Neue Materialien Bayreuth (NMB) is expanding its range of products with an open-control 3D printer for processing standard and engineering thermoplastics with continuous fiber reinforcement.
The mode of operation of the Composer A4 3D printer from the manufacturer Anisoprint for Continuous Fiber Fabrication (CFF) is based on the Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) process. This involves depositing a molten plastic filament layer by layer onto a print bed to create a 3D object. In CFF technology, the thermoplastics are reinforced with continuous fibers directly during the printing process.
Since the printer is designed as an open-loop system, qualification can be performed for a wide range of thermoplastics (polycarbonate, polyamides, polypropylene, etc.) as well as for various fiber materials (carbon, glass, basalt fibers).
The flexible manufacturing technology makes it possible to use base materials with customized property profiles, such as chemical resistance, defined frictional properties, low flammability, etc. Even a combination of a short fiber reinforced printing material with a continuous fiber can be processed. After appropriate adaptation of the CAD models, free fiber placement can be realized to design the reinforcement structures in line with the load.
The CFF process allows printing speeds of up to 80 mm per second in the thermoplastic nozzle and up to 10 mm per second in the fiber nozzle, depending on the part complexity. The surface quality of the parts produced corresponds to the surface finish of standard FFF parts without post-treatment.
The Composer A4 operates at a maximum nozzle temperature of 270 °C and has a build envelope of 297 х 210 х 140 mm³ with a print bed that can be heated up to 120 °C.
