SBIR Phase I: Synthesis of Non-Equilibrium Fibers

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将确定一种廉价工艺的可行性，以连续玻璃纤维的形式制造具有良好控制化学成分和尺寸的新材料。该工艺是基于在低于正常熔点的温度下产生和保持液体在过冷、非平衡状态的能力。液体的粘度在过冷状态下增加，使得通常不支持纤维拉拔操作的材料可以形成新的玻璃纤维。在纤维拉伸过程中会出现极大的冷却速率，使得熔体在较慢的冷却速率下结晶形成玻璃。采用无容器工艺从过冷熔体中合成短纤维进行了研究，确定了几种材料的温度和工艺条件，并证明了所提出的纤维合成方法的理论可行性，该方法适用于纤维制造。拟议的第一阶段研究是通过实验证明该工艺及其在制造具有光学、光纤激光、结构和其他应用的新型玻璃纤维方面的适用性。拟议工作的成功完成将使合成第二和第三阶段商业应用研发所需的纤维原型量成为可能。＊＊＊

*** 9760020 Weber This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will determine the feasibility of an inexpensive process to manufacture new materials in the form of continuous glass fibers with well controlled chemical composition and dimensions. The process is based on the ability to create and maintain liquids in an undercooled, non-equilibrium state at temperatures below the normal melting point. The viscosity of the liquid increases in the undercooled state, allowing new glass fibers to be formed from materials that normally do not support fiber pulling operations. Extremely large cooling rates occur in the fiber-drawing process, allowing glass formation from melts that would crystallize at slower cooling rates. The proposer has performed research that employed containerless processing to synthesize short fibers from undercooled melts, determine the temperature and process conditions for several materials, and show theoretical feasibility of the proposed method of fiber synthesis, which is amenable to fiber manufacture. The proposed Phase I research is to experimentally demonstrate this process and its applicability to manufacture new glass fibers with optical, fiber-laser, structural and other applications. Successful completion of the proposed work will enable the synthesis of prototype quantities of fibers needed for commercial applications R&D in Phases II and III. ***