The winner is...
Welcome in Industry 4.0
Continuous carbon 3D printing makes it possible to create strong, lightweight and very rigid components, with a higher resistance than aluminum. Continuous fibers are aligned in the direction of the load and are not weakened by joints or ends. They can also be oriented according to complex curvilinear patterns to optimize the mechanical properties of the part.
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In addition, it reduces manufacturing costs and lead times by simplifying the process and reducing the number of steps and operations. Buying and storing prepreg materials, manufacturing or maintaining molds is no longer necessary.
Strong, ligthweight but ...
Carbon lamination is a well-known process that allows for the manufacture of composite parts using carbon fiber and epoxy resin. The process involves superimposing layers of resin-impregnated carbon fiber fabrics, followed by pressing and heating them in a vacuum mold. To achieve an optimal result, manufacturing requires the use of an autoclave as a common requirement..
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Making frequent changes or occasional adjustments is more challenging and expensive because each time they have to recreate a new specific mold that corresponds to the new design.
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These manufacturing processes have another gap: carbon fiber is only strong in the length-direction. Usually, they use multiple weaved carbon fiber fabrics to ensure that the part is strong enough for the underlying forces. The result is that carbon laminating processes use much more carbon as it would be necessary, which makes the composite part more expensive and also little bit heavier.
