Award winners will be announced during a ceremony in the ACE Pavillion at 3:00 pm on Tuesday, September 10. Finalists will be available during these times to answer questions about their entry:
Tuesday, September 10 | 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Wednesday, September 11 | 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Thursday, September 12 | 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Category - Manufacturing: Equipment and Tooling Innovation
NGC has been developing advanced Continuous Fiber Additive Manufacturing (CFAM) capabilities with increasing levels of performance and complexity. One example of this is the Scalable Composite Robotic Additive Manufacturing (SCRAM), an agile, flexible AM system for fabricating aerospace-grade, complex composite structures developed in partnership with Electroimpact Inc. Traditional 3D printing processes should more accurately be described as "2.5D" printing. Here, the material is deposited successively in flat slices that, when stacked together, create a 3D object. SCRAM, on the other hand, is a true 3D system that utilizes robotics and a 7-axis deposition system to precisely place material in the X, Y, and Z axes. When placed along load paths, the continuous carbon fiber material creates a structurally optimized ply architecture, making SCRAM an ideal solution for aerospace-grade composite structures.