These premature failures are extremely costly in terms of repair, and the loss of sensors in the towed array impacts submarine mission capability. The high moisture permeation rates are related to the composition of the matrix resin and hosewall reinforcement.
TRI Austin teamed with a major towed array supplier with the goal of rapid insertion of the developed moisture resistant elastomers into existing and planned arrays. The projected improvement in decreased water permeation through the hosewall is expected to be a factor of 200 to 1,000, depending on the design configuration.
