Polymer and formulation informatics company Matmerize Inc. (Atlanta, Ga., U.S.) has been selected by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract aimed at advancing AI methodologies for accelerating the design of novel, low-flammability polymer composite materials. Matmerize tells CW that these material developments may involve fiber reinforcements. 

According to the company, the project will contribute to enhanced fire safety for Navy ships and submarines, and will also find applications in a wide range of industries, including construction, aerospace, automotive and consumer products. This award comes at the heels of another SBIR recently awarded to Matmerize by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop physics-informed and physics-enforced machine learning (ML) architectures to advance materials development.

The flammability of polymer composites is quantified by a set of quantitative parameters, typically measured using highly standardized instruments/tests defined by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM, West Conshohocken, Pa., U.S.) and other agencies. Desirable polymeric materials that meet the specific values of ASTM and non-ASTM standardized tests require an optimal combination of base polymers, functional additives, flame retardants and processing conditions. Matmerize will collaborate with the DOD to develop a polymer informatics capability using suitable curated data and advanced AI/ML techniques, aimed at the accelerated design of low-flammability polymer matrix composites that meet other critical mechanical and thermal performance targets needed by the Navy.

Key highlights of the contract include:

• Creation of a composite materials database with flammability and other relevant properties such as maximum heat release rate, time to ignition and smoke density.
• Development of AI models trained on the database to predict the relevant properties for new composite formulations; and
• Recommendation of a pool of promising polymer composites, i.e., the combinations of base polymers, functional additives, flame retardants and processing conditions, for experimentally synthesis and testing.

At the heart of Matmerize’s innovation lies PolymRize, the company’s flagship product — a cloud-based polymer informatics software platform crafted to expedite the advancement of polymers, composites and formulations. According to Chiho Kim, CTO at Matmerize, the two concurrent SBIR awards granted by the DOD and the NSF will provide the resources and support needed to further advance the company’s AI-based PolymRize platform.