AdvancedManufacturing.org
thinking about it and trying to figure out if maybe there was a better way of doing it,” he said. And that’s how Impossible Objects was born. In 2009, Swartz began developing what he calls CBAM—a composite-based additive manufacturing pro- cess unlike anything else in the industry. The company he founded, Impossible Objects, said CBAM is unique in that it creates functional parts using high-strength materials such as carbon fiber, fiberglass and Kevlar. Industry, in turn, is taking notice: Impossible Objects
won SME’s RAPID 2015 Outstanding Innovation Award in May—an impressive feat for a first-year exhibitor.
Understanding CBAM So how does CBAM work? The process starts with a CAD model sliced into layers
and converted into a digital bitmap. That bitmap is printed onto sheets of composite material using an aqueous solu- tion and thermal inkjet technology. Polymer powder is applied to the sheet of material, clinging to the solution in the shape of the bitmap.
The layers are stacked, then placed into an oven and
heated to the melting point of the powder in order to consolidate the part to its designed height. After the part cools, the excess, uncoated material is removed by abra- sive blasting (in the case of carbon fiber or fiberglass) or a chemical process (in the case of Kevlar). At first blush, this may seem more complex than popu-
lar technologies for 3D printing or additive manufactur- ing, in which objects are formed by printing each physical layer at a time, one on top of another. But Swartz, CTO and chairman of Impossible Objects, said CBAM has advantag- es over other types of additive manufacturing processes, many of which are complex in their own right. “The processes that exist today are all very old,” he
noted, adding that FDM (fused deposition modeling) and SLS (selective laser sintering) have been in devel- opment for 20–30 years. And many methods can only produce prototypes. Typically, he said, they can’t create something with the strength of injection molding or bet- ter, and stronger parts that are created by selective laser sintering metal take much longer to make with machines
Redefi ne your design
Explore the potential of additive manufacturing
Renishaw’s additive manufacturing systems use powder bed fusion technology to produce fully dense complex metal parts direct from 3D CAD.
Also known as 3D printing, this technology is not constrained by traditional manufacturing design rules. Create complex geometries such as conformal cooling channels for tooling
inserts, reduce component weight by only placing material where it is needed, and consolidate multiple parts in one assembly. Additive manufacturing is also complementary to conventional machining technologies, and directly contributes to reduced lead times, tooling costs and material waste.
No requirement for tooling.
Increased design freedom—complex geometries and hidden features.
Rapid design iterations right up to manufacture.
Renishaw.com/additive
Renishaw Inc Hoffman Estates, IL
www.renishaw.com 45
Spring 2016
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