It seems every day some new form of 3D printing or a new device is popping up. Today is no different. While Impossible Objects has been in the news before, the company has only recently released their first device. The device in question is the “Model One” and it looks to be a very promising Additive Manufacturing device. It is also their first device to incorporate CBAM and lay up technologies.
The Model One is a unique device because of its range of printable materials. Impossible Objects is one of the few 3D printers that can build from composite materials like kevlar and fiberglass. The company has claimed that it can produce prints that are 100 times faster than traditional methods like SLS and FFF.
What are CBAM and the Lay Up Technique?
CBAM stands for Composite-Based Additive Manufacturing. The printer can incorporate carbon, kevlar and glass fiber fabrics bonded with thermoplastic matrix materials, ranging from nylon/polyamide to polyethylene, PEEK into its prints.
The machine employs lay up technology. This refers to a method of additive manufacturing where sheets of fabric, such as fiber glass, are stacked atop each other in succession within a mold. A machine then bonds each layer by jetting resin onto the stack.
Model One uses thermal inkjet heads to extrude fluids onto sheets of composite materials. Then, the sheets are doused with a polymer powder over where the original inkjet fluid was placed. The powder adheres to the pattern of the inkjet fluid and then forms the shape of the object. Later, the machine vacuums off the excess powder, compresses the sheets and then heats them.
Upon heating, the polymer powder melts away and binds the sheets together. Next, the machine removes all of the fibers that could not be coated leaving a fully printed object. With this method, Model One can combine composite materials are polymers like PEEK. The core advantage of this technique is that it enables swift print speeds and high durability of parts.
You can see the machine in action in the video below (courtesy of Wall Street Journal):
Featured Image courtesy of Impossible Objects.
