| The Dutch company CEAD was established in 2014. At that time, the two co-founders decided to focus more on industrial 3D printing. In 2017, CEAD began to supply large-scale 3D printers for continuous fiber additive manufacturing technology in the industrial sector, such as shipping and Construction. In January, 3D Tiger reported on the progress of this 3D printer. Since then, CEAD has achieved some milestone achievements.  The most important of these is the impregnation and extrusion of continuous glass and carbon fibers during the printing process. CEAD provided a second milestone in the 24-hour testing of the entire extrusion system to ensure reliability. After completing these milestones, CEAD set out to find And migrated to a new factory to build a new machine. CEAD intends to deliver CFAM 3D printing technology in 2018. CFAM machines will be able to manufacture parts up to 4 meters (13 feet) by 2 meters (6.5 feet) by 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in size, using reinforced thermoplastics. Some specifications of the machine are unique and novel to the 3D printing market. These unique requirements include the addition of continuous fibers to the printed object, a fully controllable large construction area and the use of many different thermoplastic materials, from PP to PEEK, with a throughput of at least 15 kg (33 lbs) per hour. Three challenging requirements determine the future of CFAM technology. CEAD began developing its proprietary extruder in September and completed development in December. Focusing on the processing of PP, PET, ABS and PEEK, this work proves that To be successful, the extrusion of these four different materials took at least one hour and reached a yield of more than 15 kg (33 pounds). In December, the most challenging development began, with regard to continuous fiber. This is a challenge because carbon fiber or glass fiber needs to be completely impregnated with a thermoplastic material in order to obtain the full strength and stiffness of the processed material. In February 2018, several printed test samples were subjected to ILSS (Inter-Layer Shear) according to several ISO standards. After the test, this study proved to be successful. In March, CEAD completed the breakthrough development after completing the 24-hour durability test, and proved that all its systems and innovations were successful. During the process, the system runs continuously for 24 hours without operator intervention. After completing these important developments, CEAD took the necessary steps to start bringing this technology into the production process. Because of the large size and light weight of the machine, the first necessary step was to move the operation to a larger production facility. Currently, CEAD is fully operational in Delft's new plant. The plant is located near Delft Technical University and has more than 1,000 square meters (10,764 square feet) of production space for the construction of the first full-scale CFAM machine. . Beginning in July 2018, the CFAM prototype will be available for 3D printing of the first object of its application. Poly Products and Royal Roos are the company’s first customers, and the third customer will also be running the pilot project on the prototype. Commercial machines will be delivered to Poly Products in 2019. Source: China 3D Printing Network |
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