CW Blog
By: Ginger Gardiner 8/16/2019
A new definition of composites?
As composites technology develops, so too should our understanding of what composites can be and what they can offer.
This blog originated from a press release that I received from IntegriCo Composites (Sarepta, La., U.S.), which manufactures composite railway crossties and construction mats. In looking at their press release and website, both of which focused on recycling and transforming plastic waste into sustainable, improved-performance end-products, I realized this was a 100% plastic technology. So, I wrote back and said, “your definition of composite does not match ours.” But I was wrong.
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This is the inaugural year for National Composites Week, which celebrates the ways in which composites enable innovations in a wide range of industries. The celebration takes place August 26-30 of this year and will be the last week of August each calendar year.
National Composites Week was launched through a collaboration between braiding specialist A&P Technology (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.), global advanced composites company Hexcel (Stamford, Conn., U.S.) and CompositesWorld.
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Jason Susnjara, vice president of marketing at Thermwood, explains how this portion of a Boeing tool was 3D printed using Vertical Layer Printing (VLP) on a print table oriented perpendicular to the floor.
The full view of this portion of the 3D printed Boeing tool. VLP is now available as an option for Thermwood’s Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) machines.
VLP is now available as an option for new and existing LSAM machines. Part of the equipment necessary is the vertical build table shown here. Parts are printed on beadboard affixed to this table.
One of the standard LSAM features that makes VLP possible is a compression wheel, the copper roller seen here. As the print head lays down a bead, the wheel compresses it to ensure good layer adhesion and prevent sagging.
Scott Vaal, LSAM product manager, explains how thermal imaging enables the printer to lay down the next layer of material at precisely the right time for the best layer adhesion. The monitor in the background shows thermal camera footage from the build of the Boeing tool.
At the time of my visit, Thermwood’s R&D LSAM was set up for machining to finish this 18-foot-long helicopter blade mold (though one of the stainless steel belts used for VLP was still in place). The mold was printed with the LSAM’s conventional horizontal orientation in about 3 hours. CW senior editor Scott Francis later spotted the finished mold on display at JEC.
Susnjara and I stand inside an unfinished LSAM machine in the company’s Dale, Indiana, assembly facility. LSAM printer envelopes can range from 20 to 100 feet in 10-foot increments; VLP offers more opportunities for using this space effectively.
Vertical Layer Printing (VLP) at first sounds counterintuitive. This new 3D printing strategy developed by Thermwood makes use of the company’s Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) system, but instead of putting down layers of material that are parallel to the floor, VLP literally turns the process on its side. A print head oriented at a right angle to the extruder deposits material in layers perpendicular to the floor, onto a vertical print bed.
The main benefit to printing this way is size. The LSAM’s print envelope is 10 feet wide and can be 20 to 100 feet long, but is only 5 feet high. That limits the size of parts that can be manufactured in one piece with a horizontal print bed, says Jason Susnjara, vice president of marketing.
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