WP12 – MoldPrint.XL

The development of additive manufacturing technologies has been under great focus in recent decades, with continued development expected in the coming years. This growth is due to the continuous need to reduce cycle times, to increase the offer in product customization and to focus on issues such as sustainability in product development. These factors aim to improve time-to-market, increasing the probability of profit generation, in addition to making companies more competitive in markets in which they are players.

However, there are still some constraints for these technologies, notably when it comes to the viability of substantially large parts. These difficulties are due to factors such as part construction time, surface finish, and also the production in large quantities becomes a low-efficiency process.

On the other hand, in the production of maritime mobility products it should be noted that the technologies currently used to produce their molds are essentially based on conventional technologies that require several weeks to a few months. Due to their large scale, once the process of manufacturing the mold is completed, the product manufacturing process begins.

In order to identify and overcome the previously described constraints, large-scale additive manufacturing systems have been developed for implementation in areas where components are directly bulit, as well as in the area of large mold manufacturing, so to respond to the molding processes for composite materials.

Therefore, with this project we intend to develop and implement a complete additive manufacturing system with a construction area up to 12 meters, which will enable the processing of both thermoplastics and thermosets using extrusion, thus making it possible to obtain parts with dimensions that are near the final ones, and subsequently machined to the desired dimensions. As current needs are based on development supported by a circular economy, it is of utmost importance that the developed products are recyclable when reaching their end of life.

Thus, the proposed value in this project can be defined as the development of molds and products through innovative and sustainable additive manufacturing techniques for thermoplastics and thermosets that enable the development of high-quality products.