SBIR-STTR Award

For INVAR lay-up tools of complex geometry, casting the tool face near net shape and machining the tools surface has proven to be the low cost manufacturing method. Cast face sheets offer consistent finished thickness, resulting in uniform heat transfer during the composite cure cycle, allowing short cure cycle times.There will be three main areas of investigation.1. Primary emphasis will be directed toward patternless molding as a method to significantly reduce costs and lead times of INVAR lay-up tool casting by eliminating hard pattern equipment.2. The production of thinner cast face sheets will also be investigated as a method to reduce casting cost and machining cost and lead time.3. Integrally cast stiffeners will be investigated as a method to reduce cost and lead-time of tool sub-structures and to improve the heat transfer properties of the tools. A test article will be designed and produced to test the validity of computer based simulations. The probability of success is high as these goals can be accomplished by the novel application of existing technologies.

Keywords:
Lay-Up Invar Tooling Composite Casting Pattern Patternless

For INVAR lay-up tools of complex geometry, casting the tool near net shape and machining the tool surface has proven to be the low cost manufacturing method. Cast face sheets offer consistent finished thickness, resulting in uniform heat transfer during the composite cure cycle and shorter cure cycle times. There will be three main areas of investigation: 1. Primary emphasis will be directed to the transfer of the patternless molding technology developed in Phase I to a production setting. Based on the results of Phase I, this technology may reduce the costs for an average cast INVAR tool by $100-$200 per square foot and decrease lead times by three weeks. 2. The production of thinner cast face sheets will be investigated. Analysis in Phase I has shown a potential cost savings of $160 per square foot and lead time reduction of one week. 3. The production of tooling with integrally cast stiffeners will be investigated. Integrally cast stiffeners would aid in processing of the cast face sheet and could potentially reduce costs by $40 to $60 per square foot. A complete full-size tool will be designed and produced to incorporate as much of this technology as possible.

Keywords:
INVAR Casting Composite Lay-Up Pattern Patternless Tooling