SAMPE Journal - September/October 2022 - 41

Automated Manufacturing
The most-cited reason that neither polymer AM nor advanced
composites are specified in significant quantities in mass
production environments is the high piece price and completed
part assembly costs of components that are not prototypes,
one-offs, or produced in very low volumes. Research by
3dpbm.com1
found that for composite AM to be competitive
for mass production, per-part production cost must not exceed
2-3x the cost of material used to produce that part. In contrast,
they report that production costs for much of the AM segment
(including polymers, metals, and ceramics) are actually as high
as 5-10x material costs. High manufacturing cost is why so many
AM business models focus on prototypes and consumables-
they simply aren't competitive for mass production yet. The
most promising composite AM systems directly address
manufacturing costs by reducing both scrap (thanks to higher
design freedom, more efficient fiber layout control, and the
ability to print net-shape parts) and labor (through highly
automated and repeatable operations that enable quality to be
verified in real time as parts are printed and formed).
Repeatability & Reproducibility
A long-standing issue with traditional advanced composites
manufacturing is achieving high repeatedly and reproducibly
(R&R). The high cost of assuring part consistency is largely due
to the manual and labor-intensive processes used to produce
parts and the difficulty of verifying part quality in real time.
Instead, manufacturers must rely on post-process inspection
and verification with specialized equipment. Often, many outof-spec
parts are produced before an issue is discovered.
When high scrap rates are combined with high material and
labor costs and slow processes, it is no wonder that advanced
composites are uncompetitive in high-volume, cost-sensitive
industries. Composite AM addresses this issue through highly
automated processes with digital traceability and high R&R that
have been engineered to deliver Industry 4.0 (and beyond)
compliance. By removing manual labor, cost and errors are
reduced, processing speed is increased, and the need for
downstream quality verification is lowered or eliminated.
Open-Source Materials
Another contributor to advanced composite part costs is the
inherently high price of CFRP materials, which themselves
are often energy- and time-intensive to produce. This is
compounded by the often high scrap rates associated with
traditional CFRP processes, plus ongoing supply chain issues,
including shortages of everything from crucial monomers and
popular polymers to reinforcing fibers. More efficient use of
open-source materials from reliable suppliers with a global
footprint (which also increases the traceability/digital thread
of final parts) rather than relying on materials from limited or
even a single supplier, and by greatly reducing wastage due
to offcuts and off-spec parts - particularly with thermoset
matrices whose scrap cannot be reused-composite AM
helps lower material as well as process costs. As material
www. sampe.org
options for composite AM increase, so do opportunities to use
recycled/upcycled polymers and reclaimed fibers to reduce
manufacturing's carbon footprint further.
Digital Twin/Digital Thread/Traceability
Composite AM also helps address cost and time to market via
fully virtual design optimization and validation (digital twin). By
prototyping with electrons rather than steel and composite, not
only are costly materials used more efficiently, but it eliminates
the old iterative loops of make & break (design parts, build
prototype tools, mold, and test parts, and start again).
A related benefit of the digitization of manufacturing is full
traceability (digital thread), where in highly regulated industries
like aerospace, defense, and medical, it is critically important to
be able not only to verify the R&R of parts but also to access
the full history of those parts from raw materials through design
validation and manufacturing to performance in the end-use
environment.
As high-performance composite materials become
seamlessly integrated with virtual design tools, in-process
sensing, machine learning algorithms, automated production,
and data- and simulation-based digital workflows, virtual and
physical worlds are connected, transforming how products
are engineered, manufactured, and serviced. This enables
manufacturers to innovate faster and produce better products
more efficiently with lower investment. By combining the best
of advanced composites and digital manufacturing, each
technology supports the other as composite AM moves into
mass production.
1. Composites AM: Reinforcing the Power of Additive, 3dpbm Insights,
T. Boissonneault, 3D Printing Business Media Ltd., 3dpbm.com (April
2021).
SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2022
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http://www.3dpbm.com http://www.sampe.org
SAMPE Journal - September/October 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SAMPE Journal - September/October 2022
