Solvay is working to develop carbon fibre-reinforced materials for 9T Labs’ hybrid 3D printing/ moulding platform as the pair announce their partnership.
9T Labs came to market last year with its Red Series offering, which includes the Industrial 3D Printing Solution and the Additive Fusion Solution. The latter consists of a Build Module – a 3D printer providing fibre layup and preform production – and a Fusion Module – a compact compressions press providing preform consolidation and final part performing. It has sought to collaborate with Solvay, who has existing partnerships in the 3D printing space with the likes of Stratasys, Ultimaker and Aerosint, to expand the materials options available to its user base with carbon fibre-reinforced Polyetheretherketone (PPEK) and polyphenylene sulfide (PPS).
By developing carbon fibre-reinforced PEEK, PPS and bio-based polyamides for the Red Series Additive Fusion Solution, 9T Labs and Solvay believe they will be able to facilitate the production of parts for the aerospace, medical, automation and oil and gas industries at low-to-medium volumes and sizes.
9T Labs developed its hybrid technology to produce high-performance structural parts at volumes of between 100 to 10,000 parts per year, while taking advantage of both the design freedom and part complexity of 3D printing and the high production rates and excellent surface finish of compression moulding. With a growing complement of industry-standard materials, the technology is said to be more and more capable of yielding lightweight, structural composite parts capable of replacing metal parts in challenging environments.
“With 9T Labs’ innovative process and equipment and Solvay’s high-performance thermoplastic materials, we are well positioned to address problems that have long plagued manufacturers in many industries trying to use advanced composites – namely high incremental costs, high scrap and problems achieving repeatability and traceability,” commented Marco Apostolo, Director of Technology at Solvay. “We believe this collaboration will help solve many challenges and will open entirely new markets and applications to CFRP materials.”
“For the fabrication of structural parts, metals still prevail because the manufacturing of structural CFRP parts has not been cost-competitive,” added Giovanni Cavolina, 9T Labs co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer. “The Red Series platform in combination with Solvay’s high-performance and recyclable materials will change this and make CFRP parts more sustainable, accessible and cost-competitive, especially at higher volumes.”
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