Rensselaer researchers received a $1 million grant, as part of a $2.5 million joint research project with the University of Florida, to develop a new generation of synthetic lubricant coatings for future aircraft and spacecraft. The five-year award is from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative.

“Vehicles that voyage from Earth’s warm and humid environment into the extreme cold vacuum of space require lubricants that can perform under a great range of conditions without fail,” says Linda Schadler, professor of materials science and engineering, who is leading the Rensselaer team on the project. “We are working to create a wide variety of new multifunctional coatings that provide low friction and high resistance to wear in multiple environments.”

The researchers are working to develop “chameleon” coatings that react to changes in the environment that a spacecraft experiences. Such lubricant coatings will be made from combinations of thin layers of carbon nanotubes, polymers, and ceramics that can reduce the rate of wear by 1,000 times or more.

“Our overarching goal is to go from the basic understanding of the physical mechanisms involved in friction, wear, and lubrication to create coatings that function on Earth and in space,” says Thierry Blanchet, associate professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering.

The new coatings are intended to support the operation of several systems for aircraft and spacecraft, such as bearings for antenna pointing systems, gyroscopes and inertia wheels, slip rings for electrical contacts, and transmission components.

The research team also includes Rensselaer professors Pulickel Ajayan, professor of materials engineering, and Leonard Interrante, professor of chemistry. W. Gregory Sawyer ’94, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Florida, is the principal investigator. The research is being carried out in Rensselaer’s Nanotechnology Center, which serves as a resource for fundamental knowledge and applications in the assembly of nanostructures.


Originally published in Rensselaer Magazine, Fall 2004

Published October 1, 2004