Technical Project Description

(RPP: W15QKN-14-9-1002-RPP5, Rev1; Research Area: Survivability 15-22)

A. Abstract {Who is submitting (including subcontractors), what is the title of the proposed
effort, concise statement of what will be done at a high level}
Lead Consortium Member: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM)
Subcontractors: Eck Industries (Nontraditional Defense Contractor), Oshkosh
Corporation
Title of Proposal: Manufacture of Lightweight Seats, Armor and Frames from
Metallic Syntactic Foams for Improved Performance and Survivability of U.S.
Army Ground Vehicles (Survivability 15-22)
Metal matrix syntactic foams (MMSFs) are a new class of cellular material where hollow
reinforcements are encapsulated in a metal matrix to create a porous composite. MMSFs
exhibit much greater specific strength and specific energy absorption in compression than
other similar porous materials, due to the strengthening effect of the hollow
reinforcement. This makes them ideal candidates to reduce weight and improve
performance in vehicle bumpers, frames, seats and armor.
This collaborative research and development effort between UWM, Oshkosh Corporation
and Eck Industries seeks to upscale the manufacturing process to produce test and qualify
MMSF filled frame components, seats and armor for use in military vehicles.
B. Identification and Significance of the Problem or Opportunity-{Purpose, Benefit to
warfighter, history of problem that leads to solution}
During the Lightweight Materials Workshop (July 29-31, 2014), COL Christopher Cross,
TRADOC-ARCIC, stated that the Army desires a 35-ton Combat Vehicle by 2030, which
equates to a 54% weight reduction compared to current combat vehicles. These vehicle
weight savings will result in a greater operational advantage for the Army, and will allow
it to increase global, operational, and tactical mobility. A strategy based on the findings
of the workshop1 suggests that investment in manufacturing technologies is necessary to
meet these goals.
With previous U.S. Military funding (W56HZV-08-C-0716), UW-Milwaukee (UWM)
has developed novel metal casting methods for lightweight, metal matrix syntactic foams
(MMSFs) that can be used to improve mobility and survivability of military vehicles.
MMSFs are a new class of cellular material where hollow reinforcements are
encapsulated in a metal matrix to create a porous composite. These composites absorb
energy due to their unique failure/fracture characteristics in comparison to other high
strength materials. During compression, these materials reach a peak stress, followed by
partial failure at the critical resolved shear stress resulting in shear and fracture of the
hollow spheres. These spheres will continue to crush and the foam will densify over a
large strain, all at a stress lower than the initial peak stress. This can allow for the design
of ultra-light weight, energy absorbing materials based on a threshold stress for
1 2014 Lightweight Combat Vehicle S&T campaign project final technical report

applications ranging from vehicle crumple zones to protect occupants from a crash to
armor that can protect against a blast. These materials may also find use as low
density/high strength/high stiffness sandwich cores or inserts to improve stiffness of
sandwich composite beams and plates. In such a component, the skin material provides
desired structural properties such as strength and ductility and the core improves stiffness
and energy absorption. A small scale example of this concept is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Magnesium AZ91/SiC syntactic foam encapsulated in a steel tube.

A variety of matrix/hollow reinforcement combinations have been explored at the lab

scale using powder metallurgy and liquid metal casting techniques. Powder metallurgy
has been used with some success to produce larger industrial scale MMSF components at
~$40/lb. Casting techniques are by far the most versatile methods to produce syntactic
foams and offer opportunities to reduce cost by an order of magnitude, however the
methods employed at the lab scale need to be up-scaled to enable the production of
prototypes. Figure 2 presents several strategies by which MMSFs may be produced by
casting techniques.

Figure 2 Liquid metal casting techniques for synthesis of metal matrix syntactic foams.

One strategy often employed to produce metal matrix composite components is to

selectively reinforce a part in the regions requiring improved properties, such as a
cylinder liner in an engine block. Figure 3 shows one example where an MMSF preform

was successfully cast in place to produce an internal core in place of the rib structure in
an aluminum automotive cross-member.

