Direct Ink Writing of Thermosetting Composite Resins with in situ RF Curing

Texas A&M University faculty have developed a technique to use RF fields to locally heat carbon fillers, specifically carbon fibers (CFs), embedded in polymer matrices. While carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are the best susceptors of RF fields, they are not typically used to manufacture structural aircraft composites, but are used to additively manufacture thermosets at lab scale. CFs, while lesser performing than CNTs, are commonly used in thermoset matrices typical of aerospace composites. This method provides a quick, low cost route to additively manufacture (AM) thermoset composites and cure them without the need for an autoclave or an oven. For this STTR program, TRI Austin, with support from TAMU, proposes to apply the locally induced RF heating (LIRFH) technology to current Air Force/DoD and commercial efforts at lab and production scale.