In the field of molds, in the case of small batches of products, manufacturers using rapid prototyping processes do not have to use molds to process products. Traditional machining must formulate the processing technology according to the shape of the product, while rapid prototyping is not limited by the complexity of the product shape, and has become the first choice for initial product design and a small amount of product processing. In terms of the matching of product parts, rapid prototyping is convenient and fast, which can meet the needs of customers’ maintenance cycle. In short, rapid prototyping has very broad prospects in the future and will change the current manufacturing mode.
At present, there are various 3D printing materials, but PLA, ABS and other materials are popularized and used at the grassroots level. The plastic products printed from these materials have low strength, poor corrosion resistance, and the materials are not rigid and easy to age, which cannot play a real and effective role in many scenarios. If rapid prototyping wants to achieve a large area, the update and improvement of printing materials has become a key link. This article will introduce the combination of carbon fiber technology and rapid prototyping, which can provide a new research direction for rapid prototyping materials.
There are many combinations of carbon fiber composite materials, all of which are currently in the research and development stage. Relatively speaking, nylon carbon fiber composite materials are relatively successful: nylon powder 60%, carbon fiber powder 40%. The wing pipes and various components printed with nylon carbon fiber composite materials can effectively improve their pressure resistance: the pressure resistance of pure nylon powder is increased from 40 MPa to 80 MPa. Nylon carbon fiber composite material production equipment can be enlarged to 5-10 meters to meet the needs of aerospace and ships. Experiments have been carried out on UAV fuselage and wings, non-load-bearing structures inside the aircraft, and have been successful. It can not only meet the requirements of use, but also optimize the structural design. For example, the interior of the truss was hollowed out into a mesh structure, but the strength increased after the weight was reduced.
The current technology matching high-strength 3D printing carbon fiber equipment is PSLS pressurized laser selective sintering technology. The nylon carbon fiber composite parts have a pressure resistance of 80 MPa, and they are directly configured on the J-10-J-20 series fighters, which also reduces the weight of the fighters. It is a simple and convenient innovation to replace the existing laser sintering equipment with carbon fiber nylon composite materials. Just by replacing the material, high-performance products can be obtained, and the application field of rapid prototyping can be expanded.
