertise to Provide Innovative Solutions

ARDI, in its role as manager of the CMTC, is able to harness the broad array of technical and operational capabilities of TCC members. Together they conceptualize and develop innovative composites-based solutions for improving the performance and reducing the cost of next generation naval platforms and weapon systems. ARDI, with its TCC partners, thoroughly analyzes the performance, reliability, and maintainability requirements for these emergent platforms and systems, as defined by the Navy and other DoD customers, and then proceeds to design, develop, and test their proposed solutions.

Addressing DoD’s Affordability Challenges

ARDI and The Composites Consortium (TCC) meet the Navy’s challenge to reduce costs and improve operational performance. The CMTC’s composites-based propulsion shaft covering requires 26% less labor to apply and saves the Navy an estimated $6M per year.

With weapon system affordability a stated DoD goal, ARDI is well positioned to utilize TCC’s extensive capabilities to integrate composite materials into both new and existing ship designs and to bring lightweight materials into composites manufacturing applications. New designs are being developed that leverage the strength and durability characteristics of composites to provide maximum protection as well as extend the life expectancies for weapon system parts and assemblies. Considering advanced composite materials when designing weapons systems allows manufacturing processes to be optimized to hold critical tolerances, reducing costly waste and re-work. ARDI and The Composites Consortium are meeting the Navy’s challenge to reduce costs while at the same time improving operational performance.

Employing Composites to Protect the Warfighter

Increased weapon system readiness is a great benefit to the warfighter. The Composites Manufacturing Technology Center uses composites technology to build advanced protection while extending weapons and platform availability through reduced maintenance and increased performance life. For example, attacking corrosion issues through replacement of metal components with composites materials provides a return on investment in lifetime costs while extending readiness. Improved readiness - having the weapon available and serviceable when it’s needed - saves lives.

Propulsion Shaft Surface Treatment To lower lifecycle costs, a twelve year docking cycle has been specified for the CVN-78 and all subsequent aircraft carriers. To meet such a stringent requirement, the Composites Manufacturing Technology Center, working with Northrop Grumman Newport News, the Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State University, and the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, first identified the design factors that prevent the current propulsion shaft covering from meeting that goal. The team then developed and validated a new composite covering system, along with an innovative application process, that provides more than twelve years of reliable corrosion protection for Navy wet shafting. Lifecycle cost savings are estimated at $750,000 per ship per 12 year cycle based upon eliminating a waterborne shaft overhaul during this interval. Engineering change activities are currently underway to incorporate the new covering system into the shipyards’ manufacturing and repair procedures. On average 469 shafts are now replaced or repaired every 7 years at a cost of $64,000 to $192,450 per shaft relative to the shaft size. By eliminating one or two repair cycles for each shaft and extending the frequency of each docking cycle, the total estimated repair cost savings is $6M per year across the fleet.