The CF3D process uses industrial robots to directly print continuous dry fibers and impregnate resin in situ without the need for expensive molds, autoclaves, ovens and other equipment. This process is suitable for aviation-grade carbon fiber, glass fiber or aramid fiber. During the printing process, the fibers are impregnated with a fast-curing resin in the print head. Subsequently, under the control of CF3D software, the print head of the industrial robot moved according to the design path, and the prepreg was also pulled out of the print head. Finally, the prepreg fiber is cured under the action of a high-intensity energy source (such as UV light, thermal energy, etc.) to form a 3D composite part.
"The CF3D process abandons the traditional process of stacking components in two dimensions in the past and achieves true 3D printing. Therefore, we need a new software system to drive the patented CF3D technology," said CEO of Continuous Composites Tyler Alvarado said. "Spatial's CGM Core Modeler not only provides our software with strong geometric calculation support, but also gives the print head fast and flexible spatial movement capabilities, which facilitates the printing of products with complex shapes using the CF3D process. In addition to CGM Core Modeler , CGM Polyhedra brings more possibilities to the workflow is also exciting. Now, combining Polyhedra and B-rep models, the workflow has achieved unprecedented innovation.
The cooperation between the two companies has enabled Continuous Composites to license InterOp, an industry-leading 3D CAD software development kit. At the same time, Spatial's 3D InterOp toolkit also enables Continuous Composites to introduce all major 3D data exchange formats into CF3D software.
Continuous Composites became the winner of the 3D Printing Innovation Product Award at this year's JEC show.