Figure 3 Aluminum automotive cross-member prototype casting. The initial mold core
shown in (a) was modified to include an insert made of the aluminum syntactic foam (b),
which was fully encapsulated in aluminum as shown in the cut-away (c) 2.

MMSFs exhibit attractive properties in comparison to other high strength porous

materials that have been used in selected defense applications. Figure 4 shows an Ashby
chart comparing properties measured at the lab scale for metal syntactic foams to the
currently used metal foams. The materials developed at UWM (shown in green and
pictured in the inset) provide the best combination of peak strength and energy absorption
by weight.

Figure 4 Ashby chart comparing peak strength and energy absorption of metal foams and
metal syntactic foams by weight. The inset shows 1" thick plates produced at UWM.

2 Kovcs, B. 2007 Herstellung und Eigenschaften Syntaktischer Metallschume mit

verschiedenen Matrix- und Fllmaterialien PhD Dissertation, Technischen Universitt
Bergakademie Freiberg.

Table 1 presents the respective amounts of energy differing materials can absorb under a
threshold stress of 340 MPa. The amount of energy an Al-A206/Al 2O3 syntactic foam can
absorb is 100 times greater than the amount absorbed by typical aluminum, titanium and
steel alloys and 10 times greater than what can be absorbed by open celled aluminum
foams.
Table 1 Normalized absorbed energy comparison chart

Material
A206/Al2O3 MMSF
Duocel foam-12%Dense
A206
A5083-H343
Ti6Al4V
4140 Steel

Normalized Absorbed
Energy (below 340 MPa)

Density
(g/cm3)

1
0.1050
0.0091
0.0093
0.0058
0.0031

2.3
0.32
2.8
2.66
4.43
7.85

Energy
absorbed/unit
weight (J/g)
38.2
28.8
0.29
0.31
0.11
0.03

Metal matrix syntactic foams, like all composite materials are inherently tailorable to fit
the needs of an application. One of the key attributes of MMSFs is the reinforcement wall
thickness (t) to diameter (D) ratio. Previous studies at UW-Milwaukee have shown a
trend of increasing peak strength with increasing t/D ratio of the reinforcement. The t/D
ratio is directly correlated with the mechanical properties and the fracture mechanisms of
the spheres. The greatest improvement in energy absorption is achieved at high volume
fractions of reinforcement (50 volume percent is a practical maximum concentration).
Therefore, barring changes to the reinforcement volume fraction, and matrix and
reinforcement material/structure, the fracture characteristics, and the strength to weight
ratio of MMSFs can be designed by altering the t/D ratio of the reinforcement. The
mechanical properties of the matrix are also known to influence the peak strength of
MMSFs, as higher strength alloys lead to higher peak strength.
Based on previous studies of reinforcement properties, matrix properties, volume fraction
of reinforcement and resulting MMSF mechanical properties, semi-empirical models
have been developed to describe their mechanical behavior in compression allowing for
the optimal design of syntactic foams to meet desired mechanical properties.
The goal of this effort is to further evaluate optimum materials designed and tested in the
previous studies to provide necessary design data, upscale manufacturing processes and
design and produce prototypes. Further optimization of the material and manufacturing
process through collaboration between the academic institution (UWM) and the industry
partners (Eck Industries and Oshkosh Corporation) will result in further enhancements to
the performance of the optimized prototypes.
C. Objectives {What is the expected Outcome}

