Liquid Melt Focused Beam Spray Process

The innovation presented in this proposal involves the use of a liquid melt thermal spray process for cost effective rapid prototyping of near-net shape tooling for the lay up of advanced composite materials. The process uses a focused beam of charged liquid droplets to form tooling directly from three-dimensional computer generated drawings eliminating traditional steps associated with fabrication of a lay up mold. This process is called "liquid melt focused beam" (LMFB) thermal spray. The liquid droplets will be focused using novel methods to enable the liquid plume width to be controlled for fabricating a part from the "ground" up. The innovation is especially profound since it has potential for fabrication of both small and large scale tools. The process has commercial applications and the Boeing Defense and Space Group is interested in Phase II development of the process for large scale components. A separate area of importance to the US Air Force is that once the process has been demonstrated for fabrication of tooling, it may also be utilized for the direct fabrication of composite sandwiched materials. The innovative technology described in this proposal meets the subtopic need for tooling techniques for near-net shape production of advanced composites.