3D PRINTING | TECHNOLOGY 3D printing toughens up
3D print technology is maturing rapidly with new processing and higher performing polymer material options making it a real manufacturing option. James Snodgrass finds out more
IMAGE: MARKFORGED
Look back just 10 years and the 3D printing landscape was very different from today. Setting aside the top end liquid stereolithography and powder-based SLS additive manufacturing systems for the moment, solid 3D print materials were principally filaments of either PLA (polylactic acid) or ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene). And these filaments were largely produced by small start-ups operating to the ‘homebrew’ principles of the machines used to print them — typically open- source designs using stepper motors from inkjet printers and often built around a laser-cut plywood chassis. In recent years, however, the 3D printing market
has matured and most of the major polymer materials companies now supply 3D print com- pounds in one form or another. The technology is also pivoting away from prototyping and towards, if not mass manufacturing then, at least, medium volume manufacturing. The biggest evidence of this shift has been the emergence of print farms (equipped with hundreds or even thousands of machines in a single location working on the same
www.compoundingworld.com
parts, or several parts of a whole) and new, faster printing techniques such as SAF (more on that later). A key area of development has been in build
materials based on continuous fibre reinforcement. Belgian materials firm Solvay has been working with Switzerland-based advanced manufacturing solutions provider OEM 9T Labs to help bring additively manufactured carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) parts to mass production. This joint effort uses 9T Labs’ additive manufacturing technology to produce low-to-medium volume size parts for the aerospace, medical, luxury/leisure, automation, and oil and gas industries. Solvay’s contribution is its performance materials
expertise, which includes carbon fibre-reinforced polyetheretherketone (CF/PEEK), CF-reinforced bio-based high performance polyamides, and CF-reinforced polyphenylene sulphide (CF/PPS) composites. As a result of the partnership, 9T Labs has been able to significantly expand the portfolio of neat and carbon fibre-reinforced materials it can offer to customers. “With 9T Labs’ innovative process and equip-
May 2022 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 57
Main image: Markforged’s FX20 is a high performance 3D print
system capable of handling continuous reinforced high temperature polymers such as carbon PEI
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72
