M A Y 2 0 1 4
|
4 7
Future directions
Ultimately, Mark is motivated to bring
down not only the cost of composite part
fabrication but of its development as
well. If a car frame were developed us-
ing AM, he suggests, "it could be a func-
tional prototype within a week." And the
design could be tested, tweaked, then
reprinted again, within a few days. "This
signifcantly compresses the design pro-
cess and cuts cost," he claims, noting
that "if Boeing wanted to test a new UAV
design, they could conceivably come up
with a working test vehicle in a week."
Mark reports interest from prosthetics
and medical device manufacturers, who
could quickly custom-print a medical
implant or components for an artifcial
limb to ft an individual. To minimize
cost during the ftting process, he ex-
plains, "You can frst print in plastic until
the shape is matched, then print with f-
ber reinforcement to produce the high-
strength fnished part."
L E A R N M O R E
@
w w w. c o m p o s i t e s w o r l d . c o m
Read this article online at
short.compositesworld.com/AM3Dcarbon.
For more on the MarkForged machine's
unveiling, see CW's online coverage at
short.compositesworld.com/3DPcfrp.
Read about additive manufacturing (AM)
basics and the full range of available
AM processes in "The rise of rapid
manufacturing," in HPC July 2009 (p.
22) or read the article online at short.
compositesworld.com/s1Zf43Fh.
Look back at AM authority Terry Wohlers'
(Wohlers Associates Inc., Fort Collins, Colo.)
2010 predictions about the technology's
future composites in HPC's sister publication,
Composites Technology, in "Additive
manufacturing a new frontier for composites"
(CT April 2010, p. 5) or visit
short.compositesworld.com/AMtrend.
Read about composites AM pioneer Royal
Plastics Mfg. Inc.'s (Minden, Neb.) early
use of a laser sintering process for "Direct
manufacturing of military aircraft parts" in
Focus on Design, HPC July 2009 (p. 58) or visit
short.compositesworld.com/AMRoyal.
Tough, strong 3-D printed part
Two baseplates, like this produced by the Mark One machine, attach an aerowing to a race
car. Essentially a sandwich construction, it features polyamide outer skins, continuous carbon
reinforcement around the part perimeter, and a printed polyamide honeycomb core (center).
Source:
MarkForged
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