CEAD's large CFAM Prime 3D printer, designed for shipbuilding, infrastructure work and industrial projects. CFAM stands for Continuous Fiber Additive Manufacturing and involves injecting continuous carbon or glass fibers into 3D printed thermoplastics.
In previous activities, CFAM Prime used continuous and short fibers for 3D printing, and you can feel the difference in mechanical properties between them. There is also a live demo of CFAM Prime, which adds the console to a cabin that has been previously 3D printed.
The Dutch company CEAD developed this technology because they wanted to 3D print parts with complex geometries but with the industrial strength of a composite mold. There are many fiber-reinforced plastics available for 3D printing, but they all use short fibers, which increases the strength of the part but does not meet the standards of industrial applications. By pushing continuous fiber bundles through plastic extrusion, the components become very stiff.
CFAM Prime 3D printing is strong enough even for CEAD's first two customers, the offshore engineering company Royal Roos, and fiber reinforced plastic and construction specialist Poly Products. Royal Roos is already using CFAM Prime to 3D print ship models for basin motion and drag tests. Fulko Roos, founder of Royal Roos, said: "To date it has not been possible to quickly and accurately 3D print large and powerful (ship) parts. With this new 3D printer, we are studying how to use this technology to produce ramps. 3D Not only is printing fast, you can also calculate the cost price in advance. In addition, you can recycle materials. "
Poly Products will receive their CFAM Prime by mid-2019 and plans to equip cargo ships with 3D assembly lines. "At Poly Products, we make fiber-reinforced plastic products," said Jan Schrama, founder of Poly Products. "With this 3D printer, we can work faster, at lower cost, and with less manual labor. This makes it easier to make disposable products and show prototypes to customers without having to make molds."
In addition to making super sturdy parts, CFAM Prime can also make very large parts with a volume of 2m x 4m x 1.5m; this makes it the largest 3D printer in Europe. Here are some other specifications:
Intelligent heating / cooling system uses a thermal imager and adjusts in real time
Siemens CNC System Base
Can process ABS, PP, PET and PEEK high temperature materials
Output 15kg / hour
Capable of operating for 24 hours without the presence of an operator
Only six CFAM Prime 3D printers will be produced in the first series.