Reactive Extrusion Additive Manufacturing (REAM)

This longhorn was manufactured via Reactive-Extrusion-Additive-Manufacturing (REAM), in which a thermosetting resin and hardener are pumped together through a mixing element and deposited in a layer wise fashion. The REAM process, by virtue of the liquid feedstock it uses, is capable of massive rates of deposition; this particular part was created with a flowrate of 102 mL/min (two orders of magnitude greater than flowrates typically seen in desktop FFF machines), a nozzle diameter of 6.5 mm, and a layer height of 4 mm. Where a standard FFF machine would need hours to create this part, the REAM system was able to manufacture it in under 3 minutes. In addition to large rates of deposition, the REAM process produces parts with inter-layer crosslinking of polymer chains, resulting in anisotropic mechanical properties. These two features make the process an ideal candidate for rapid manufacturing of freeform structural components.

Faculty Members

• Carolyn Seepersad
• Mehran Tehrani

Graduate Student Researcher

• Oliver Uitz