3D printing news Why choose composite 3D printing? Experts give advice!

Today, there are many materials compatible with additive manufacturing, from thermoplastics to metals, ceramics and photosensitive resins. They provide a wide range of features to meet the requirements of multiple fields, such as aerospace, automotive or medical. You can also view the series of polymers, composites, or fiber-based reinforcements. These materials are available in powder or filament form, providing more interesting mechanical properties than traditional polymers, such as better rigidity, impact resistance, and portability. Therefore, more and more companies are beginning to rely on composite materials in additive manufacturing. But how do you integrate composite 3D printing into your production chain? Which material should you choose? We met with 3 experts in the field and they answered our question about composite 3D printing!

Our first expert was François Edy, the technical manager of the Kimya plant. This is an additive manufacturing service provided by the ARMOR Group. Today, François ensures the quality of manufactured parts, production deadlines and advises customers. Here, we focus on his work in composite additive manufacturing using extrusion, more specifically composite filaments. The second expert is Fedor Antonov, the CEO and co-founder of Anisoprint, a leading manufacturer of continuous fiber 3D printing solutions. Last but not least, Farbod Nezami, one of CIKONI's managing directors, brought our team of experts into a complete circle. CIKONI is a professional lightweight design engineering service provider, focusing on additive manufacturing and the mixing of reinforced materials through the load path of fiber reinforced materials. 

Composite material is a fiber reinforced material that gives it additional mechanical properties. This base material is called the matrix and can be one of many polymers on the additive manufacturing market. This results in a mixture of materials with excellent properties, for example they are generally stronger and harder. The most popular composite materials include carbon fiber and glass fiber. Parts made of carbon fiber or CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) are both strong and light. These characteristics make CFRP a popular material widely used. For example, in the aerospace, automotive and sporting goods industries. In contrast, glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) are not as strong as CFRP, but their chemical resistance and dielectric properties make them ideal for applications in the electrical industry. 

In particular, it should be noted that these fibers have different sizes, which have a great influence on the printing process and the final result. It can have short fibers and long fibers or continuous fibers at the same time. The short fiber is directly mixed with the base polymer, and then the filament is extruded by the machine. The continuous fibers are deposited at the same time as the substrate, which requires the use of a specific 3D printer. In order to understand which type of composite material is suitable for a particular application, it is important to understand not only the type of fiber, but also the difference between short fiber and continuous fiber.

Compared with short fiber reinforcements that can be added to traditional thermoplastics, continuous fiber composites are more expensive to produce, but have higher stability. Composite components with continuous fibers are manufactured using a variety of methods, although in traditional processes, the materials usually have to be laid manually layer by layer, and expensive molds and curing equipment are required. Therefore, the advantage of 3D printing is that the process can be automated by using two nozzles. 

Printing with continuous fiber filaments requires additional requirements (photo source: Anisoprint)

Today, most FDM machines can print short fiber composite materials. François Edy said: “Short fibers are more common in additive manufacturing and can be printed on any FDM machine. However, please make sure you have a steel nozzle because composite materials are abrasive.” Although Farbod Nezami did warn, Material should be considered when choosing a machine. He pointed out that users should understand that processing requirements are determined by the choice of fiber and matrix material. Considering that both have a very wide range of materials available, he mentioned that composite materials should be printed on a suitable system.

In addition, when it comes to continuous fibers, printing with FDM machines is much more difficult. For example, Fedor Antonov believes that although short fiber reinforced plastics can of course be printed with FDM printers, this type of machine is not suitable for printing with continuous fibers. In this case, it is necessary to invest in a machine that can deposit fibers on the board and cut according to the user's needs, which is specially developed for this purpose.

As François Edy explained, the position of the component in the installation space is very important, "The orientation of the component is important: carbon fiber is deposited in the extrusion direction. The carbon fiber is deposited in the extrusion direction, so there will be better mechanical resistance in the nozzle direction. "Farbod Nezami agreed, and pointed out that the orientation of the fiber mainly determines the engineering-related characteristics: "From strength to thermal expansion, there is a large anisotropy-that is, the direction dependence of the characteristics." According to Nezami, in use When designing fiber composite materials, it is important to first know which properties are required in which direction to be able to define the structure of the composite material. 

