Composites
Of all the families of materials used for additive manufacturing, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites present unique characteristics, benefits and challenges. Additive manufacturing promises to evolve the adoption of composite materials, making it more efficient, cost-effective and fast to mass produce parts that can offer an unparalleled combination of properties.
The reason why that is not the case is that traditional composite manufacturing – based on woven fiber sheets in a thermoset (epoxy) resin matrix is among the most manual labor intensive – and costly – among manufacturing processes. Composites today are used to make high end automotive, sports equipment, medical and aircraft parts: products that are highly customized and not mass-produced. The ultimate goal of the firms working on additive manufacturing of composites is to make the production of composite parts scalable, without sacrificing materials properties.
Achieving this goal requires some of the most complex manufacturing engineering know-how, along with some of the most complex manufacturing hardware and software that has ever been developed. The transition towards automated, mass-produced composite parts will be a gradual one. Additive manufacturing is the core element of it but it is not the only one: new technologies are emerging that more or less seamlessly combine AM processes within an automated end-to-end workflow in order to ensure the highest level of performance. This is inextricably connected to the use of continuous fibers.
However, composites AM is not just about top part performance but also about improving the performance of polymer 3D printed parts, to make parts stronger, lighter and larger. This is where additive manufacturing of chopped fiber composites found its – rapidly growing – niche. 3D printing with chopped fibers of differing lengths is much less complicated than 3D printing with continuous fibers and it emerged first.
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University of Illinois installs first CF3D Enterprise system
A CF3D Enterprise system from Continuous Composites was recently installed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), bringing the latest technology in composites additive manufacturing to campus to explore and…
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DITF enables the printing of fiber composite components
The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF), together with Arburg GmbH + Co KG, are developing an energy- and material-efficient 3D printing process for the manufacturing of lightweight…
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Markforged growth slows significantly in Q3, at +5% YoY
The good news for Markforged Holding Corporation (NYSE: MKFG), a company looking to enable industrial production at the point of need, is that revenues grew again, by 5% YoY, to…
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Nexa3D to offer xESD resins based on Mechnano’s MechT
Nexa3D, a global leader in ultrafast polymer 3D printing solutions, has released an ESD-safe resin for the fabrication of static-dissipative parts, powered by Mechnano’s MechT technology. The new Nexa3D xESD…
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Anisoprint deploys R&D team at Jacobs University Bremen
In September 2022, 3D printing solution provider, Anisoprint, deployed their Research and Development Team at Jacobs University Bremen. The main focus of the partnership was to foster the research and…
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9T Labs partners with Purdue University
9T Labs AG, experts in digital, automated and cost-competitive serial production of continuous fiber components, entered into an official collaboration with Purdue University to research and test the potential of…
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Tetra Pak and Aectual 3D print recycled furniture
According to Tetra Pak, almost 200 billion beverage cartons were produced in 2021, and there are an estimated 5 billion buildings in the world. Therefore, it only makes sense to…
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ReInhabit selects Azure to print ten homes using recycled plastic
Azure Printed Homes (Azure), a company focused on the development of 3D printing building technology using recycled plastic, has been selected by Re-Inhabit, a Southern California home builder, for the…
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3Dfy targets 3D printing of continuous fiber reinforced polymers
The 3Dfy Project proposes an innovative method to tackle the given problem based on UD thermoplastic prepreg tape as feedstock for the composite 3D printing process. The competitive advantage of…
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Scaling composites 3D printing into a new dimension
Swiss startup 9T Labs stands out in the global 3D printing landscape for leveraging a unique process that combines extensive know-how in continuous fiber reinforced composites, additive manufacturing and tooling…