Method and system for constructing a structural foam part
AssigneeNorthrop Grumman Corporation
InventorsRichard F. Zoia, Boris C. Fritz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for constructing a structural foam part. The method comprises three steps. Step one calls for utilizing a rapid prototyping process to create a polymer mold. Step two requires filling the polymer mold with a material. The last step calls for heating the polymer mold and the material to heat set the material and to remove the polymer mold thereby forming the structural foam part. More specifically, the rapid prototyping process may be stereolithography, and the structural foam part may have a varying density such that different mechanical properties exist in different sections of the structural foam part.
Claims52
A method for constructing a structural foam part from a polymer mold of the structural foam part, the method comprising:
- creating, using a rapid prototyping process, a first layer of the polymer mold, the first layer defining a first cross-sectional layer of the structural foam part;
- creating, using the rapid prototyping process, a second layer of the polymer mold, the second layer directly overlying the first layer and defining a second cross-sectional layer of the structural foam part that directly overlies the first cross-sectional layer, wherein the first layer and the second layer each define a different number of internal support structures;
- filling the polymer mold with a material;
- and
- heating the polymer mold and the material to heat set the material and to remove the polymer mold thereby forming the structural foam part.
A method for constructing a structural foam part, the method comprising:
- selecting a material;
- creating the structural foam part by forming from the material a plurality of cross-sectional layers of the structural foam part;
- and
- wherein the plurality of cross-sectional layers are formed layer by layer utilizing a rapid prototyping process.
A method for constructing a structural foam part, the method comprising:
- generating a solid computer-assisted-design (“CAD”) model of the structural foam part, the solid CAD model having a corresponding CAD data format;
- translating the CAD data format into a computer-aided-manufacturing (“CAM”) data format;
- providing the CAM data format to a stereolithography system;
- forming a plurality of layers using the stereolithography system, each of the layers defining a corresponding cross-sectional layer of the solid CAD model;
- creating a polymer mold of the solid CAD model from the plurality of layers;
- filling the polymer mold with a material;
- and
- forming the structural foam part by pyrolizing the polymer mold and the material.
A system for constructing a structural foam part, comprising:
- a computer operable to generate a solid computer-aided-design (“CAD”) model of the structure foam part, the model having a corresponding CAD data format, and operable to translate the CAD data format into a computer-aided-manufacturing (“CAM”) data format representing a plurality of cross-sectional layers of the CAD model, each of the cross-sectional layers comprising a plurality of internal support structures;
- a stereolithography process operatively coupled to the CAM data format for creating, layer by layer, a plurality of layers of a polymer mold, each of the layers corresponding to a particular one of the cross-sectional layers of the CAD model;
- a material for filling the polymer mold;
- and
- a heat source coupled to the polymer mold and the material, wherein the heat source heat sets the material and removes the polymer mold thereby leaving a formed structural foam part.
A system for constructing a structural foam part, comprising:
- a computer operable to generate a solid computer-aided-design (“CAD”) model having a corresponding CAD data format, and operable to translate the CAD data format into a computer-aided-manufacturing (“CAM”) data format representing a plurality of layers of the structural foam part, each of the layers comprising a plurality of internal support structures;
- and
- a rapid prototyping process operatively coupled to the CAM data format for creating the plurality of layers to form the structural foam part, the plurality of layers created from a selected material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.