Reinforced Additively Manufactured Compression Assisted Molding (RAMCAM) of On-Demand Environmentally Stable Structural Composite Parts

San Diego Composites, Inc. (SDC) is developing the Reinforced Additively Manufactured Compression Assisted Molding (RAMCAM) pod to produce on-demand, corrosion resistant, aluminum and stainless steel equivalent parts in less than three days. RAMCAM combines the advantageous 2 day lead time of custom parts produced by 3D printing with the 1 day forging of structural parts via composite compression molding.RAMCAM has cross-cutting applicability to a number of market segments including: on-demand replacement of obsolete structural parts, on-demand replacement of damaged structural parts, reduced inventory management, improved corrosion resistance and lifecycle costs, and low cost production parts. In Phase I, SDC performed each process step of RAMCAM and realized the technology at TRL 4 with an approximate part lead time of 2-3 weeks. In Phase II, SDC will take RAMCAM to the necessary TRL 6/7 and 2-3 day lead time. The technological approach with RAMCAM is to leverage high TRL components in an innovative system that autonomously streamlines the flow through each component. The use of high TRL components reduces the risk and allows SDCs technology development to focus on the key technological advancements needed to realize the RAMCAM system. The primary focus in Phase II is system automation.