INCREASING POWER DENSITY BY ADVANCED MANUFACTURING, MATERIALS, AND SURFACE TREATMENTS

Track vehicle Final Drive torque transferring capacity is constrained by the availability of packaging space, weight constraints, and material / heat treat properties. These constraints create a paradigm where as the increase in load due to weight growth is inversely related to life due to fatigue. Funded under Phase II SBIR contract W56HZV-13-C-0056, Loc Performance Products, Inc. (Loc) developed manufacturing processes aligned to key selected materials and surface treatments to break through this paradigm. The results of the SBIR efforts produced an optimized Final Drive design that addressed the increasing Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle while maintaining the current Final Drive packaging space, reducing lifecycle cost and maximizing performance in terms of power density and extending the life of the product.