This year’s Composites Europe will see Stratasys demonstrate its latest 3D printing solutions for composites.
Visitors to stand D13 (Hall 9) will learn how a host of industries can enjoy significant time and cost efficiencies when implementing additive manufacturing throughout their production operations.
Stratasys will showcase the versatility of its FDM and PolyJet technologies for the entire product development process, from fully-functional prototypes, tooling and final production parts. A number of key customers such as Eckhart, IDEC and Wehl & Partner, Santa Cruz and McLaren will be represented at the stand.
Stratasys will display a number of customer examples which showcase how durable, yet lightweight 3D printed composite tools are being utilised across a range of industry sectors. One example is a Santa Cruz bicycle featuring a number of carbon fibre parts produced using 3D printed tools. Using Stratasys FDM 3D printing, the mountain bike manufacturer is able to rapidly produce fully functional prototypes and iterate more designs faster than ever before, which has significantly streamlined its overall design process.
In addition, the company has overcome the limitations of traditional tooling for low volume composite production by 3D printing high-performance composite tools on-demand, resulting in significantly accelerated time-to-part, at a fraction of the cost. Another key customer represented will be IDEC and Wehl & Partner, a provider of composite solutions for aerospace. Using its Stratasys F900 production system and ULTEM 1010 resin, the company produced a preform tool in less than sixty hours, a 67% reduction compared to traditional methods.
Operating live on the stand will be Stratasys’ flagship solution for the composites industry, the Fortus 380 Carbon Fibre 3D Printer. The Fortus 380CF features Stratasys’ high-performance Nylon 12 Carbon Fibre thermoplastic material. Containing 35% chopped carbon-fibre, Nylon 12CF is strong enough to replace metal, allowing designers to develop more practical and functional designs. Stratasys will demonstrate how the mechanical properties of FDM Nylon 12CF enable engineers to explore the transition from traditional metal parts to 3D printed plastic composites. The high stiffness-to-weight ratio of FDM Nylon 12CF is ideal for functional performance testing demands in automotive, aerospace, recreational goods, and industrial manufacturing sectors.