Composites specialist Arevo has formed a strategic business partnership with glass company AGC Inc, based in Japan.
The companies will use Arevo’s Aqua 3D printer to make strong, lightweight 3D printed composite parts for the Japanese market. According to Arevo, Aqua is the world’s first industrial-grade continuous fiber 3D printing system capable of printing parts of up to 1m3. It uses a patented laser-based direct energy deposition (DED) in-situ consolidation closed loop process with machine learning algorithms and prints composite parts using composite material with a polyetheretherketone (PEEK) thermoplastic polymer matrix and aerospace grade carbon fiber. This material meets fire, smoke, toxicity (FST) requirements for aerospace and defense applications, Arevo says.
’This is a landmark achievement in the ongoing evolution of manufacturing and the Industry 4.0 movement,’ said Hemant Bheda, chairman of Arevo. ‘We are all working towards super-efficient and sustainable processes with localized on-demand manufacturing.’
This story uses material from Arevo, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.