SBIR Phase II: Automation Enabled, Low-Cost, High-Volume Production of Advanced Composites

SBIR 第二阶段：先进复合材料的自动化、低成本、大批量生产

• 批准号: 1534709
• 负责人: Casey Hoffman
• 金额: $ 75万
• 依托单位: Vistex Composites LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2020-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1534709&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; Automation; Enabled

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in the automated manufacture of lightweight high-strength carbon fiber composite materials. Experts agree that composite manufacturers must lead innovations in sustainability, price reduction, and cycle-time reduction to meet end-market needs. The innovations proposed in this project, coupled with Vistex Composites' cutting edge Specialized Elastomeric Tooling process, directly address these needs by significantly advancing the state-of-the-art in composites manufacturing equipment. The prevailing motivation for short automated cycles is posed by the automotive industry, where lightweighting delivers major benefits for fuel consumption but where current processes cannot affordably and quickly produce carbon fiber automotive parts in large numbers. The equipment innovations proposed will not only enhance the automotive market but will have substantial commercial value across all composite markets as they allow the manufacture of equivalent quality products, faster, with less waste, significant energy savings, and at lower cost. Furthermore, the proposed automated process will enable Vistex in its aggressive path towards not only broader adoption of its Specialized Elastomeric Tooling process technology but also broader adoption of composite materials. This will directly drive manufacturing job creation, for Vistex and its customers, as composites displace foreign produced goods.This project addresses the design, fabrication, and analysis of an automated composite manufacturing cell using Vistex's patented Specialized Elastomeric Tooling process as the central technology. The standard composite manufacturing process, the autoclave, has long cycle times (hours), requires significant manual labor, and is expensive. Vistex's proposed manufacturing cell addresses these concerns. In the proposal manufacturing cell will be designed and fabricated to make a composite product using Specialized Elastomeric Tooling but where parts (1) can be moved rapidly and accurately using automation, (2) rapidly cured using Specialized Elastomeric Tooling, and (3) rapidly ejected/removed from the tooling, all while creating an equivalent or superior product to with significant cycle time savings over the industry's standard autoclave process. Through the use of material testing, cost analysis, and other metrics, each stage of the proposed manufacturing cell will be benchmarked against industry standard processes. The anticipated result will be a prototype turnkey rapid automated manufacturing cell and commercially usable products for project partners.

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于轻质高强度碳纤维复合材料的自动化制造。专家们一致认为，复合材料制造商必须在可持续性、价格降低和周期缩短方面引领创新，以满足终端市场的需求。该项目中提出的创新，加上Vistex复合材料的尖端专用弹性体模具工艺，通过显著推进复合材料制造设备的最新技术，直接满足了这些需求。短自动化周期的普遍动机是由汽车行业提出的，其中轻量化为燃料消耗提供了主要好处，但目前的工艺无法大量快速生产碳纤维汽车部件。提出的设备创新不仅将增强汽车市场，而且将在所有复合材料市场中具有巨大的商业价值，因为它们可以更快地制造同等质量的产品，减少浪费，显著节省能源，并降低成本。此外，拟议的自动化工艺将使Vistex不仅能够更广泛地采用其专用弹性体模具工艺技术，而且还能够更广泛地采用复合材料。这将直接推动制造业创造就业机会，为Vistex及其客户，因为复合材料取代外国生产的商品。该项目涉及的设计，制造和分析的自动化复合材料制造单元使用Vistex的专利专用弹性体模具工艺作为核心技术。标准的复合材料制造工艺，高压釜，具有长的循环时间（小时），需要大量的手工劳动，并且昂贵。Vistex提出的制造单元解决了这些问题。在提案中，制造单元将被设计和制造为使用专用弹性体工具制造复合材料产品，但其中部件（1）可以使用自动化快速准确地移动，（2）使用专用弹性体工具快速固化，以及（3）从工具中快速弹出/移除，与工业标准高压釜工艺相比，生产出的产品相当或上级，并显著节省了循环时间。通过使用材料测试，成本分析和其他指标，拟议的制造单元的每个阶段将根据行业标准流程进行基准测试。预期结果将是一个交钥匙快速自动化制造单元原型和可供项目伙伴使用的商业产品。