SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project will develop technology using a Freeform Thick Layered Object Manufacturing process to produce large-scale objects/structures. Current Rapid Prototyping or Solid Freeform Fabrication processes are limited to producing small-scale components. Systems such as stereolithography, used deposition, laminated object manufacturing and selective laser sintering to produce cross sections with square edges resulting in finished objects which have a stepped effect on the surface. To reduce the stepped effect, layer thickness must be kept small. As a result, such systems have a build rate that is impractical for producing large-scale objects. The key innovation being developed is the fabrication and lamination of thick layers with sloped edges that closely match a surface contour thus reducing the build times for large-scale objects. One potential application is in the construction industry where automation innovations have traditionally not taken root. The technology could be used to produce large-scale building blocks fabricated in a factory and then shipped to a construction site for final assembly. The broader (commercial) impact from this project will be an economically way to produce complex parts. This effort will test the feasibility of using Freeform Thick Layered Object Manufacturing processes to produce large-scale structures for the $922 Billion dollar construction industry. There are several advantages to bringing such an innovation to the construction industry. First, since the industry is highly dependent on manual labor, there is potential for both cost savings and higher quality control. Producing large-scale building block units in a factory setting and then shipping them to a site for final assembly would reduce construction time and labor costs. This technology could offer architects the freedom to create unique structures. Architects will be free to design structures with curved walls or even compound curves. For example, custom curved staircase or curved wall assemblies. This could then be expanded to producing entire structures such as houses and potentially to revolutionize the home construction industry

This Small Business Technology Transfer ( STTR) Phase II project will develop and commercialize a novel way to construct large, modular objects, such as concrete walls and components used in building a home, using a solid freeform fabrication process. The novelty of the proposed process is that is is capable of producing structures with wall thicknesses which are thickner than other similar methods. The structures can have contoured faces and alignment guides to permit quick assembly of layerwise construction. The proposed research will focus on aerated concrete as the structural materiaol, having proven the basic concept on structural foam in the Phase I research. The method is expected to result in rapid construction of homes with minimal labor and onsight assembly of pre-fabricated components. The broader impacts of this project, if successful, would represent a radical departure in a notoriously conservative industry, leading to the construction of inexpensive, pre-fabricated homes. The technology will address a significant market in the U.S. and developing countries to provide affordable homes to a very large population of low-income consumers. Other applications where this technique could be employed include construction of large objects such as boat hulls (pleasurecraft)