Company
Portfolio Data
Back to Company SearchContinuous Composites Inc.
UEI: WS2YAMKAAWH9
Number of Employees: 27
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
SBIR/STTR Involvement
Year of first award: 2021
4
Phase I Awards
4
Phase II Awards
100%
Conversion Rate
$578,083
Phase I Dollars
$5,894,854
Phase II Dollars
$6,472,937
Total Awarded
Awards
Continuous Fiber Additive Manufacturing Launch Effects
Amount: $1,999,823 Topic: N231-069
Continuous Composites Inc. (CCI), in collaboration with Aurora Flight Sciences, plans to design, print, and test launch effect fuselage structures using CF3D® technology. These structures, similar to those in the MENACE program, will be engineered with minimal waste and reduced manufacturing time. Aurora will provide the necessary data for the geometries and develop a test plan to analyze the components' tolerances, quality, and strength. CCI will use CF3D®'s fiber steering and topology optimization to create lighter, high-performance structures, informed by finite element analysis (FEA). After initial printing and inspection, CCI will train Aurora engineers on CF3D® design, workflow, and enterprise application. This collaboration will enable Aurora to utilize CF3D® technology to redesign, print, and test a second iteration of a launch effect fuselage. Ultimately, this work will enable Aurora to adopt CF3D® into program of record components production, allowing for rapid prototyping and automated production of various aerospace structures, enhancing design capabilities for future Department of Defense projects.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2025
DOD
ARMY
Advanced Joining Methods using Automated CF3D® Fiber Steering Technology
Amount: $1,245,037 Topic: AFX255-DPCSO6
Continuous Composites Inc. (CCI) proposes a solution for the AFWERX Manufacturing Challenge (AFX255-DPCSO6) focusing on automation of composite manufacturing, advanced fiber placement, and innovative joining methods for aerospace vehicles and space structures. Utilizing the CF3D Enterprise system, which integrates advanced controls and robotic technology, paired with CF3D Studio software, CCI will develop fiber-steered composite components optimized for unitization and enhanced bonding interfaces. Building on insights from CCI’s America Makes effort and the AFRL PiCARD program, this project aims to demonstrate improved structural integration and bonding performance compared to traditional methods.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2025
DOD
USAF
Continuous Fiber Additive Manufacturing Design Optimization and FEA Integration
Amount: $1,899,999 Topic: AF203-DCSO4
For this TACFI effort, Continuous Composites Inc. (CCI) proposes an end-to-end solution which will include two software development efforts: one to develop an anisotropic topology optimization tool and one to integrate a FEA solution with CF3D® Studio. Throughout each task, CCI will print various geometries to mechanically test and validate development efforts. Test geometries will get progressively more complex, ending with the designing and manufacturing of a large scale topology optimized assembly. CCI will deliver both large scale assembly and predicted failure from FEA to AFRL for future testing.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2024
DOD
USAF
Materials and Manufacturing Processes for sensors, power, and communications of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)
Amount: $139,119 Topic: N232-086
Continuous Fiber 3D (CF3D) manufacturing is a cutting-edge composite manufacturing technology that has the potential to enable higher-performing (e.g., specific stiffness, specific strength) and lower-cost (e.g., less material waste, minimized part count, reduced touch labor) structures for future Navy applications. CF3D works by combining dry fiber tows with liquid snap curing thermoset resin inside of a print head on the end of a six-axis robotic arm. As the composite is discharged and consolidated, it is snap-cured into place enabling the manufacturing of complex composite structures (e.g., fiber steering, stacking, tight contours) with high fiber volume fractions (>50%) and low void volume fractions (<2%). Advanced manufacturing techniques such as CF3D will benefit the Navy greatly as it continues innovative multifunctional materials for UAV structures. The proposed innovation is to combine structural elements with sensors, communications and other functional materials using the emerging CF3D® manufacturing process that are suitable for Navy UAV use. This proposal endeavors to advance and characterize the CF3D® materials and process through testing and model validation. Testing will be conducted at the coupon and representative structure sub-scale. The equipment manufactured and processes developed by Continuous Composite will enable many innovators and manufacturers to develop hardware for the Navy and customers with unique composite needs. Phase I Base will include FEA, coupon testing and functional evaluation of multifunctional materials along with the development and delivery samples that may be suitable for incorporating into UAV structures. Phase I Option with include further development, testing, FEA and test planning for Phase II.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2024
DOD
NAVY
Continuous Fiber Additive Manufacturing of US Navy Propulsion Shafting
Amount: $144,651 Topic: N231-047
