Rapid Additive Manufacturing of Large Sandwich Composite Structures for Aerospace Applications

熔丝制造（FFF）是一种流行的增材制造（AM）技术，通过逐层沉积熔化的热塑性长丝，可以快速制造3D零件。工业上认可的FFF技术大多以闭源模式（即，用户不允许改变打印参数，仅限于打印机供应商提供的打印材料），并且与开源FFF相比非常昂贵。我们项目的主要目标是开发新材料，同时改进开源打印工艺，旨在制造行业认可的复合材料部件，同时大幅降低制造和材料成本。该项目的主要成果将是：（O1）用于FFF制造的具有高机械和热性能的高性能复合材料的配方和表征，以及（O2）开源FFF工艺的进步，从而实现更高的制造灵活性（例如，新的复合物配方）和更高的生产率（即，改进的印刷速度和尺寸），用于制造具有航空航天应用所需性能的复合夹层板（由2个面板和一个芯组成）。该项目的发明将推动FFF工艺在开源环境中的发展，为加拿大制造业带来新的机遇。这个拟议的项目是蒙特利尔理工大学的研究团队，位于布切尔维尔（QC）的NRC汽车和地面运输（AST）研究中心和两个工业合作伙伴，赛峰技术和Solaxis Ingenious制造公司之间的合作研究工作。该项目将为2名博士生和6名本科实习生提供先进增材制造的培训，这将有助于支持我们的行业，并帮助加拿大在这个新兴领域具有竞争力，并将在包括热塑性复合材料，增材制造和航空航天级材料在内的各个领域产生重要的知识进步。该合作伙伴关系将促进魁北克和加拿大热塑性复合材料AM的整个供应链。

Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is a popular additive manufacturing (AM) technique that enables quick fabrication of 3D parts through layer-by-layer deposition of melted thermoplastic filament. Industrially-approved FFF technology mostly operates in a closed-source mode (i.e., no change of printing parameters is permitted by the user, limited to the printing materials provided by the printer supplier) and is very expensive when compared to open-source FFF. The main objective of our project is to develop new materials while improving open-source printing processes aiming at manufacturing industry-approved composite parts with a significantly reduced manufacturing and materials costs. The main outcomes of this project will be: (O1) the formulation and characterization of high-performance composite materials featuring high mechanical and thermal performance for the FFF manufacturing, and (O2) the advancement of the open-source FFF process that enables a higher manufacturing flexibility (e.g., new composite formulations) and higher productivity (i.e., improved printing speed and size) for manufacturing composite sandwich panels (composed of 2 facesheets and a core) with the required performance for aerospace applications. The inventions ensued from this project will drive the advancement of the FFF process in an open-source environment to bring new opportunities for the Canadian manufacturing industry. This proposed project is a collaborative research work between Polytechnique Montreal's research team, NRC's Automotive and Surface Transportation (AST) Research Centre located in Boucherville (QC) and two industrial partners, Safran Tech and Solaxis Ingenious Manufacturing Inc. This project will provide a training of 2 PhD students and 6 undergraduate interns in advanced additive manufacturing that will help support our industry and help Canada to be competitive in this emerging field, and will generate important knowledge advancements in various fields including thermoplastic composites, additive manufacturing, and aerospace-graded materials. This partnership will stimulate the full supply chain in AM of thermoplastic composites in Québec and Canada.