Model Foundry for Low Cost Rapid Prototyping, Rapid Manufacturing of Metal Matrix Composites Parts

"Manufacturing technology development and integration of MMCC's 3- DPT, Tool-Less MoldT and Advanced Pressure Infiltration(APICT) technologies are proposed. Investment casting of preforms printed directly from a CAD or laser file and subsequent pressureinfiltration will enable parts to be manufactured without the added expense of tooling development. With investment materials being recycled and constituent materials being inexpensive aluminum melt stock and low cost ceramic abrasive powder, the processwill be cheaper than any competitive process for limited quantity production and competitive at high volume manufacturing. Moreover, the flexibility in design and the elimination of molds and tooling makes it possible to proceed from art to part in aslittle as two weeks with a fresh design.The overall Phase I and Phase II objective is to create an efficient model foundry that can be licensed to high volume commercial customers, used for component development and limited volume manufacturing or reproduced at any given location and used tomanufacture parts for the DoD at low cost and rapid delivery. The specific objective is to show feasibility by producing subscale SM3 guidance housings in collaboration with Raytheon and to deliver a demonstration segment of a full scale housing. Complex parts for BMDO and DoD applications will be manufactured for a fraction of the cost of machined parts. Beryllium and AlBe will be replaced by CAS