The Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) in State College, Pennsylvania is a major research university with expert faculty specializing in materials and other applied science and engineering fields and is well-qualified to support the broad research initiatives of the Navy Center of Excellence in Composite Manufacturing Technology (CECMT). Ranking number two in university research budgets in the nation, Penn State has a proven record for conducting research in support of government and private industry initiatives.
Penn State conducts a variety of research in composites materials as a collaborative effort between multiple academic units including the College of Engineering (COE), the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL), Institute for Manufacturing and Sustainment Technologies, College of Earth & Mineral Sciences, and the Materials Research Laboratory. The core composite research facilities reside in the COE's Composites Manufacturing Technology Center and in ARL's Composite Laboratories. Composite research areas include manufacturing and process optimization, performance and durability assessment, materials characterization and design of experiments, energy absorbing structures, linear and non-linear structural modeling and analysis, acoustic tailoring, coatings and advanced nondestructive evaluation.
Penn State established the 15,000 sq. ft. Composites Manufacturing Technology Center in 1988 in response to the need for an interdisciplinary research thrust to solve fundamental problems in composite materials and structures and their manufacturing technology. An additional 10,000 square feet of composites laboratory was established within ARL to support the growing use of composite materials by the US Navy. Penn State supports graduate and undergraduate students working on composites-related theses leading to the Bachelor's, Master's and Ph.D. degrees. The courses on composites offered at the University include Engineering Composite Materials, Composites Processing, Composite Processing Laboratory, Advanced Aerospace Structures, Micromechanics of Composites, Metal Matrix Composites, Advanced Composite Structures, Ceramic Composites and Mechanical Behavior & Processing of Polymers and Composites
Some projects undertaken by Penn State include: MEANS (AFOSR): Assessed the effects of prepreg microstructure on composite structural performance; Composite Advanced Sail (NAVSEA): Developed strength- and fracture-based fatigue and flaw criticality protocol; Advanced Hybrid MAF (ONR ATD): Designed and fabricated carbon and glass/epoxy components (MAF) for testing on US Navy Large Scale Vehicle (LSV); Propulsor Hull Improvement Program: A rapid prototyping program in which two full-scale classified devices were designed and manufactured for sea trials in 9 months; Advanced Swimmer Delivery System (PMS 395): Designed and fabricated a composite rotor for OPEVAL sea trials in 10 months; DD(X) Composite-to Steel Joint (ManTech): Developed detailed designs and an advanced non-destructive evaluation technique for large composite-to-steel adhesive joints for surface ships.
