Advanced Materials and Manufacturing

Develop a triboelectric, thermoelectric and/or piezoelectric coating for use on ordnance to augment or replace onboard batteries

The U.S. Army requires the production of a portable, compact, and lightweight means to produce potable water at the point of need from salt, brackish, and freshwater sources to sustain small Security Forces Assistance Brigade (SFAB) teams for an extended durations in austere environments. Developing a lightweight potable water production capability located at the point of need would significantly reduce the logistics tail of the warfighter and support current distribution shortfalls.

The Army (DOD, allies, and partner nations) lack a common understanding of the necessary components (technology and/or software) needed to resource an expeditionary Advanced Manufacturing capability capable of ad hoc design, fabrication, data transfer, assembly, quality assurance to fabricate complex Class IX repair parts.

This topic seeks to provide Joint Service Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technicians the capability to conduct a comprehensive, interactive training to enable identification and clearance of explosive and other hazards from friendly and adversary major weapons platforms currently unavailable to the institutional training base or operational force due to physical location, low density, or higher priority physical system testing requirements.

This topic accepts Phase I proposals submissions for a cost up to $250,000 for a 6–month period of performance.

As equipment ages and global events interrupt critical supply chains quickly, creating solutions for components that integrate well without impacting system performance is necessary. This topic aims to source and develop robust, versatile, and cyber-secure technologies that can be utilized for this task. The objective is to leverage innovations that ensure operational readiness and effectiveness in diverse and resource-constrained settings. Such technological advancements will fortify military readiness and potentially influence civilian sectors where infrastructure is limited.

Current methods vaporize Ge from the feedstock (Zn ores) to produce a fume (condensed vapors) followed by leaching and precipitation that yields a 1 to 15% Ge. This topic seeks processes which can yield > 60% Ge concentrates, which in turn can be purified and zone melted to produce ingot forms.