Raven Space Systems opens up a whole new category of industrial 3D printing
Summary
One example is thermoset composites, materials widely used in aerospace and defense due to their high heat resistance and light weight, but which typically have long lead times and high prices for customers.Raven Space Systems, a startup based in Kansas City, Missouri, says it has developed a new process to enable the first scalable 3D printing of commercial, off-the-shelf thermoset composite components.Were essentially unlocking an entire field of 3D printing to production scale, Raven co-founder and CEO Blake Herren said in a recent interview. Usually thermoset composites require hours or even days in an oven to harden or cure, but the MAD process essentially cures the materials during the printing process, a bit like laser-based metal additive printing.Herren and his co-founder, Ryan Cowdrey, started working on the technology while grad students at the University of Oklahoma. Around the time they graduated, they landed about a million dollars in grants through the Small Business Innovation and Research program to take the MAD 3D printing concept from whiteboard to prototype. Theres a massive need there supply chain, bottle-neck issues, everybody has a hair-on-fire problem with these thermal protection and structure materials.In these industries, there are not enough suppliers, he said. Herren said scaling the new 3D printing process will go hand in hand with building a next-gen factory, in order to reduce lead times to days instead of several months or over a year.I think the industrial base requires implementing software and robotics into our factories to solve these supply chain issues and, frankly, compete globally, he said.Beyond hypersonics and rockets, the company has also had conversations with autonomous systems providers, satellite manufacturers, and space propulsion companies.