Those visiting Stratasys at the show will discover how durable, yet lightweight 3D-printed composite tools are being utilised across a range of sectors. On display will be a series of real customer examples that exemplify the benefits of additive manufacturing for composite production.
As part of JEC World’s application showcase programme in the ‘Innovation Planets’ area, Stratasys will display a Santa Cruz bicycle featuring a number of carbon-fibre parts produced using 3D-printed tools. With FDM 3D printing, Stratasys is able to rapidly produce fully functional prototypes and iterate more designs faster than ever before. In addition, the customer has overcome the limitations of traditional tooling for low-volume composite production by 3D printing high-performance composite tools on-demand – resulting in accelerated time-to-part, at a fraction of the cost.
Stratasys will also demonstrate how the mechanical properties of its FDM Nylon 12CF material enable engineers to explore the transition from traditional metal parts to 3D-printed plastic composites. This thermoplastic contains 35% chopped carbon-fibre and is strong enough to replace metal, says the company, allowing designers to develop more lightweight yet functional designs. The high stiffness-to-weight ratio of FDM Nylon 12CF is suitable for functional performance testing demands in the automotive, aerospace, recreational goods and industrial sectors.
The first day (12 March) of JEC World will see Amos Breyfogle, application engineering manager at Stratasys, deliver a presentation entitled ‘Additive Manufacturing for Tooling and 3D-Printed Composite Parts’. Commencing at 10:30, this keynote will enable visitors to hear how, by using Stratasys additive manufacturing technologies, companies can quickly develop both cost-effective tooling for composite parts, and perform direct 3D printing of composite components.
