Commander, U.S. Army Missile Command, RDEC Procurement Office, Redstone Arsenal, AL 35898-5275

A -- DOMESTIC SOURCE FOR POLYACRYLONITRILE (PAN) BASED CARBON FIBERS SOL 96X102 DUE 101596 POC (RDPC) Natalynn Weddle, Contract Specialist, AMSMI-RD-AC-BA, (205) 876-4900, or Harold Smith, Contracting Officer, Synopsis No. R102-96. The U.S. Army Missile Command, Research, Development, and Engineering Center, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is seeking a domestic source or sources for a family of high strength, ultra high modulus polyacrylonitrile based carbon fibers. It is desirable that a family of these fibers presently exist or that through a flexible manufacturing process these fibers could be developed. The objective of this development is to demonstrate, test, qualify, and implement these fibers into DoD's advanced weapon systems. The period of performance for this effort is approximately 24 months. The baseline requirements of the high strength, ultra high modulus fiber are: Parameter -- Filament Diameter, Suggested Value -- 7 to 9 micron; Parameter -- TOW size, Suggested Value -- 12K preferred; Parameter -- Tensile Strength, Suggested Value -- 650 KSI minimum; Parameter -- Tensile Modulus, Suggested Value -- 55 MSI minimum; Parameter -- Elongation, Suggested Vaule -- 1.2% minimum; Parameter -- Purity, Suggested Value 99.99% Carbon; Parameter -- Test Standard, Suggested Value -- ASTM, SACM, etc. The tensile modulus in this family of PAN based fibers will increase at least to 120MSI. These fibers will be sized for epoxy resin fabrication. The contractor will provide sufficient quantities of the fibers for evaluations. Quantities may vary from several pounds for qualification in the development process to 100 pounds in pre-production processing. These fibers have multiple applications from low pressure vessels to high pressure vessels, structural applications and other applications that are incorporated into the DoD requirement. It is extremely important that the contractor will provide for the most economical development and fabrication techniques that will provide a fiber that will be cost competitive with similar fibers. Contractors interested in this development should submit a white paper to the U.S. Army Missile Command, Attention: AMSMI-AC-CR-BA/Natalynn R. Weddle, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama 35898-5275. The selection will be made on the basis of technical merit, program relevance, and cost as discussed in the white paper. (0269)

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