Refitting and upgrading the 3D printing technology, combined with the traditional high-end manufacturing field, may have a new market demand. 3D printing of carbon fiber composite materials is one of the directions. The world's leading carbon fiber composite material 3D printing manufacturer AREVO even stated, "In the field of carbon fiber bicycle frames, with the advancement of 3D printing technology, the cost structure will change; three years later, the manual manufacturing of carbon fiber bicycle frames in Chinese factories will be Eliminate!"
AREVO, a Silicon Valley startup in the United States, has been developing rapidly. In early June 2020, AREVO announced that they had begun to build the world’s largest high-speed continuous carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite additive manufacturing plant for manufacturing-as-a-service (manufacturing-as -a-service, MaaS) mode of operation, large-scale rapid production of customized products. Continuous carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites have a strength to weight ratio of more than 60 times that of steel, and can be used in professional-grade bicycles, Formula One racing cars, and the latest generation of fighter jets.
At present, other composite material 3D printers can embed filaments composed of chopped fibers of a few microns in thermosetting plastic filaments to realize 3D printed parts. But the size that can be made is limited. The Arevo system can print larger objects up to 1 cubic meter. The filament material used by the Arevo system is made of a PEEK matrix with embedded aviation-grade continuous carbon fibers. PEEK is a common recyclable plastic material that provides better mechanical properties than other thermoset materials. Arevo's material is 1.2 mm in diameter and contains 12,000 bundles of parallel continuous carbon fibers, each with a diameter of 5 to 6 microns. In the direction of the long axis of the fiber, continuous fibers have an order of magnitude improvement in performance over chopped fibers. The strength is five times that of titanium, and the weight is only one third of titanium. Design, printing, and production In addition to selling manufactured parts to customers, Arevo also sells 3D printers. In February 2020, they sold the first system in Japan and installed it in Tokyo’s AGC company. By the end of the first quarter of 2020, at least 4 manufacturing plants worldwide had installed such a system and started manufacturing parts, and It is planned to have 10 customers worldwide by the end of the year. "Through our cloud software, thousands of designers can now access it to create parts that have never been realized before," Bheda said. "And through the global printer network, they can print their designs on demand."
Its network software provides an end-to-end solution for manufacturing composite materials. Starting with a 3D model, the software analyzes and generates an optimal geometric arrangement for the fiber. "Continuous carbon fiber composites usually exhibit anisotropy, which means that some properties will vary depending on their location along the geometric plane/axis. It is very important to control the geometric arrangement of the fibers in combination with the load required by the parts. In addition, the software also The design process can be assisted by removing materials and recommending the most effective design to meet the actual operating conditions that the part may encounter. Next, it will calculate the amount of composite material required and generate instructions for manufacturing the part using Arevo’s 3D printing technology The system also collects the data of the parts in the manufacturing process to create a digital twin, which accurately reflects the printing status of the parts. These data can be used for quality assurance and provide a powerful boost for inspection and analysis. In addition to software and materials, laser DED Breakthrough, Arevo also developed a patented 3D printing process based on laser DED (i.e. Direct Energy Deposition).
Arevo's core technology: DED process. The laser beam melts the polymer filament just added and the material deposited on the previous layer to form a liquid-liquid interface. At the same time, a roller is used to apply pressure to reduce the porosity between layers to less than 1% to achieve the purpose of eliminating delaminated cross-sections. In fact, this idea is similar to the "micro-casting" metal 3D printing technology of Professor Zhang Haiou, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, but the latter uses metal materials instead of high molecular polymers.
During the printing process, the multi-axis automatic robot arm and platform can move freely, realizing more than three degrees of freedom to deposit materials. Common additive manufacturing techniques include stacking 2D planar material layers to construct 3D objects
The DED process uses a laser source to melt the polymer filaments, and also melts the previously deposited material to create a liquid-to-liquid interface for in-situ consolidation; at the same time, it also applies a pressure that will The porosity is reduced below 1%, eliminating the layer and making the cross section look more uniform. "
This composite 3D printing process achieves high performance and can be used on primary aerospace structures.
3D printed carbon fiber bike
The world's first 3D printed carbon fiber electric bicycle Emery One. Arevo collaborated with high-end bicycle manufacturer Franco Bicycles to develop a new electric bicycle.
Traditional composite bicycle frames require 18 months to design and put into production; but continuous fiber 3D printing technology can reduce the time to a few weeks. The frame manufacturer established more than 20 design iterations through proofing and trial and error. When they decided on a design, they made a prototype by hand, mounted it, and then changed the design; this was repeated. Then, arrange a factory to manufacture bicycles, usually in China. High-end bicycle frame manufacturers are basically produced in China.
Left: The bicycle frame must support weight at several points. Middle: The gap between bicycle parts is usually very tight. Right: The overall weight of 3D printed carbon fiber is very light.
The factory-made composite frame is made by hand from 27 to 30 different parts, and finally glued together. The Arevo system, all design work, including analysis and optimization, can be completed through software, which greatly reduces R&D costs; at the same time, 3D printing a whole single component, continuous fibers are intelligently placed in the frame, providing unprecedented structural integrity Sex and stability.
"Today, 99% of the 2 million composite bicycle frames produced are made in China." Bheda, Arevo's co-founder and chairman, said. "We believe that with the advancement of technology, the cost structure will change, and after three years, hand-made bicycle frames will be subverted and eliminated."
Arevo is also working on other applications, including bicycle and scooter wheels. Manufacturers of commercial drones used to transport packages are interested in lightweighting composite materials, as well as manufacturers of sports equipment including tennis rackets and skates (a structure used to connect metal blades and boots).
Other strategic applications in the aerospace, construction and automotive fields are also under development.