Driving ultra low cost resin in Large Format Additive Manufacturing

Industry use of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) for tooling and components made via Large Format Additive Manufacturing has been growing due to the lead time improvements, cost savings, and design flexibility enabled by the technology. However, the cost of the most commonly used material (carbon- fiber filled ABS) limits the range of applications for which these advantages can be economically realized. This project will prove the efficacy of ultra-low cost blends of ABS for use in large format tooling and components. Representative parts will be made using various ultra-low cost blends of ABS. Our target for resin cost reduction over the industry standard material is 80%; we are hoping to drive costs per pound from $5.50/lb to $1.10/lb. To validate our new blends of material, the warpage and shrinkage of test parts resulting from those blends will be measured to and compared to the baseline carbon fiber filled material. Success on this project will enable meaningful reductions in cost and lead times in a variety of defense and commercial applications, including but not limited to flight simulators, composite tooling, and concrete formworks. Reduction in the cost of LFAM-ABS provides opportunities to deliver faster lead times, significant cost savings, and greater design flexibility in a broader range of applications.  Applications relevant to the Air Force include but are not limited to:  Tooling for Low Temperature (<150F) Large Format Composite Parts, Examples include drill, trim and assembly tools for aerospace structures and tooling repair. Per Craig Neslin of the Air Force Additive Manufacturing Directorate: “The use of rapidly produced, low cost composite tooling is an enabling technology to meet future anticipated system cost and producibility requirements.” Modular Frames for Flight Simulators LFAM ABS can be helpful in realizing the goals of the SCARS initiative, the focus of which is on a modular open systems approach, as well as a set of common standards for Air Force simulators, according to a Defense Department announcement. For example, in an active project with a current client, AES has demonstrated the ability to design a flight simulator frame using LFAM ABS that results in an exponential decrease in part count reducing what was previously 100s of part down to 3. This reduction in part count has reduced cost, simplified the supply chain and reduced the lead time required for the customer to procure the units. Further driving down the cost of ABS as this proposal intends to do will directly translate into cheaper simulator frames for future simulator programs and designs.