Eurecat wins JEC World Innovation Award

The prize is recognition of the innovation it delivers since it enables parts manufactured by 3D printing to be reinforced with continuous carbon fibres, thereby increasing their strength and reducing their weight.

CFIP (Continuous Fibre Injection Process) technology “is a new post-processing system based on injecting continuous reinforcement fibres, such as carbon fibres, into parts manufactured by 3D printing or other types of technology,” says Marc Crescenti, head of Eurecat’s advanced simulation line and lead developer for this new method.

“The fact that we strengthen the part by means of a post-process method, and not during the manufacturing process itself as other technologies on the market do, brings truly disruptive advantages”, Crescenti added.

These advantages include placing the reinforcement fibres in all directions and following complex routes mapped out beforehand with complete freedom. “This means we can align them in the most efficient directions and further enhance mechanical performance”, Crescenti said.

It can also strengthen all kinds of materials, including plastics, metals and ceramics, which makes it possible, for example, to manufacture a titanium part strengthened with continuous carbon fibres.

CFIP technology additionally affords the option of integrally joining different parts with fibre continuity between them, thus providing very high performance joints. This allows for multi-material and multi-process structures by selecting the most efficient material and process based on the requirements in each area of the structure.

This technological solution has been used in several case studies in fields such as aeronautics, the automotive industry and sports. One example of this is a brake pedal which Eurecat has developed by means of integrated joining of different materials and processes.

www.eurecat.org