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Carbice, a U.S.-based manufacturer and supplier of novel multifunctional assembly joint technologies, has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract by the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research to demonstrate and qualify its breakthrough carbon nanotube-based assembly joint platform as a thermal interface solution for deployed missions. Executed in partnership with the Naval Research Laboratory, the contract strengthens domestic capability in advanced thermal management and reduces reliance on foreign-sourced assembly joint materials.
Instability in thermal and electrical system assembly joints contributes to mission-critical system degradation in operational environments, driving elevated temperatures, reduced component life and increased maintenance demands. The program will test multiple systems under vibration, humidity, and operational stress conditions that mirror actual naval deployment across shipboard, aviation, unmanned and expeditionary domains. Carbice's approach emphasizes repeatable, inspectable, mechanically stable thermal assembly joints to improve the predictability, survivability and lifecycle reliability of high-powered naval electronics.
"Thermal interface or joint instability affects equipment availability and operational confidence across deployed systems," said Rafael Spears, GM of Global Strategy at Carbice. "This qualification effort generates the technical evidence Navy program offices need to make informed deployment decisions. The framework we're establishing with the Naval Research Laboratory creates a pathway for broader adoption across the Department of War wherever similar challenges exist."
Over the course of the program, Carbice will develop risk-reduction data packages for Navy program offices, engineering authorities and sustainment organizations. This qualification framework will produce defensible evidence that informs future modernization and sustainment investments in other assets that face similar assembly joint-driven reliability challenges across Army aviation, ground combat systems, air and missile defense and C5ISR.