The main objectives of this project are to develop prototypes based on optimal MMSF
compositions, and to upscale the manufacturing process to produce, test, and qualify
these prototypes for use in U.S. Army ground vehicles.
Several outcomes of this work are expected including a reduction in weight of the
components when compared to OEM equivalents, coupled with better performance in
terms of strength/stiffness and energy absorption. This will allow for better fuel efficiency
of the vehicle and allow increased armor or payload, as well as improved vehicle
survivability. Given the low cost nature of manufacture, the use of these components can
contribute to reducing initial cost, while the lightweight nature reduces operational and
life-cycle cost.
The lower weight of the component will result in reduced mobilization cost as it will cost
less to transport the vehicle to the field and, once in the field, will increase the range and
lengthen the time that the vehicle can operate without refueling.
Low cost metal casting methods will be investigated with the expected outcome of up to
a ten-fold reduction in manufacturing costs for syntactic foams.
D. Deliverables {What will be delivered and what is the delivery schedule?}
Physical deliverables to be built & delivered may include (but are not limited to) frames,
seat, and armor plates. An optional deliverable of an OEM equivalent frame rail, seat and
armor plate is included.
Technical deliverables will include quarterly reports, and a final technical report
including a technical assessment of the material and recommendations for potential &
feasible prototypes made from syntactic foams. This report will include the results of full
material characterization conducted by UWM, and results of evaluation and testing of
prototypes by Oshkosh Corporation.
The deliverables and delivery timeline is provided in Table 2 below.
Table 2 Deliverable Schedule

Notes

Optional

Technical

Physical

Item Type Description

# of units Delivery Date
1
MMSF Prototype
2
Year 3, Quarter 4
Ex. Seat, armor,
frame
2
OEM or equivalent
1
Year 3, Quarter 4
3
Quarterly report
12
Within 30 days of the
end of each quarter.
4
Final Technical
1
Within 60 days of
Report
project completion.

E. Tasks {Explanation of the tasks to be performed, along with possible risks and mitigation
plan for those risks}

Task 1: Kick-off meeting, determination of component requirements.

A kick-off meeting will be held within the first 90 days of the project to include key
personnel from the Government, main contractor (UWM) and Subcontractors (Oshkosh
Corporation and Eck Industries) to establish user needs and customer requirements.
Task 2: Design of Material-(UWM)
UWM will produce test specimens of compositions designed per requirements discussed
in Task 1 based a) on proven processes and materials currently available and/or b) design
based on material property modeling and simulation. Rigorous testing and
characterization will be conducted to provide further design data for subcontractors.
Risk: There is a possibility that previously designed materials will not meet the
mechanical requirements of current military platforms. In this event alternate matrix
materials/reinforcements will be investigated to increase the range of mechanical
properties attainable.
Task 3: Redesign of Component-(OSHKOSH)
Oshkosh Corporation will select/re-design components using MMSFs developed as part
of Task 2.
Risk: There is a possibility that previously designed materials will not meet the
mechanical requirements of current military platforms. In this event, selective
reinforcement as a design strategy will be employed.
Task 4: Fabrication, process simulation-(ECK, UWM)
Eck will perform necessary process simulation in collaboration with UWM and will
upscale the UWM casting technology as required to produce prototypes. Large scale
classification and quality control measures will be investigated by UWM to enable use of
low cost raw materials.
Task 5: Manufacture of tooling-(ECK)
Eck will manufacture tooling as required to produce MMSF prototypes
Risk: Depending on the prototype design, tooling may require modification. This risk will
be mitigated in part through thorough process simulation in Task 4.
Task 6: Fabrication of Prototypes-(ECK)
Eck will produce a selected number of prototypes of each component to allow for testing
and characterization by Oshkosh Corporation and UWM. Eck will produce an additional
2 prototypes to be submitted to the Government as deliverables. The total number of
prototypes to be provided to the government is 6, 2 each of 3 prototypes.
Risk 1: Difficulty in obtaining high quality reinforcement materials may delay fabrication
of prototypes. This risk will be mitigated through activities in Task 4.
Risk 2: Casting defects may be observed as can be expected during scale up of a labscale process. This risk will be mitigated in part through activities in Task 4, and through
employing process design methods available at Eck Industries obtained through prior
experience in casting of metal matrix composites.

