Visitors will be able to see the significant time and cost efficiencies that companies from a host of industries can enjoy when implementing additive manufacturing within their production operations. Stratasys will outline the versatility of its FDM and PolyJet technologies for the entire product development process, from fully-functional prototypes, to tooling applications and final production parts.
3D printed composite tooling offers dramatic cost and weight-savings compared to traditional tooling methods. Stratasys’ development of high-temperature materials, as well as the increased throughput of its FDM Production 3D Printers, enable the manufacture of complex composite lay-up / sacrificial tools in hours or days, rather than the weeks or months it would take using traditional manufacturing.
Visitors to Stratasys’ stand will discover how these durable, yet lightweight 3D printed composite tools are being utilized across a range of industry sectors. On display will be a series of real-life customer examples that exemplify the benefits of additive manufacturing for composite production. This includes a new customer use case set to be announced at the show, which will reveal novel application uses of 3D printing for composite production.
As part of JEC World’s application showcase program in the ‘Innovation Planets’ area, Stratasys will display a Santa Cruz bicycle featuring a number of carbon-fiber parts produced using 3D printed tools. Using Stratasys FDM 3D printing, the company is able to rapidly produce fully-functional prototypes and iterate more designs fast than ever before, which has significantly streamlined its overall design process. In addition, the company has overcome the limitations of traditional tooling for low volume composite production by 3D printing high-performance composite tools on-demand – resulting in significantly accelerated time-to-part, at a fraction of the cost.
Stratasys will also demonstrate how the impressive mechanical properties of FDM Nylon 12CF enable engineers to explore the transition from traditional metal parts to 3D printed plastic composites. This carbon fibre-filled thermoplastic contains 35% chopped carbon-fibre and is strong enough to replace metal, allowing designers to develop more lightweight yet functional designs. The high stiffness-to-weight ratio of FDM Nylon 12CF is ideal for functional performance testing demands in automotive, aerospace, recreational goods, and industrial manufacturing sectors.
The first day of JEC World will see Amos C. Breyfogle, application engineering manager, Stratasys, deliver an insightful presentation entitled ‘Additive Manufacturing for Tooling and 3D Printed Composite Parts’.
Part of JEC World’s ‘Process and Manufacturing’ track (Forum: Hall 6), this keynote will enable visitors to hear how, by using Stratasys Additive Manufacturing technologies, manufacturers can quickly develop both cost-effective tooling for composite parts, as well as direct 3D printing of composite parts .
See Stratasys at JEC World in Hall 5, Stand Q83, at the Villepinte Exhibition Centre Paris, 12-14 March 2019.
