Hysa Inc

SBIR PHASE II: MULTI-PRINCIPAL ELEMENT ALLOY FILLERS FOR COST-EFFECTIVENESS AND TOUGHNESS ENHANCEMENT IN BRAZING OF TURBINE ENGINE COMPONENTS -THE BROADER/COMMERCIAL IMPACT OF THIS SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PHASE II PROJECT IS TO PROMOTE AMERICA?S MANUFACTURING INDEPENDENCE BY OFFERING A BREAKTHROUGH OPPORTUNITY IN THE BRAZE FILLER MATERIAL CLASSES THAT FACILITATE ECONOMIC ASSEMBLY AND REPAIR OF COMPONENTS FUNCTIONING IN DEMANDING OPERATING ENVIRONMENTS, WHILE GREATLY ENHANCING THEIR MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE AND RELIABILITY. PRECIOUS METALS-BASED FILLERS HAVE DOMINATED A WIDE SWATH OF FILLER APPLICATIONS SINCE THE 1950S DUE TO THEIR FAVORABLE MELTING TEMPERATURE RANGE AND LOW REACTIVITY WITH OTHER ENGINEERING MATERIALS. THESE APPLICATIONS INCLUDE FUEL SYSTEM ASSEMBLY FOR GAS TURBINE ENGINES IN THE POWER GENERATION AND AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES, AN EARLY FOCAL APPLICATION IN THIS PROJECT, WHERE GAS TURBINE OEMS AND FUEL-SYSTEM SUBCONTRACTORS REPRESENT EARLY PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS. THIS WORK TARGETS PRECIOUS METAL CONSUMPTION DISPLACEMENT BY MULTI-PRINCIPAL ELEMENT ALLOYS (MPEAS), WHICH CONTAIN FAR MORE ABUNDANT COMPONENT ELEMENTS AND CAN BE TAILORED TO MEET THE DEMANDS OF SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS. A SUCCESSFUL COMMERCIALIZATION EFFORT WILL CARRY FAR-REACHING IMPACTS FOR AMERICA?S ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS AND INDEPENDENCE FROM FOREIGN-SOURCED CRITICAL AND NOBLE METALS IN THE BRAZING FILLER MARKET (WITH A GLOBAL MARKET SIZE OF $5.5B IN 2030) AND BEYOND. THE BENEFITS OF MPEAS CAN BE EXPLOITED FOR STRUCTURAL APPLICATIONS WITH DEMANDING OPERATING CONDITIONS. THIS SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PHASE II PROJECT WILL REALIZE THESE IMPACTS BY SUPPORTING IN-OPERANDO COMPONENT-LEVEL TESTING FOR USE CASES IDENTIFIED THROUGH CLOSE COLLABORATION WITH INDUSTRY FOR EARLY ADOPTION. A KEY OUTCOME OF PHASE I WAS UTILIZING A HIGH-THROUGHPUT COMPUTATIONAL METHODOLOGY TO RAPIDLY DESIGN TAILORED MPEA COMPOSITIONS, OVERCOMING A DECADES-LONG LAG IN INNOVATION IN THE BRAZE FILLER MATERIAL RESEARCH SPACE. PHASE II AIMS TO TRANSLATE THIS INNOVATION INTO A USER-READY PRODUCT BY (1) FINELY TAILORING FINAL ALLOY COMPOSITIONS FOR CUSTOMER-SPECIFIED PERFORMANCE ATTRIBUTES, AND (2) ENABLING THE FABRICATION OF ALLOYS IN POWDER FORMAT, WHICH IS SUITABLE FOR DROP-IN REPLACEMENT OF CURRENT ALTERNATIVES IN MOST APPLICATIONS. THE CHARACTERISTICALLY HIGH FLEXIBILITY IN COMPOSITION DESIGN FOR MPEAS, COUPLED WITH OUR ESTABLISHED DESIGN PLATFORM, IS ANTICIPATED TO ENABLE RAPID IDENTIFICATION OF THE OPTIMIZED FINE-TUNED COMPOSITIONS. ONCE FULLY SPECIFIED, THESE WILL BE MANUFACTURED AT THE BENCH SCALE TO SUPPORT LOW-VOLUME COMPONENT-LEVEL TESTING WITH THE EARLIEST ADOPTERS IN PARALLEL WITH BRINGING OUR PILOT-SCALE MANUFACTURING CAPABILITIES ONLINE FOR PROGRESSIVELY HIGHER-VOLUME TESTS. IT IS TARGETED TO HAVE THE PRODUCT BE CLASSIFIED IN A SPECIFICATION BY A CERTIFYING AGENCY AND APPROVED FOR AT LEAST ONE USE CASE AT ONE OR MORE MAJOR OEMS BY THE CONCLUSION OF PHASE II. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