Task 7: Prototype Testing and Characterization-(OSHKOSH, UWM)

Oshkosh corporation will perform metallurgical, mechanical and selected field testing.
UWM will perform selected metallurgical and mechanical characterization to aid in
design optimization.
Risk: As there will be a limited number of prototypes produced, defects may play a
significant role. Statistical analysis methods will be employed to help mitigate this risk.
Task 8: Preparation of Final Report-(OSHKOSH, ECK, UWM)
Following testing performed in Task 7, Oshkosh, Eck and UWM will prepare a
comprehensive final report which includes recommendations of any potential & feasible
prototype components made from syntactic foams.
Task 9: Delivery of optimized prototypes, and OEM equivalents to Government (UWM)
F. Schedule of Events {Explanation of when the tasks will be performed, along with
possible risks and mitigation plan for those risks.}
Project Stage
Activity
Project
work
Management
Project Kick-off and Planning
(UWM/Eck/OSK)
Initial
Determination of Component Requirements
(UWM/Eck/OSK)
Design of Material (UWM)*
Redesign of Component (OSK)*
Design
Fabrication Process Simulations (Eck, UWM)*
Manufacture of Tooling (Eck)*
Fabrication of Prototypes (Eck)*
Prototyping
Prototype Testing (OSK)**
Prototype Characterization (UWM)**
Preparation of final report and delivery
Final
of components(UWM/Eck/OSK)

Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

*Additional time as required to mitigate risks as outlined in section E is shown as a

darker shade of blue.
** These risks as outline in section E are mitigated through the statistical methods
employed.
G. Integrated Baseline {Cost tied to a timeline and broken down by tasks}
Table 3 Integrated Baseline
Project Stage
Activity
Project
work
Management
Initial
Project Kick-off and Planning

Funding
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Required
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
$1,800,000*
*

(UWM/Eck/OSK)
Determination of Component Requirements
(UWM/Eck/OSK)
Design of Material (UWM)
Redesign of Component (OSK)
Design
Fabrication Process Simulations (Eck,UWM)
Manufacture of Tooling (Eck)
Fabrication of Prototypes (Eck)
Prototyping
Prototype Testing (OSK)
Prototype Characterization (UWM)
Preparation of final report and delivery
Final
of components(UWM/Eck/OSK)

*
$350,000
$50,000
$50,000
$50,000
$50,000
$105,000
$225,000
*

* Cost of these activities are included in the $1,800,000 Project Work activity as they are
associated with staff salaries, fringe benefits, and overhead

H. System Design and Performance {Detailed information regarding the proposed system
design and how the proposed design will meet the performance requirements stated in
the RPP.}
N/A, No requirement specified in RPP.
I. Testing {Detailed information regarding proposed testing and evaluation approach in
order to meet the performance requirements stated in the RPP, to include a focus on
the offerors testing capability and expertise relevant to evaluating the design against
the performance requirements.}
UWM will develop lab scale manufacturing processes for metal matrix syntactic foam
compositions which can be up-scaled by the industry partner Eck Industries. Material
specimens produced at UWM will be characterized via optical and electron microscopy,
shear, bend, crush and impact testing according to applicable standards to assess technical
feasibility of metal matrix syntactic foams developed in the lab and to provide necessary
data for design by Oshkosh Corporation. Control specimens will be tested for comparison
of mechanical and physical properties, and will be used as a benchmark for evaluating the
mechanical properties including strength, stiffness and energy absorption. This testing
will extend and build upon work previously conducted at UWM on MMSF compositions
developed under previous funding (W56HZV-08-C-0716), as detailed in published
studies3.
Manufacturing processes for production of prototypes (e.g. frame rails, seat components,
and armor plates, as designed by Oshkosh Corporation) will be developed by Eck
3 J.A. Santa Maria, B.F. Schultz, J.B. Ferguson, N. Gupta, P.K. Rohatgi, Effect of hollow sphere size and distribution on the quasistatic and high strain rate compressive properties of Al-A380-Al2O3 syntactic foams, J. Mater. Sci., 49(3), (2014), pp.1267-1278.
DOI: 10.1007/s10853-013-7810-y; J.A. Santa Maria, B.F. Schultz, J.B. Ferguson, P.K. Rohatgi, Al-Al2O3 Syntactic Foams Part I:
Effect of matrix strength, hollow sphere size and distribution on the quasi-static compressive properties of Al-A206-Al2O3 syntactic
foams, Mater. Sci. Eng. A. 582, (2013), pp. 415-422. ; J.B. Ferguson, J.A. Santa Maria, B.F. Schultz, P.K. Rohatgi, Al-Al2O3
Syntactic Foams Part II: Predicting Mechanical Properties of Metal Matrix Syntactic Foams Reinforced with Ceramic Spheres,
Mater Sci Eng A, 582, (2013), pp. 423-432. ; G.A. Rocha, B.F. Schultz, J.B. Ferguson, N. Gupta, P.K. Rohatgi, "Compressive
properties of Al-A206/SiC and Mg-AZ91/SiC syntactic foams," J. Mater. Res., 28, (2013), pp. 2426-2435.

