2020.09.11 Amendment 001 - Q-A posted and date change.pdf

FA8650-20-S-5008, Amendment 01 11 Sep 2020

FA8650-20-S-5008, AMENDMENT 01

UPDATED PROPOSAL SUBMISSION TIMEFRAME

Federal Agency Name: Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials & Manufacturing Directorate, Structural Materials Division, AFRL/RXC

Broad Agency Announcement Title: Physics-based and In-situ Composite Analysis and Simulation Solutions (PICASSO) BAA

Broad Agency Announcement Type: Amendment 01

Broad Agency Announcement Number: FA8650-20-S-5008

This amendment updates the proposal submission timeframe established in the BAA, and answers related questions. Please see the full BAA announcement, posted 28 Aug 2020, for specific details on proposal submissions.

This amendment revises the BAA under the following section:

Full Text Announcement

1. CHANGE OF Paragraph 2, page 1, Proposal Due Date and Time: This paragraph is hereby changed as follows:

FROM:

Proposal Due Date and Time: Monday, 12 Oct 2020, at 3:00 p.m., Wright- Patterson AFB, OH local time.

TO:

Proposal Due Date and Time: Tuesday, 13 Oct 2020, at 3:00 p.m., Wright- Patterson AFB, OH local time.

In addition, this amendment provides answers to questions received by the Government through 11 Sep 2020, since the issuance of the BAA.

Question 1: Are there publishing requirements or expectations of this contract? If grad students were involved as part of their research (part time employee or university subcontract), should they expect publications?

Answer to Q-1: There are no publishing requirements but it is certainly encouraged when possible and appropriate. Much of the work the research team PICASSO will be under primarily deals with early TRL (~1-3) and 6.1 and 6.2 funding so there is flexibility in publishing. There are some

FA8650-20-S-5008, Amendment 01 11 Sep 2020 restrictions in terms of publishing if a material system or application has ITAR or export controls on it.

Question 2: What scale-up capability does RXCC (or RX broadly) have in-house? (E.g.

coupon to subcomponent to full components) Answer to Q-2: In terms of RX capabilities, the main capabilities are at the coupon and possibly subcomponent level. If the work requires processing at the full component level, this will likely have to be done at a partner or contractor facility.

Question 3: Would it be acceptable for the contractor to perform 100% of the work in their own facilities rather than AFRL’s?

Answer to Q-3: There is benefit that we see on having an on-site capability, the daily interaction with Government scientists and the expertise that comes with that. For 100% off-site this also will likely not work with what is listed in the BAA (specifically section 2.4 of TO1). We do acknowledge that not everything can be completed on-site and there could be benefit with using external partners or facilities. There is no set ratio of on-site vs off-site so we’ll certainly entertain what is proposed.

Question 4: What type of material systems are of primary interest?

Answer to Q-4: Traditionally the team the BAA is for has dealt with high temperature thermosets such as polyimides, bismaleimides, cyanate esters, and epoxies and these are still of interest to the Air Force. High temperature thermoplastics and organic-inorganic hybrids have recently gained more attraction. The goal of PICASSO is not focused on a specific resin system. The focus is on the application of physics-based modeling and process modeling. The use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation in combination with the discovery, synthesis and processing of resins into composites are key elements. While there is flexibility within the choice of resin system given above, preferred materials still include higher temperature materials with glass transition temperatures above 175C.

Question 5: What types of fiber architecture are of primary interest? (2D, 3D woven, AFP, etc) Answer to Q-5: While model development will start with simple architectures, the team is focused more in the latest advanced state-of-the-art processing methods such as resin infusion (e.g. RTM) or Additive Manufacturing (FDM, DIW) that utilize 3D woven or more complex fiber architectures.

Question 6: Is there a specific environment or application space for the utilization of the composites? (Primary structure, secondary structure, etc) Answer to Q-6: PICASSO is carried out within a research team that works at TRL 1-3 with mostly 6.1 and 6.2 funding. The mission is to both accelerate solutions for long-term push and near-term pull demand signals. While the team is not focused on a specific application or component, there are two key areas in high temperature resin systems for propulsion applications (> 300C service temperature, exquisite technologies) and low-cost resins for limited life technologies. This may include primary and secondary structures. High throughput materials discovery, predictive process models enabled via in-situ monitoring, ML and AI are areas PICASSO should focus on.