Obtaining preforms by additive fused deposition modelling (FDM) extrusion technology for the manufacture of high-performance composites

The composites industry is present in practically all industrial sectors with an annual growth rate of 5%. Its contribution to the priority "light-weighting" driver in the transport sector is key. The efficiency of the industry is made possible by the evolution of manufacturing processes that also improve the performance of the products obtained. For example, out-of-autoclave (OOA) processes can obtain high-performance composites such as those obtained by the autoclave process at lower costs. A key aspect in the development of this type of process is the preforming of continuous fibre reinforcements, which can achieve high fibre percentages while facilitating processing. Manufacturing these preforms currently requires multiple steps, equipment and tooling. TECNALIA's work developing the ADDICOMP technology, an alternative preform manufacturing method using an additive process based on Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) is detailed in this article. This development is patented by Tecnalia and was conducted in 2 phases: (a) development of continuous fibre filaments coated with polymeric material and printable by FDM and (b) fine-tuning of FDM technology to print filaments with a very high content of continuous fibre.