Robocasting Ceramic Sensors - SBIR Topic DON26BZ01-NV021

Disclaimer:
This topic was temporarily posted by the Department of War SBIR Program on March 2nd 2026 and removed the following day.
We believe this topic is planned to be released once the SBIR program is reauthorized; however, this topic may ultimately be modified or withdrawn.

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Funding Amount:

Est. $240,000

Deadline to Apply:

Est. April 29th, 2026.

Objective:

Develop a low-cost, flexible manufacturing technique to produce large format ceramics for undersea sensor applications.

Description:

Piezoelectric ceramic materials are essential materials to produce undersea sensors. Many existing undersea sensors rely on a dry press manufacturing process that produces the ceramic components used in many fielded sensors. Existing piezoelectric ceramic components are becoming increasingly difficult to source due to a shrinking supplier base and a desire by many private companies to stop manufacturing lead-based products. Additionally, these components have been largely unchanged since the 1960’s with little to no performance enhancements to ships’ critical systems.

The goal of this SBIR topic is to support the development of new agile manufacturing techniques to produce large format ceramics and that require less capital overhead and would be easier to stand up in new cottage businesses if the current supply base continues to degrade. The secondary goal is to improve the electrical and acoustic performance of these large format ceramic materials by utilizing textured ceramic technology.

Textured ceramic materials have an aligned microstructure that can exhibit enhanced properties compared to traditionally manufactured ceramics with randomly oriented gains. One documented benefit is an improved piezoelectric performance for sonar sensor applications (early prototypes have shown upwards of 12dB improvement in performance, enabling sensors to detect potential threats much farther out). Current manufacturing techniques to produce textured ceramics are costly, inefficient, and typically limited to smaller sensor geometries. There is currently no known commercial technology that solves these problems.

There is a need for the ability to produce textured ceramic materials in a larger format than is currently available through tape casting and existing additive manufacturing techniques. The process of robocasting or direct ink writing of a shear thinning ceramic paste shows great potential as a flexible manufacturing technique to produce ceramics for undersea sensors. The hardware requirements for the robocasting process are often affordable, relatively simplistic instruments that can be adapted to additively manufacture ceramics. There has been recent research demonstrating that extruding a ceramic paste through a high aspect ratio nozzle can align high aspect ratio particles within a material, allowing to produce textured piezoelectric ceramics through a robocasting process.

The primary focus of this SBIR topic would be to validate the feasibility to integrate a Navy piezoelectric ceramic with a robocasting or direct ink write slurry system. The system must demonstrate the ability to properly extrude a ceramic paste that will support the buildup of sequential layers and produce a prototype part. Key criteria for success will include the ability to consistently extrude a layer of ceramic paste, support proper adhesion between layers, and produce high percent solids loading of the paste; and the ability to sinter the materials to produce dense final parts.

The secondary focus will be to demonstrate the ability of the additive manufacturing hardware to properly align high aspect ratio platelets during the printing process. These platelets should be dispersed in the piezoelectric ceramic and aligned within each print layer. This technique should be flexible enough to produce prototype samples of varying sizes. Common geometries include cylinders with 1in outer diameter as well as rings that are greater than 4in in outer diameter.

Prototype parts of multiple geometries will need to be produced and undergo binder burn off and sintering. Sintered prototypes will need to have electrodes applied and the parts will have to undergo a poling process. Prototype parts will be evaluated by Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division for density, surface finish, particle/grain alignment, texture fraction as well as electrical and acoustic properties. Textured prototype parts will be electrically tested for resonance frequency, capacitance, dielectric constants, and loss factors to be compared to traditionally manufactured non-textured materials. The awardee will aim to create a prototype that exceeds a capacitance of 200pf while minimizing the loss tangent. The awardee will then revisit particle alignment and binder composition as needed to improve acoustic and electrical performance.

Who will win?

If you can achieve the objective above better than any other company on the market, you have a very high-likelihood of success and should apply.

Who is eligible to apply?

Any company that meets the following criteria:

• For-profit company

• U.S.-owned and controlled.

• 500 or fewer employees (including affiliates)

How Can BW&CO Help?

1) End-to-end support including, strategy, writing of the full proposal, and administrative & compliance support.

2) Proposal strategy and review.

3) Administrative & compliance support.

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