Contracting Office Address

Other Defense Agencies, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Contracts Management Office, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA, 22203-1714

Description

MATERIAL SYSTEMS FOR AUTONOMOUS STRUCTURAL TAILORING (MAST) SOL BAA 06-19, Addendum 1, DUE: 05/15/06. TECHNICAL POC: Dr. Donald J. Leo, DARPA/DSO, Ph: (571) 218-4939, Email: baa06-19@darpa.mil; URL: www.darpa.mil/dso. Website Submission: http://www.sainc.com/dso0619/

Description

The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) seeks innovative concept proposals for the development of material systems that utilize circulation to enable autonomous change in intrinsic properties. For our purposes circulation is defined as controlled transport of fluid or gas within the structural material. The properties of transport medium could be varied (e.g., with external stimuli) to modify the properties of the material system. The goal is to demonstrate either 1) material systems that exhibit a change of an order of magnitude or more in mechanical, electromagnetic, or thermal properties through circulation, or 2) material systems that utilize circulation to exhibit properties not currently possible in structural material systems, such as surface regeneration, self-repair, or completely reconfigurable electrical or thermal properties. The key elements of the technical effort are 1) demonstrating the ability to incorporate a circulatory network into a structural material without severely compromising structural integrity, 2) demonstrating the ability to reversibly control electrical, thermal, or mechanical properties, and 3) quantifying the magnitude of the property change and response time of the property change in a representative structural material.

This request is for proposals of not more than nine months in length that are focused exclusively on the elements described above. It is expected that the total funding will be at the level of one to two million and a total of three to six awards will be made. The success of these individual efforts will be a major factor in determining whether a DARPA program in this area is initiated. The government reserves the right to fund no proposals under this BAA addendum.

Background

One of the ultimate goals of research in smart material systems is to create a material system that mimics the properties of biological systems. Biological systems exhibit an amazing capacity for extreme changes in material properties through adaptation, regeneration, self-repair, and stimulus responsive behavior. The development of structural material systems with the properties of adaptation, regeneration, and self-repair would certainly have tremendous impact on military systems, particularly for a new generation of unmanned and autonomous systems that require long persistence and multi-mission capability.

In the past ten to fifteen years there have been important advances in the development of biologically-inspired systems that combine adaptive, or smart, materials for sensing and actuation with processing electronics for real-time control. Transducer materials such as piezoelectric ceramics and polymers, shape memory materials, and fiber optics have been integrated into structural materials for the purpose of providing the nerves and muscles of the system, while advances in microprocessors and digital signal processing have enabled the incorporation of the brains of the system. Material systems that utilize this paradigm for biological-inspiration have advanced the fields of noise control, vibration suppression, and motion control, resulting in large-scale tests for control of flight surfaces and the reduction of noise and vibration in aircraft.

Unfortunately the paradigm of combining transducer materials with control electronics has provided only limited success in developing structural material systems with the adaptation, regeneration, and self-repair functions that mimic biological systems. For example, there has been success in the development of composite materials that change their mechanical properties in response to an applied field, but the changes are limited by the coupling properties of the transducer material integrated within the composite. Larger variations are possible with materials such as polymer materials, but the range of elastic properties achievable with polymer materials often precludes their use in load-bearing structures. Similar situations have occurred for material systems that change other constitutive properties such as dielectric permittivity, conductivity, or permeability.

The premise of this call for proposals is that circulation is a key component to achieving biologically-inspired functionality and that component is missing from the current paradigm for the development of biologically-inspired structural material systems. It is well known that all multi-cellular organisms incorporate a circulatory system whose primary function is to carry nutrients to cells and waste away from cells. In addition to these primary functions, circulation in biological systems plays a key role in wound healing, metabolic control, and thermal management. All of these functions are enabled by the transport of fluid and the existence of localized chemical activity, and many of the functions enabled by circulation are truly autonomous since the control is triggered by localized chemical changes.

The goal of this program is to develop structural material systems that incorporate circulation as a means of autonomous control of intrinsic properties. DARPA seeks to investigate means of using circulation to induce extreme changes in system properties or to use circulation as a means of introducing revolutionary new capabilities into structural material systems. Examples of extreme changes in material properties include, but are not limited to, order of magnitude changes in elastic modulus in ranges that are useful for load-bearing structures, order of magnitude changes in relative dielectric permittivity, conductivity, or magnetic permeability in ranges that are useful for tailoring the structural surface properties, and order of magnitude changes in thermal conductivity; examples of revolutionary new capabilities include, but are not limited to, regeneration of protective coatings for combating structural erosion, self-repair of structural materials to eliminate catastrophic defects, and conductive pathways that are completely configurable for the purpose of changing the electrical properties of surfaces.

Proposal Process

It is STRONGLY ENCOURAGED that a white paper be submitted according to the guidelines provided below.

White Paper and Full Proposal Deadlines
White papers will be accepted until March 31, 2006 NO LATER THAN 4:00 PM ET. All white papers will be reviewed no later than April 14, 2006, and recommendations for full proposals will be provided at that time. Full proposals will be due May 15, 2006 NO LATER THAN 4:00 PM ET. White papers and proposals submitted by fax will not be accepted. All full proposal submissions will be evaluated regardless of the disposition of the white paper.

White Paper Submission Guidelines
White papers of 5 pages or less will be reviewed for the purpose of recommending the submission of full proposals. The white paper must include the following sections:

1) Notional concept for incorporation of a circulatory network into a structural material for the purpose of changing system properties.
2) A clear definition of the property change (e.g. mechanical, electromagnetic, or thermal) that is enabled by the incorporation of the circulatory network; and a description and brief analysis of the process employed to achieve the desired property change.
3) A first-order analysis of the expected order of magnitude of change in the material property due to the circulatory network.
4) A brief outline of the research plan.
5) A brief overview of the proposed team and its relevant expertise.
6) An estimate of the budget for a 9 month effort.

Full Proposal Guidelines
Guidelines for full proposal submission can be found in BAA06-19. The technical sections of the full proposal must include:
1) Notional concept for incorporation of a circulatory network into a structural material for the purpose of changing system properties.
2) A clear definition of the property change (mechanical, electrical, or thermal) that is enabled by the incorporation of the circulatory network; and a description and detailed analysis of the process employed to achieve the desired property change.
3) A detailed analysis of the expected order of magnitude of change in the material property due to the circulatory network.
4) A detailed research plan that includes experimental measurement of the property change.
5) Quantified technical milestones for 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months after the start of the effort.
6) A statement of work for a follow-on option task that focuses on further refinement of the technology assuming that the 9-month technical milestones are met.
7) An overview of a systems integration concept.
8) An overview of the proposed team and its relevant expertise.

Evaluation of Proposals

Evaluation of the proposals will be in accordance with BAA06-19. For general administrative questions, please refer to the original FEDBIZOPPS solicitation, BAA06-19, of February 8, 2006.
http://www.darpa.mil/dso/solicitations/solicit.htm.

Address for Proposal Submission:
DARPA/DSO, ATTN: BAA06-19, Addendum 1
3701 North Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22203-1714

Web address for Proposal Submission: http://www.sainc.com/dso0619/.

General Information

In all correspondence, reference BAA06-19, Addendum 1.

Technical Point of Contact

Donald J. Leo, DARPA/DSO; Phone: (571)218-4939; Email: donald.leo@darpa.mil

Point of Contact

Brett Giroir, Deputy Director, DSO, Phone (571) 218-4224, Fax (571) 218-4553, Email bgiroir@darpa.mil