Following its success with multimillion-dollar grants
to provide valuable coatings research for the U.S. Army
and the Navy, the Coatings Research Institute (CRI) recently
received news that it has secured a $1 million Air Force
contract to conduct a variety of coatings research projects
for the military branch at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
in Dayton, Ohio.
The CRI received word Dec. 12 that it officially secured
the Department of Defense contract. The CRI previously
developed coatings for the Army that are more environmentally
friendly and protect Army trucks and tanks from corrosion.
The CRI hopes to build on that research foundation and
take its polymer coatings development further for use on
the Air Force's plane fleet.
 |
RESEARCH TEAM: This group of professors
and an
administrator from the Coatings Research
Institute
will conduct coatings research for the
Air Force. They
are (standing, from left) Vijay
Mannari, assistant
professor of polymers and coatings;
John Texter,
professor of polymers and coatings;
Weidian Shen,
professor of physics; and Jamil Baghdachi,
professor
of polymers and coatings. Ted Provder,
director of the
CRI, is seated. |
"The basic objective is we're building on polyurethane
resins we previously developed for the Army," said John
Texter, professor of polymer and coatings technology, and
EMU's project director on the Air Force contract. "It is
allowing us to take technology developed on previous earmarks
and find a better niche in this Air Force application."
Primary research objectives will include:
- Development of a polyurethane primer that is tough,
but flexible, and able to withstand extreme hot and cold
temperatures.
"The government wants coatings to be tough and rubbery
from 50 degrees below zero, as experienced in the Arctic,
to as hot as it gets in the desert," Texter said.
- Develop improved fuel-tank coatings so that certain
fuel additives, such as ethylene glycol, cannot degrade
the coatings.
- Develop an improved pre-treatment (that does not include
chromium) to improve corrosion resistance of Air Force
planes, including a fleet of KC-135 Stratotankers.
"Getting rid of chromium pre-treatments and heavy metals
in corrosive inhibitive pigments is the 'holy grail' throughout
the Department of Defense," said Ted Provder, director
of the CRI, who will serve on the research team.
"There are so many areas that use epoxy primers. If we
are able to replace the Air Force epoxy primers with ours,
we will be able to take it into industrial and consumer
markets, and make a big splash with it," Texter said. "That
could lead to licensing technology that faculty and the
University have a proprietary interest in."
In addition to Texter and Provder, the research team includes
Jamil Baghdachi, professor of polymers and coatings; Vijay
Mannari, assistant professor of polymers and coatings;
and Weidian Shen, professor of physics.
Because Eastern Michigan University is a secondary contractor
in the contract (the primary contractor is United Technology
Corporation in Dayton, Ohio), the University will actually
receive $840,000 from the 18-month contract. The money
will be used to pay the salaries and benefits of research
staff during release time; pay stipends and tuition to
five graduate assistants and a post-doctoral researcher;
allow the purchase of instruments and equipment; pay indirect
costs to the University; pay for materials and supplies;
and cover travel and publication costs, Texter said.
Instruments to be purchased include a research grade rhenometer,
used for studying viscosity in polymers and the curing
of resins; and a differential scanning calorimeter, which
allows the study of thermal properties of resins.
"If we can make coatings tougher for airplanes, there
are hundreds of millions, maybe billions that can be saved," Texter
said. "If we can come up with something that represents
an improvement, the Air Force can leverage it in multiple
application areas."
