Composite Based Additive Manufacturing for High-volume Unmanned Systems (UAS) Production

The ability to produce large quantities of parts tailored to a specific solution rapidly is a significant advantage both commercially and militarily. In traditional manufacturing processes, tooling and equipment specific to the required component allows for rapid part production at the expense of flexibility. Once tooling had been designed and manufactured the cost of re-tooling is frequently prohibitive, locking the end user into a fixed set of designs.
Impossible Objects CBAM process addresses this by allowing additive manufacturing at high speeds. Using a drone body as an example build we demonstrate how a single CBAM machine can manufacture 30,000 such drone bodies in a month of single shift operation. These items can be modified easily and a new version printed with no re-tooling costs allowing rapid evolution and optimization of the parts, or modifications deal with changes in supply of other components.
Impossible Objects will describe the CBAM technology, and present an economic analysis for the manufacture of a common quadcopter structure design, similar to those used both commercially and in defense applications. The material properties of the carbon reinforced polymers manufactured with the CBAM process make it suitable for this type of structural application.