The Technical University of Munich, Germany, reports that its carbon composites department has begun a new project covering the laser additive manufacturing (AM) of carbon fiber parts.
The project, entitled ‘MEX-DES: Additive Manufacturing by Material extrusion with Directed Energy Substrate Preconditioning’ will reportedly focus on printing 3D structures with carbon fiber reinforcement on a larger scale, using a new AM process based on material extrusion and directed energy processes.
‘By using an active laser for the pre-heating of the substrate, the interlayer bond strength can be increased and high geometric accuracy can be guaranteed,’ a press release said.
Plans are for the laser system and material extruder to be integrated as one manufacturing unit, which could be installed on a kinematic system such as an industrial robot arm. According to the University, the engineers next to plan to develop a cooperative control system with different printing conditions to develop automated manufacturing on a larger scale.
This story uses material from Munich University, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