The difference between short fiber and long fiber composite materials (photo source: Anisoprint)

Fedor Antonov responded to this, but he emphasized that it can be avoided when it comes to continuous fiber reinforced composites. He explained: "The main difference is that continuous fibers are always oriented, while short fibers are randomly distributed in the polymer. Oriented fibers allow fiber characteristics to be concentrated in one direction, while random mixtures dissolve characteristics in each direction. That's why Continuous fiber reinforced composite materials have extremely high performance in the fiber direction, while short fiber reinforced polymers have fairly moderate performance in all directions."

Feodor also pointed out the importance of considering design when using parts made of composite materials, because users need to use different design methods compared to metals or plastics to truly benefit from their high performance. He explained: “For parts or structures where certain dominant force directions are applied, the best results will be obtained. There are several other physical limitations, such as relatively low operating temperatures (up to 150°C) and low surface hardness. This can cause severe wear in certain friction applications." 

Advantages and limitations of composite 3D printing

Composite 3D printing has the same advantages as "classic" 3D printing: shorter production time, less material usage, the possibility of customized parts, etc. However, it differs from "traditional" 3D printing in that it can improve the performance of parts, whether it is mechanical resistance or temperature. What really makes it unique is that it can improve the performance of parts, whether it is mechanical properties or heat resistance. You can also choose the type of reinforcement, isotropic or concentric according to your needs. François Edy agreed, confirming that the use of carbon fiber greatly increases the stiffness of the part; other materials, such as wood, will provide unique aesthetic properties.

3D printed parts of Kimya ABS Carbon, installed on the ARMOR USA production line (photo source: Kimya)

Fedor Antonov said that this is especially evident when printing with continuous fiber reinforced composite materials. He pointed out that “under the same operating conditions, it can produce parts that are several times lighter than metal parts.” According to him, weight reduction is particularly important in high-performance applications such as aerospace, robotics, sports, and healthcare, because Lighter components mean less energy consumption, lower transportation costs and higher quality products.

In terms of future earnings, Farbod Nezami also mentioned that technological progress is increasing. He is optimistic that the use of 3D printing composites in the next few years will make great progress in terms of size, productivity and mechanical properties. SmarTech's market analysis also reflects this expected growth, which pointed out that the global composite materials market will grow by 22.3% in the next five years. 

If we now look at the limitations of composite 3D printing, although the use of continuous fibers increases the complexity of the manufacturing process compared to short fibers, their use is also more complicated. For example, François went on to explain that continuous fibers meet more restrictive rules, and more technical considerations are currently needed in terms of slicing and nozzle trajectory. Therefore, design is so important. Or in the words of Fedor Antonov, “Obviously, the correct design is the key to enabling the high performance of 3D printed composites. Design methods such as fiber reinforced lattices, fiber steering, and local reinforcement will provide the best results. Differentiating according to shape and load conditions Which parts are suitable for design using composite materials is also important."

Composite materials can be used to produce strong and lightweight components in 3D printing (photo source: CIKONI)

However, in general, experts seem to agree that the use of fiber-reinforced materials can produce strong, rigid, and lightweight parts, and 3D printing also provides advantages that are not only fast but also cost-effective. It can also be said that although the use of short fiber reinforcement Material manufacturing is more cost-effective, and because the mixture in the polymer matrix provides greater technical flexibility for 3D printing, it cannot compete with continuous fiber composites in terms of performance. In addition, the type of fiber also determines the material properties of the component, which is why the choice of composite material ultimately depends on the specific application. 

"I suggest you test more traditional materials first. Then switch to FDM using short fibers because the printing process is similar. In fact, in some cases, composite 3D printing is even easier to implement, depending on your base matrix. "-François Eddie

"Think about hybrid power. Our current requirements for the industrial environment are so advanced that there are few challenges that can be solved with one material or one manufacturing process. I believe we are still in the early stages of additive manufacturing hybrid."-Method Bod Nezami

“Printing with composite materials is the latest megatrend in AM. It can be challenging, but the benefits you can get are impressive. Compared with parts made of metal, parts can be easily manufactured at 2-3 times the cost, A small part, but requires a certain amount of knowledge and expertise to succeed. Lightweight helps to save resources significantly at each stage of the life cycle-lighter structure means fewer production resources and lower transportation Energy consumption in the process, recycling of end-uses."-Fedor Antonov

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