Objective

Vendors must develop and demonstrate a high temperature, corrosion and wear resistant hexavalent chrome replacement for small caliber weapon system barrels.

Description

Small caliber weapon system barrels operate in a high temperature, chemically corrosive and high mechanical wear environment. This environment leads to rapid deterioration of substrate materials and the failure of the barrel to meet performance requirements. These harsh environments can cause the catastrophic failure of the weapon system component and injure the operator.

The Army anticipates future weapon systems to further push extreme conditions with a combination of hotter flame temperatures as well as chemically corrosive propellants, higher pressures and harder projectiles. Current chrome application processes cause environmentally hazardous byproducts and do not sufficiently perform under the required conditions.

The Army needs coatings and platings for barrel bores’ internal surfaces that can perform under extreme temperatures, and prevent chemical corrosion and mechanical issues associated with small arms firing. Proposed coatings and platings must offer chemical, thermal and mechanical compatibility with a variety of traditional and novel materials.

Coating, plating materials and application processes must also work with small caliber barrel bores as small as 5.56mm in diameter. Further, application processes need to account for the requirements of the coated and plated components in the small arms system. The application processes must not adversely affect the substrate material in ways that may affect performance, including dimensional changes or effects on material properties such as strength or fatigue life.

Phase I

• Baseline or existing coating / plating properties to be used as a starting point for this application, including coating thickness, coating hardness, coefficient(s) of friction, corrosion resistance, color ranges, operating temperatures, thermal stability, adhesion to the substrate, chemical compatibility and application limitations such as internal diameter limitations, line of sight or non-line of sight substrate compatibility.
• Baseline or existing coating / plating application parameters, including application temperature, application time and other relevant application parameters.
• Baseline or existing coating / plating performance, including the description of the system and operating environment that the existing coating applies to.
• Performance metrics and data in that application.
• Cost of the baseline or existing coating / plating.
• Estimated or predicted properties of the proposed coating / plating, including coating thickness, coating hardness, coefficient(s) of friction, corrosion resistance, color ranges, operating temperatures, thermal stability, adhesion to the substrate, chemical compatibility and application limitations, including internal diameter limitations and substrate compatibility.
• Predicted application parameters of the proposed coating / plating, including application temperature, application time and other relevant application parameters.
• Results of all analyses performed to show that the proposed development process will result in coating / plating that meets the government’s needs.

• Results of modeling, simulation and analyses, including chemical, thermal and structural analyses, as well as the ability of the coating / plating for application in the internal bore of the barrel, overall predicted performance as a small caliber bore coating or an internal signature suppressor coating.
• Estimated cost of proposed coating / plating.
• The Army encourages the vendor to provide any other relevant information at the conclusion of Phase I to substantiate that the proposed technology can sufficiently proceed to Phase II.

Phase II

The development of one or more coating and plating formulations as well as the associated application processes that meet the government’s requirements. This deliverable includes all necessary documentation to define the formulation and application process.

Vendors must offer a comprehensive report that documents the entirety of the effort. The report shall highlight the development process, the results of all analyses performed throughout the development process, the results of destructive testing (i.e. coating thickness in sectioned barrels), the contractor’s test results in a lab (coupon testing) and in a simulated operational environment (live fire testing of coated barrels).

The report must also highlight and address any shortcomings in performance, including proposed potential fixes to these shortcomings and any anticipated challenges with scaling to full rate production. The report shall provide estimates of the cost to implement the proposed coating / plating in a production setting.

The Army seeks a quantity of five small caliber barrels with coated / plated bores (weapon system / caliber to be determined — barrels may be provided as GFM).

Phase III

The following post Phase II R&D efforts are instrumental for transition:

• The additional science and technology developments of coatings to improve performance in extreme operating regimes.
• The application of coating / plating to additional quantities of barrels that represent either challenging performance requirements or difficult application requirements.

Nearly all small caliber weapon systems, both commercial and military, can benefit from improved barrel systems. There is a large commercial market for small arms, with individuals spending large sums to upgrade barrels. A vendor will likely need to partner with an OEM barrel manufacturer and have the technology offered as part of the item itself, since it is unlikely that existing barrels could be coated or plated at a reasonable cost to the consumer.

From the Department of Defense and military side, the technology could apply to virtually all small arms systems. However, it would primarily help with advanced next-generation or legacy belt-fed systems that generate large amounts of heat, chemical erosion and mechanical wear from projectiles. For newly acquired systems, program management offices could include this technology as part of the TDP. For legacy systems, the technology could be included in TDPs as Engineering Change Proposals (ECP), weapon system overhauls and rebuilds.

Submission Information

All eligible businesses must submit proposals by noon ET.

To view full solicitation details, click here.

For more information, and to submit your full proposal package, visit the DSIP Portal.

STTR Help Desk: usarmy.rtp.devcom-arl.mbx.sttr-pmo@army.mil