CORNERSTONE RESEARCH GROUP INC. (CRG) PROPOSES TO CONTINUE EFFORTS FROM THE 2015 NASA SBIR PHASE I TOPIC H1…

Public award description

CORNERSTONE RESEARCH GROUP INC. (CRG) PROPOSES TO CONTINUE EFFORTS FROM THE 2015 NASA SBIR PHASE I TOPIC H14.03 REVERSIBLE COPOLYMER MATERIALS FOR FDM 3D PRINTING OF NON-STANDARD PLASTICS. CRGS OFFERS NASA THE ABILITY TO REPROCESS SPACE MISSION WASTE PACKAGING PLASTICS (FOAM AND FILM) AS AN IN-SITU RESOURCE FOR IN SPACE MANUFACTURING VIA FUSED DEPOSITION MODELING (FDM) TYPE 3-D PRINTING OF REPLACEMENT TOOLS, PARTS, AND DEVICES. THIS INNOVATION IS ENABLING FOR SPACE EXPLORATION, THE APPLICATION OF CRG S REVERSIBLE THERMOSET (RVT) POLYMERS COMBINED WITH A PLASTIC RECYCLING, BLENDING, AND EXTRUSION PROCESS WOULD ALLOW CURRENT AND FUTURE PACKAGING MATERIALS TO BE PROCESSED INTO A COPOLYMER BLEND FILAMENT SUITED TO FDM 3-D PRINTING SYSTEM. THIS APPROACH OFFERS TWO IMPLEMENTATION ROUTES INCLUDING; (1) AN RVT ADDITIVE THAT CAN BE COMBINED WITH EXISTING WASTE PACKAGING DURING A RECLAMATION PROCESS TO PRODUCE 3-D PRINTER FILAMENT AND (2) A RVT BASED REPLACEMENT PACKAGING MATERIAL THAT CAN BE DIRECTLY RECLAIMED INTO 3-D PRINTER FILAMENT. IMPLEMENTATION APPROACH (2) OFFERS THE ABILITY TO ENTIRELY REPLACE EXISTING PACKAGING WITH A RVT VARIANT THAT IS INHERENTLY RECYCLABLE WITHOUT LOSS IN PACKAGING PERFORMANCE.