On September 12, Dutch Airborne company announced the development of a brand new gantry composite printer that can design and print composite parts using industrial automatic production equipment under existing quality standards.
The gantry printer is a web-based production platform through which customers can design composite parts and get direct feedback on part performance and quotes. Based on the above feedback information, customers can further optimize based on specific usage requirements and place orders for production. The first application of this equipment is a thermoset prepreg laminate produced by Airborne's Automated Laminating Cell (ALC) technology.
Airborne said the device combines three functions. From the process point of view, the laminate is first manufactured by the automatic tape laying system (ATL); the laminate is then cut into the desired shape. This step can nest multiple parts in a larger laminate; third The steps are pick and place. This step can be used to locally place laminates or combine small pieces of laminate into a new large structure.
This equipment is currently available for thermoset prepreg laminates manufactured using the ALC system. Airborne is planning to add other automatic processing units to the device.
"The device could be an important part of future digital manufacturing technology for composites," said Marcus Kremers, chief technology officer at Airborne. "It demonstrates how intuitive, simple, fast, and efficient it is to design and use composite products. We don't have to be experts, all know-how in composites and automated production has been written into Airborne's algorithms and is fully automatic. It is bound to significantly reduce the production cost of composite materials and the development time of products, and at the same time accelerate the application of products, so that the application of composite materials is more extensive, and the development of the world is more efficient and sustainable. "