SP470121C0030

Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase II

Domestic Manufacturing of Isostatically Molded Graphite

Verifying the Domestic Manufacturing Process of Isostatically Molded (Isomolded) Synthetic Graphite Can Meet Military Requirements

PJB Consulting along with its collaborators, Amsted Graphite Materials, LLC and HKM Consulting LLC will reestablish domestic production capability of legacy ATJ isostatically molded graphite using a US supply chain and US manufacturing facility. ATJ, the performance standard in solid fuel rocket nozzles and ablative technologies employed by the US Department of Defense, was last produced in 2010. The void has been filled by foreign-owned suppliers, leaving the US military without a source of US-owned, domestically-produced fine-grain graphite that would enable performance, range, and precision for rockets and missiles. The project seeks to qualify a new domestic source of raw materials and produce a qualification batch of 8 tons of ATJ graphite. After qualification testing and acceptance by customers, there will be a source of ATJ at a capacity level of up to 3,000 tons per year of isostatically molded graphite as a drop-in replacement for the legacy ATJ material. At the end of this program, the US will again have a domestic source of strategically important large isostatically molded graphite billets used for rocket nozzles and ablative materials produced by a US-owned company.

The goal of phase II is to continue the R&D efforts initiated in Phase I. Funding is based on the results achieved in Phase I and the scientific and technical merit and commercial potential of the project proposed in Phase II.

DLA203-D06

L2D-0089

20.3

Petrus Barnard