New material system enables binder jetting of ultra-strong carbon composite parts
A new material system developed by Dr. Saeed Dadvar, a 3D printing expert and materials engineer, enables the production of strong carbon composite parts through a binder jetting process. The quality and accuracy of the final parts, which are placed in an autoclave for post-processing after the AM phase, appears quite high, as shown in the video above.
This new material system enables 3D printing of green parts followed by an ultra-high-temperature process and resin post-processing treatment to produce mechanically strong and light-weight carbon composites. Considering standard material property maps, the resulting 3D printed composites outperformed plastics, metals/alloys, high-performance technical ceramics as well as most known composite materials such as carbon fiber reinforced composites (CFRCs).
This newly developed powder-based material system opens new doors towards additive manufacturing of carbon composites with complex geometries and high-end potential commercial applications ranging from thermal protection systems, porous burners, and impact absorption, to load-bearing implants, bone defects, and tissue engineering.
Over the past four years, Dr. Saeed Dadvar, the inventor of this process, developed a solid technical expertise in 3D printing and additive manufacturing technologies diversifying into Ink-Jet Powder-based Printing (ColorJet), Material Extrusion (FDM), PolyJet Multi-Material Printing, Stereolithography (SLA), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), and Direct Metal Printing (DMP). He combined this experience with a background in chemistry, polymer science and materials engineering, as well as working knowledge of CAD and CAM along with advanced competency in using CES Selector & Avizo to design parts, optimise designs, visualise X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) images and make smart material choices with respect to the cost and performance. For additional inquiries on the results of this and other studies he can be reached at info@freeformcomposites.com.
Update [September 20th, 2019]: the technology developed by Dr. Dadvar is now owned by Freeform Composites PTY LTD, an Australian Privately held company.
