Nanocomp Technologies Inc., Concord, N.H., has received a multi-million-dollar Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The
contract will fund continuing research and development of ultra-lightweight carbon nanotube
(CNT)-based materials to replace metal-based electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and
electrostatic discharge components used
on manned and unmanned aircraft.
Under Phase I of the project, Nanocomp built large-format CNT sheets that provide the
required EMI shielding and endure the stresses related to the prepregging process that enables the
material’s direct insertion into aircraft manufacturing systems. Phase II – which includes
participation by Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, Calif., and Cytec Engineered
Materials, Tempe, Ariz. – involves optimization of the sheets’ shielding functionality, production
scale-up and lowering of the pre-pregged product cost.
September/October 2010
