D. Finn, N. Comeau
Guill Tool & Engineering, Rhode Island, United States
Keywords: Polymers, Advanced Materials, Extrusion
Annular extruded plastics are widely used in Defense applications, providing power and communications along with fuels and water transport via wires, cables, tubes, and pipes. Enhancing these core conduits of a system can have widespread impacts and enhancements throughout defense and civilian systems and infrastructure. Microlayering annular co-extruded products can revolutionize their performance and form factor resulting in increased operational efficiencies through higher performing products. Until Guill’s Department of Energy SBIR, annular extruded products remained mostly simple one to six layer constructions due to limitations in manufacturing. Guill’s new technology enables annular layer counts that provide access to improvements such as strength, fracture toughness, conductivity, barrier properties, and optical properties of extruded end-products The technology developed during the Phase II project successfully demonstrated the ability to create 105 fully continuous annular layers, unlocking enhancement potential never before seen in annular products. Having now developed this platform technology, Guill is taking action to improve the warfighter’s effectiveness and safety through higher performing and more resilient annular end-products which can help to lightweight systems, provide benefits such as EMI shielding and lightning strike protection.