Industries. Eck Industries has extensive experience in developing casting tooling and
processes for manufacture of metal matrix composites, and currently produces high
strength structural aluminum castings for a variety of military platforms including
Bradley, M113, M1 and various FCS vehicles. UWM will consult with engineers at Eck
Industries to aid in the production of metal matrix syntactic foam components with
desired mechanical properties. Eck Industries will produce a requisite number of castings
for testing and qualification at Oshkosh Corporation, UW-Milwaukee, and the
Government. UWM will take sections from the manufacture components and perform
metallurgical and mechanical testing
Oshkosh Corporation will independently perform metallography/stereomicroscopy,
tensile testing, impact testing, ballistic testing, fatigue testing and vehicle testing of the
prototypes developed in this project. Oshkosh Corporation has extensive vehicle and
subsystem/component testing capabilities.
The results of these independent studies will be provided in a final report, and will be
compared to the performance of equivalent OEM components when applicable/available.
J. Software/Algorithm- {The offeror shall submit detailed information regarding their proposed
approach software development in order to meet the reuqirements stated in the RPP, to include
software quality, software design, software configuration control, software testing and evaluation, and
software documentation.}

N/A, No requirement specified in RPP.

K. Support Engineering- {The offeror shall submit detailed information regarding their proposed
approach to supportability engineering to meet the requirements stated in the RPP, to include
supportability, training, logistics, reliability and maintainability, human factors engineering (HFE),
MANPRINT, and health and safety engineering.}

N/A, No requirement specified in RPP.

L. Integration Methodology {The offeror shall submit detailed information regarding their proposed
approach related to integration methodology, to include integrating developed technical components
by working collaboratively with the Government to achieve the performance requirements stated in the
RPP.}

The proposed project involves development of processes and prototypes in collaboration

with a foundry capable of meeting future department of defense production needs (Eck
Industries) and a major tactical vehicle manufacturer that designs, builds and sustains
high performance defense trucks (Oshkosh Corporation). Prototypes will be tested by
Oshkosh Corporation under service conditions, allowing for evaluation of components
for integration into Military vehicles. The proposed collaboration between UWM, Eck
Industries and Oshkosh Corporation, will improve the speed at which these innovative
materials can be transitioned from laboratory proof of concept, to prototype, to
certified/installed component. This collaboration is advantageous as it provides a clear

path for integration of the proposed prototype components in future designs meeting the
performance requirements stated in the RPP.
M. Supportability and Maintainability {The offeror shall submit a plan to outline the
maintainability, availability, sustainability and supportability of operations related to the
effort.}

An integrated baseline review meeting will be held with key project stakeholders within
the first 90 days of contract award which in part will establish user needs, and design
criteria in greater detail then is presently available in the RPP. Prototype components will
be designed by Oshkosh Corporation, under a design for support frame work with the
goal to reduce total life cycle costs of the component. A supportability analysis will be
performed as part of the design process as illustrated in Figure 5 below.

Figure 5 Supportability Analysis Flow Chart