Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mail Stop C331, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545

A -- RATE DEPENDENT, TIME EVOLVING ENGINEERING CONSTITUTIVE MODELS FOR POLYMERS, FOAMS AND CUSHIONING MATERIALS SOL CITPO-97-198 POC For Technical Information Contact Dr. Joel G. Bennett, Los Alamos National LABORATORY, MS P946, E-mail: jbennett@lanl.gov. For Agreement Information Contact Linda Rowton, Civilian and Industrial Technologies Program Office, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS C334, TEL (505) 665-3322, FAX (505) 665-0154, or E-mail: Irowton@lanl.gov. The University of California, which operates the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) under contract to the Department of Energy (DOE), solicits interest from companies wishing to collaborate, develop and then market a unique technology related to the development, verification, and implementation of an engineering constitutive model for a class of polymer-based materials used in cushioning, padding, and preloading packages. These materials exhibit extremes in terms of creep, crush, and deformation-rate dependency. Rate dependence, long time effects, and permanent set are important features that must be accurately captured by the model. A micromechanical continuum based model that will use multiconstitutent rate-dependent material properties for determination of the macromaterial properties will be pursued. The model must be implemented into a large general purpose commercially available finite element (FE) computer program. The emphasis will be on implicit FE technology, but the model will also be available for use with explicit FE technology. Los Alamos has extensive expertise in the development, verification and implementation of this type of engineering constitutive model into both implicit and explicit FE techniques. Correspondingly, the candidate company should have a well developed background in implicit and explicit FE methods, and in the development and verification of micromechanical constitutive models. It is expected that this collaboration, utilizing basic and applied skills will be an effective and valuable asset for both the industrial partner as well as the DOE. This technology will be applicable for use by the commercial market and the weapons design community. All organizations interested in collaborating with LANL to work toward co-developing the Technology must provide proof, in a written letter of interest, that they satisfy the following minimum criteria: Interested parties must possess, or have access to, existing capabilities in research, development, marketing and support services in the domestic marketplace, preferably related to this technology. Such organizations with expertise in the above-mentioned areas must respond with a statement of interest that demonstrates the organization's solid engineering, testing, technical expertise, and operational support capabilities, and motivation for participating in this program. This opportunity is not a procurement solicitation. Any interested organization selected as a partner will be expected to work under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) or a Funds-In Agreement (FIA) to continue the development of this technology and adaptation to other applications. All letters of interest must be received by no later than 10 working days from the date of this notice. The letter of interest must contain all of the above requested information or the submitting organization will not be considered as a possible candidate for partnership. For more information about other available technologies at LANL see the DOE Technology InformationNetwork (DTIN) at http://www.dtin.doe.gov/. (0307)

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