COMPOSITES
THE ENDLESS FIBRES
REVOLUTION The endless fi bre material approach brings added value for the future
use of fi bres has widely expanded and developed further to become one of the fi nest options to design heavy duty parts and structures subjected to high tensile loads, thermal conductivity, and less weight.
S
ince the fi rst implementations in the 1800s of carbon fi bres in arc lamps, incandescent light bulbs (bamboo slivers) and textiles, the
Nowadays, diff erent endless
fi bres made of various materials with miscellaneous material properties are being made available for industrial applications and in industrial quantities. Fibres made of natural and non-natural materials demonstrate exceptional mechanical and thermal properties that can be used to tailor new components
and structures according to specifi c lightweight structural needs. More and more new automated
production methods using endless fi bres are coming to market. T e current automatised techniques such as the 3D printing, robotic fi lament approach, where fi bres are mixed with a binder, shows a revolutionary change in how to design new thermo-mechanical components and structures. T is fabrication technique is usually used for manufacturing open or closed end structures. T is off ers the possibility of having continuous fi lament through the structure and the possibility of continuous manufacturing without wasting the materials, as there is almost no off -cut. T e 3D printing methods have the
A computer model of a multimaterial bracket
38
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The real version of the multimaterial bracket
disadvantage of having, in most of cases, limits in shape, orientation and needing too much production time. On the other hand, an industrial robotic/CNC approach, where the process is sizeable
Claude Maack explores the challenges and opportunities for an innovative endless fi lament winding process
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