Continuous Fiber 3D (CF3D) manufacturing is a cutting-edge composite manufacturing technology that has the potential to enable higher-performing (e.g., specific stiffness, dimensional stability) and lower-cost (e.g., less material waste, minimized part count, reduced touch labor) structures for future Navy applications. CF3D works by combining dry fiber tows with liquid snap-curing thermoset resin inside of a print head on the end of a six-axis robotic arm. As the green composite is discharged and consolidated, it is snap-cured into place enabling the manufacturing of complex composite structures (e.g., fiber steering, stacking, tight contours) with high fiber volume fractions (>50%) and low void volume fractions (<2%). The Navy continues its use of innovative propulsion shaft designs, which will benefit from advanced manufacturing techniques such as CF3D. The proposed innovation is to enable large, thick walled shafts to be made using the emerging CF3D® manufacturing process that is suitable for Navy submarine use. This proposal endeavors to advance and characterize the CF3D materials and process through testing of torsional strength, property scaling, and manufacturing processes. Testing will be conducted at the coupon and representative structure sub-scale. The equipment manufactured and processes developed by Continuous Composite will enable many innovators and manufacturers to develop hardware for the Navy and customers with unique composite needs. Phase I Base will include cylindrical coupon testing and larger shaft builds. Phase I Option with include further development, FEA and test planning for Phase II.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2023
DOD
NAVY
Topology Optimized High-Rate, Reduced Life Cycle Cost Airframe using CF3D®
Amount: $144,459 Topic: N231-069
Continuous Fiber 3D (CF3D) manufacturing is a cutting-edge composite manufacturing technology that has the potential to enable higher-performing (e.g., specific stiffness, specific strength) and lower-cost (e.g., less material waste, minimized part count, reduced touch labor) structures for future Navy applications. CF3D works by combining dry fiber tows with liquid snap-curing thermoset resin inside of a print head on the end of a six-axis robotic arm. As the green composite is discharged and consolidated, it is snap-cured into place enabling the manufacturing of complex composite structures (e.g., fiber steering, stacking, tight contours) with high fiber volume fractions (>50%) and low void volume fractions (<2%). Advanced manufacturing techniques such as CF3D will benefit the Navy greatly as it continues innovative high rate, low life cycle airframes. The proposed innovation is to enable topology optimized, fiber-steered, stiffened structures to be made using the emerging CF3D® manufacturing process that is suitable for Navy UAV use. This proposal endeavors to advance and characterize the CF3D® materials and process through testing and preliminary model validation. Testing will be conducted at the coupon and representative structure sub-scale. The equipment manufactured and processes developed by Continuous Composite will enable many innovators and manufacturers to develop hardware for the Navy and customers with unique composite needs. Phase I Base will include coupon, intersection, and stiffened panel testing along with the development and delivery of a topology optimized stiffened panel. Phase I Option with include further development, testing, FEA and test planning for Phase II.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2023
DOD
NAVY
Additive Manufacturing of Low CTE Open Isogrid Composite Structure
Amount: $149,854 Topic: S12
Continuous Composites Inc. (CCI) has developed and patented a continuous fiber 3-D printing technology known as CF3Dreg;. CF3D has unique capabilities to reduce cost, accelerate design cycles, scale throughput, and create highly tailorable structures (e.g., in terms of design and material properties). By utilizing continuous fiber reinforcement, snap curing aerospace-grade photopolymers, and robotics, CF3D can drastically reduce the time and cost of creating continuous fiber-reinforced composites.CF3D allows for fabrication of unique structures that would be impractical to produce with traditional methods requiring autoclave or vacuum bag pressure during curing. One such structure is an open iso-grid rib structure. Iso-grid composite structures are not a new technology and have been built and flown on space structures, however traditionally are very expensive to produce.CF3D is very conducive to the manufacturing of iso-grid composite structures, either with a skin or as an open lattice concept. The single carbon fiber tow can be put on a support surface of any shape (e.g., flat, cylindrical, or spherical). Each tow is then stacked on top of the previous tow and UV cured in-situ, resulting in any rib pattern desired for the target strength and stiffness of the structure.A unique property of the composite open iso-grid structural concept is its bulk thermal expansion properties. As each rib of the iso-grid structure is composed of all unidirectional fibers oriented along the length of the member, the CTE is very low. Published studies on T800 unidirectional laminates show CTE to be in the range of -.4 (10-6 X K-1) in the fiber direction. This results in a structure that is overall lightweight and isotropic given the nature of the iso-grid concept with a very low CTE. Using high strength, low-cost intermediate modulus fibers to build a lightweight, low CTE structure has the potential to greatly decrease the weight, cost, and lead time of dimensionally stable structures.nbsp;
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2022
NASA
CONTINUOUS FIBER THERMOSET 3D ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING FOR RAPID LOW COST STRUCTURAL COMPOSITES
Amount: $749,995 Topic: AF203-DCSO4
Two main objectives in the USAF’s 2030 Science and Technology strategy are the ability to marshal complexity, unpredictability and mass into operational areas and a need for speed and reach of disruption and lethality. Towards these efforts, and in order
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2021
DOD
USAF