Polyurea Development and Modeling for Advanced Blast and Impact Mitigation

The protection of troop personnel on board the Marine Corps Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) is of paramount importance and recent developments in polyurea materials have shown the potential to significantly increase blast protection to metallic and non-metallic substrates. Luna Innovations Incorporated (Luna), in partnership with the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), is developing innovative polyurea materials and predictive modeling capabilities to provide a material and placement methodology to increase the survivability of the EFV against blast and ballistic threats. The materials will be tested through relevant live blasting tests to quantify polyurea performance and to demonstrate the response when tested on simulated EFV components. The results will be used to validate and refine the numerical modeling capabilities to aid in polyurea material formulation optimization and to provide a predictive means of efficient placement of the polyurea coatings on the EFV. The result of the team effort will be a combination of novel material development and efficient vehicle coating placement that will translate into improved vehicle survivability, reduced armor weight, and reduced coating cost.