COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — November 2, 2020 — Continuous Composites announced its opening of a 7,500 sq-foot facility for research, development, and additive manufacturing in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The new building demonstrates its patented Continuous Fiber 3D Printing (CF3D®) technology at the largest scale to date, increasing their previous build volume by 25 times.
Over the past five years, Continuous Composites built relationships and partnerships with industry leaders to bring their disruptive CF3D technology to commercialization. These partners play a key role in unveiling the new demonstration facility and are intricately involved in the technology ecosystem that Continuous Composites is generating.
Siemens, a technological pioneer, empowers the CF3D solution with their Sinumerik 840D CNC system and Run MyRobot/Direct Control platform to achieve high-accuracy, multi-axis robotic control for automated manufacturing with CF3D.
Arkema, through its Sartomer Business, a world leader in photocurable resin solutions, is developing a library of N3xtDimension® thermosetting resins with Continuous Composites. These resins, part of the 3D Printing Solutions by Arkema platform, are tailored for CF3D’s novel printing technique and customer-specific applications to enable industrial adoption of CF3D technology.
“As an industry leader in automation, Siemens is excited to be sitting side-by-side with Arkema to support Continuous Composites’ development,” says Tim Bell, Additive Manufacturing business manager, Siemens Industry Inc. “We recognize Continuous Composites has brought together prominent industry players to be successful in commercializing this technology.”
“Sartomer is excited to support Continuous Composites with their technology ecosystem and partners as CF3D accelerates towards commercialization with our leading materials sciences,” says Sumeet Jain, senior director of 3D Printing Worldwide at Arkema. “We are tailoring advanced liquid resin solutions for CF3D to introduce a variety of high-end applications, and we believe there is a strong market opportunity for this technology and our innovative materials.”
Comau, an industrial automation company, provides Continuous Composites with the most flexible and automated systems in robot kinematics and motion controls, leveraging their six-axis robotic arm for CF3D.
Güdel, a manufacturer of high-precision machine components, partners with Continuous Composites to scale CF3D technology, utilizing their TrackMotion Floor 50-foot linear rail for accuracy, efficiency, and rigidity.
These dynamic corporations are coming together to develop real customer applications, including advancing CF3D for one of their strategic customers, the Air Force Research Laboratory.
“These partnerships were mutually selected, us choosing them and them choosing us, knowing that by joining efforts, CF3D technology will rapidly scale to the next phase of its capabilities,” states Tyler Alvarado, Continuous Composites CEO. “Our new facility allows us essential access to research and development that is completely in stride with a powerhouse team of strategic partners and customers.”
An unveiling of the newly launched demonstration facility will debut at Formnext Connect 2020 during the virtual event on November 10-12.
Posted November 3, 2020
Source: Continuous Composites
