carbon
materials and applications
Carbon
prototypes in carbon lamination: from lamination to 3D printing, from a mold or template
In addition to the possibility of making prototypes in nylon with carbon fiber 3D printing, we can also make objects in real high-quality carbon fiber. These details are obtained by modeling the carbon fibers with two solutions, shown below:
- Carbon directly on an object that acts as a positive dummy
- Carbon in mold negative shape
Features
carbon fiber modeling
In prototyping the combination of material and processing technique is one of the most complex choices. Performing a prototype almost always requires evaluations so that, for technicians’ use and consumption, the average characteristics of the materials obtained by prototype construction are given. These can be used to get an idea of technical and functional compliance.
It makes the construction of prototypes whose mannequin can be obtained starting from a 3D file, printed with rapid prototyping techniques with specific autoclave cooking cycle, simple and fast. With this solution it is possible to create carbon prototypes of exceptional shape complexity in about 7-8 working days.
This technique requires that the shape of the object be broken down into two semi-skins that are separately laminated and then assembled (with the exception of mono-leather objects, of which one side is not particularly relevant for finishing and detail, such as the fairings of motorcycles) . The need to build the mold or template, increases construction time and costs, however it offers the best construction quality and maximum compactness of the fibers, since the autoclave cooking cycle is the ideal one. This solution is preferred for making small series on which to optimize the investment in the template or mold.