A team of scientists from Wrocław University of Science and Technology is part of an international consortium that has launched research into new stealth technology materials for warships, the university announced on Wednesday.
The project, involving researchers from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Wrocław University of Science and Technology, is called ADMIRABLE and has a budget of more than 10 million EUR. It is carried out by a consortium comprising shipbuilding companies and research centers, funded by the European Defence Fund.
The consortium aims to develop a new material for constructing military vessels using stealth technology — a term describing methods, strategies, and technologies designed to conceal military and strategic objects. Objects made with these technologies are characterized by lower detectability, for example, by radar.
Photo by Wrocław University of Science and Technology
“As far as our project goes, we intend to jointly develop a new composite-based material that in addition to providing effective protection against detection is more efficient while ensuring at least the same ballistic resistance than steel-based materials,” says Prof. Tomasz Kurzynowski, project leader at Wrocław University of Science and Technology.
He added that, thanks to advanced manufacturing technologies, including Additive Manufacturing, and the most promising composite materials, the Wrocłąw team aim to limit the weight of the stealth material to around 160 kg per square metre, a reduction of around 10 per cent compared to the current materials used.
By reducing the weight of the materials used in ship construction, vessels will be able to achieve higher speeds while consuming less energy.
The new material will be developed through the combination of several manufacturing processes. ““The composite material will consist of different raw materials, e.g. metals or polymers, with different microstructural geometries for each layer and different mechanical, electrical, or chemical characteristics. Currently, no manufacturing technique would be able to combine these production processes. So, as part of our collaboration, we will also be looking to develop a combined manufacturing process for this composite metamaterial, as we call it in our documentation,” says Wojciech Stopyra, PhD, Eng, another researcher from the Department of Laser Technology, Automation and Production Organisation, leader of the project’s Additive Manufacturing team.
A layer of this metamaterial will be developed at Wrocław Tech’s Department of Mechanical Engineering with Additive Manufacturing (i.e. the popular 3D printing) using polymers, metallic alloys, and ceramics.
“It is called a sandwich structure. On the outside, it will be coated with a high-hardness ceramic coating, whose purpose will be to alter the trajectory of a projectile striking this material. Inside, on the other hand, there will be metallic alloys in the form of trusses, an openwork structure, whose function will be to absorb the impact energy of the projectile, i.e. to stop it,” explains Stopyra, PhD.
The final layer will consist of polymers, intended to ‘capture’ projectile fragments. “You can imagine this by recalling how a car window breaks. It doesn’t break into tiny pieces because it has a layer of foil in it that holds these small fragments. A spall liner works similarly,” added Professor Kurzynowski.
The metamaterial being developed by Wrocław scientists could be used not only for building military ships but also in other military structures.
The ADMIRABLE project will run for three years. The consortium includes research centers from Spain, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, Cyprus, and Poland. The project is led by the Spanish shipbuilding company Navantia. The Italian shipbuilding company Fincantieri, the largest in Europe and the fourth largest globally, is also part of the consortium.
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