Rapid Made, Inc. — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase I: 8.12

Description

The proposed project aims to promote and improve the sustainability and profitability of small andmid-size farms which constitute the vast majority of farms in the USA.Farm operators may need a continuous supply of custom-made components and spare parts forexisting machinery.Components and spare parts could be difficult or expensive to procure or notavailable for old machinery still in operations.This project aims to establish a practical manufacturing process of long fiber-reinforced 3D printedcomponents using currently available technologies.Hybrid 3D printed-core components withlong-fibers reinforcement will be designed according to geometrical and performancespecifications from local farms.The manufacturing will then be planned and processed by usinga hybrid 3D printing (Selective Laser Sintered or Jet Fusion) operation with application of fiberreinforcement on the selected areas resulting in components with significant structuralcharacteristics.Additive manufacturing facilitates the production of custom parts in a manner that is both fast andlow-cost.However typical 3D printed parts are produced from thermoplastics that arecharacterized by poor mechanical properties.Truly fiber reinforced 3D printing technology is notyet available.Critical research topics are the structural integrity of fibers bonded to the 3D printedpart and the manufacturing process which can dramatically affect the structural integrity of thecomponents and their cost.Research topics that will be addressed in the project are: 1) Components design if original drawingsare not available 2) Generation of structural design and reinforcing fibers placement 3)Mechanical behavior of bonding between 3D-printed part and fibers and finally 4) Manufacturingprocess in respect to quality structural performance feasibility and costs.Manufactured parts could include spares for machinery tools components for irrigation and othersapplied to mobile equipment or infrastructure. The process could be operated at a remote centrallocation for components design with the final manufacturing process operated locally at farms.Expected outcomes of the project include a computer aided design (CAD) based unit forcomponents design.The unit could be located at the center of a cluster of small farms and even ata small farm that would act as the technology center for nearby farms.The second deliverable willbe the design of a manufacturing center comprised of an additive manufacturing printer and asmall composites manufacturing unit that will process the structural reinforcement.Commercial and marketing promotion will be envisioned according to the most effective solutionat local or regional level.Longer term it may make sense to have a regional-based technologycenter comprised of two units fed via a digital repository.As it is less likely farms would directlymanage the technology unit a regional support center could provide the parts on demand.Ultimately this center could also service other large-scale repair parts for other sectors such asmilitary and industry.