SBIR PHASE I: MULTI-PRINCIPAL ELEMENT ALLOY FILLERS FOR TOUGHNESS ENHANCEMENT IN REPAIR OF NI-BASE SUPERALLOY COMPONENTS -THE BROADER IMPACT OF THIS SBIR PHASE I PROJECT WILL BE TO IMPROVE SAFETY AND RELIABILITY, AND TO REDUCE OPERATING COSTS, FOR GAS TURBINE ENGINES, A TECHNOLOGY THAT IMPACTS THE DAILY LIVES OF AMERICANS BY PROVIDING ELECTRIC POWER AND AIRCRAFT PROPULSION. MOREOVER, THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AND ENERGY INDUSTRIES ARE PARTICULARLY RELIANT UPON THIS TECHNOLOGY, MAKING THIS PROJECT HIGHLY IMPACTFUL TO THESE ASPECTS OF AMERICAN WELFARE. GAS TURBINE ENGINES CONTAIN NICKEL ALLOY BLADES, WHICH MUST BE CAREFULLY INSPECTED AND REPAIRED AT REGULAR INTERVALS TO ENSURE FAILURE NEVER OCCURS UNEXPECTEDLY, AS IN-SERVICE FAILURES INEVITABLY RESULT IN CATASTROPHIC ENGINE DAMAGE. THE INTEGRITY OF REPAIRS IS LARGELY DEPENDENT UPON MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE OF FILLER ALLOYS DESIGNED TO PATCH CRACKS AND CAVITIES IN THE ENGINE BLADES, WHICH THIS PROJECT AIMS TO IMPROVE THROUGH NOVEL METALLURGICAL DESIGN GROUNDED IN FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCE. THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY AT LARGE WILL BENEFIT FROM THIS RESEARCH, AS IT WILL PIONEER APPLIED DEVELOPMENT FOR ALLOYS WITHIN AN EMERGING MATERIAL CLASS ONLY TWO DECADES IN THE MAKING. DESIGNED ALLOYS WILL HAVE A COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGE OVER EXISTING REPAIR PRODUCTS DUE TO SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE AND SIMILAR COST. THIS ADVANTAGE WILL FORM THE CORE OF A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY, WHICH WILL GENERATE REVENUE AND PROVIDE STEM JOBS AS THE BUSINESS EXPANDS. WHEN DESIGNING NEW ALLOYS FROM THE GROUND UP, RATHER THAN MAKING MODIFICATIONS TO EXISTING ALLOYS, LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES ARISE IN MULTI-PRINCIPAL ELEMENT ALLOYS REGARDING WHICH METALLIC ELEMENTS TO INCLUDE AND IN WHAT CONCENTRATIONS, NECESSITATING A CAREFUL DESIGN STRATEGY TO EFFICIENTLY IDENTIFY CANDIDATES FOR A PARTICULAR APPLICATION. THIS PROJECT EMPLOYS, AS ITS STRONG TECHNICAL INNOVATION, A RIGOROUS ALLOY SELECTION STRATEGY GROUNDED IN FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS-BASED CALCULATIONS TO ACHIEVE THIS OUTCOME. EQUILIBRIUM AND NON-EQUILIBRIUM METALLURGICAL THERMODYNAMICS CALCULATIONS FORM THE CORE OF THE SELECTION STRATEGY, WITH THE AIM TO IDENTIFY ALLOY COMPOSITIONS IN WHICH PHASES DETRIMENTAL TO MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE ARE MOST LIKELY TO BE SUPPRESSED. THE PROJECT WILL DESIGN AND TEST ALLOYS TO ADDRESS CROSS-CUTTING INDUSTRIAL CHALLENGES ? FIRST AND FOREMOST, FILLING CRACKS IN COMPLEX NICKEL-BASE SUPERALLOYS DESIGNED FOR USE IN THE HARSH OPERATING ENVIRONMENT OF A GAS TURBINE ENGINE. MUCH OF THE SCOPE OF WORK IN THIS PROJECT WILL INVOLVE A VETTING PROCESS TO TEST WHETHER THE FILLER ALLOYS CAN WITHSTAND THESE HARSH CONDITIONS AFTER CRACK REPAIRS ARE PERFORMED. IT WILL BE OF CRITICAL INDUSTRIAL RELEVANCE TO VALIDATE THEIR LONG-TERM METALLURGICAL AND MECHANICAL VIABILITY IN A SIMULATED ENVIRONMENT. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

SBIR PHASE I: PATIENT DIGITAL TWIN AND PERFORMANCE CAPTURE SYSTEM FOR SCOLIOSIS PHYSIOTHERAPY