A method of manufacturing a composite (e.g. fibre-reinforced polymer) connector for a fluid transfer conduit includes: providing a tubular mandrel which extends substantially parallel to a central axis C; providing a former on the tubular mandrel which extends substantially perpendicular to the central axis C; and winding continuous fibre reinforcement, impregnated with a thermosetting polymer, around the mandrel to form a tubular hub portion which extends substantially parallel to the central axis C and over the former to form a flange portion 308 which extends from the hub portion at an angle to the central axis C. Winding the continuous fibre reinforcement over the former includes passing the continuous fibre reinforcement across a first surface of the former that is substantially perpendicular to the central axis C and across a second surface of the former such that the former is encapsulated as a core for the flange portion.

The present invention relates to a thermosetting material for use in additive manufacturing, the material comprising at least one thermosetting resin and at least two curing compounds different from said thermosetting resin that are able to cure this/these thermosetting resin(s), wherein at least one curing compound is provided for curing during the additive manufacturing process and at least one curing compound is provided for curing during a post-curing step. The invention furthermore relates to a method of producing a cured 3D thermoset object comprising at least the steps of subjecting the material according to the present invention to an additive manufacturing process, obtaining a partially cured 3D thermoset object and subsequently subjecting the partially cured 3D thermoset object to a post-curing process to further cure the 3D thermoset object Additionally, the invention relates to the use of the material in an SLS, FFF, CBAM, FGF or powder bed additive manufacturing process.

A polar plate is fabricated. The polar plate is flexible and made of a plastic graphite composite. No matter a supporting member is used for calendering or not, a thin polar plate with controllable thickness is fabricated. The polar plate is excellent in blocking the through-transmission of vanadium ions and the limit of blending ratio of conductive carbon is broken through. The longitudinal through-transmission volume resistivity (proportional resistance to thickness) is greatly improved by adjusting the blending ratio of conductive carbon for meeting the demand of conductivity. In the mean time, the present invention strengthens the rigidity required for the thin polar plate while providing large-area polar plate fabrication for industrial use and convenience and provides a cooling and pressing method for patterning a composite polar plate. An integrated mold is thus obtained to replace the conventional polar plate which needs to be processed and prepared with runner.

A structural reinforcement for an article including a carrier that includes: (i) a mass of polymeric material having an outer surface; and (is) at least one consolidated fibrous insert having an outer surface and including at least one elongated fiber arrangement having a plurality of ordered fibers arranged in a predetermined manner. The fibrous insert is envisioned to adjoin the mass of the polymeric material in a predetermined location for carrying a predetermined load that is subjected upon the predetermined location (thereby effectively providing localized reinforcement to that predetermined location). The fibrous insert and the mass of polymeric material are of compatible materials, structures or both, for allowing the fibrous insert to be at least partially joined to the mass of the polymeric material. Disposed upon at least a portion of the carrier will be a mass of activatable material.

Additive manufacturing of composites with short-fiber reinforcement. In an embodiment, an extrusion channel is supplied with a composite ink comprising short fibers, and the composite ink is extruded out of a material outlet of the extrusion channel, while vibrating the extrusion channel and the material outlet by one or more vibration motors along one or more vibration axes, to fabricate a three-dimensional composite structure. The short fibers may comprise milled carbon fibers having an average length of 50 μm or less and an average aspect ratio of 4.5 or less, and the composite ink may comprise a high fiber volume ratio (e.g., 27+%). Despite analytical models that predict otherwise, the composite structures, resulting from disclosed embodiments, have enhanced strength.

Systems and methods are provided for curing a composite part. The method includes the steps of: disposing a heat blanket at a composite material; applying, with a controller, power to heaters distributed across multiple cells of a heat blanket to heat the composite material at the heat blanket; monitoring, with the controller, a temperature of the composite material at each of the multiple cells via thermocouples distributed across the multiple cells; and individually adjusting, with the controller, an amount of power applied to the heaters, for each of the multiple cells, in response to the monitored temperature and a target temperature.

A system for additive metal manufacturing, including a deposition mechanism, a translation mechanism mounting the deposition mechanism to the working volume, and a stage. A method for additive metal manufacturing including: selectively depositing a material carrier within the working volume; removing an additive from the material carrier; and treating the resultant material.

An outer skin component for a motor vehicle is designed as a shell component with an outer shell and an inner shell, which are in each case designed as fiber-reinforced plastics shells with a fiber reinforcement embedded into a thermosetting plastic matrix. The fiber reinforcement of the outer shell consists of one or more layers of nonwoven material.

Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for polymer-based extrusion. Some non-limiting embodiments provide for extrusion of a liquid photopolymerizable monomer in a channel/die with the aid of a lubricating component, such as poly(dimethylsiloxane)-graft-poly(ethylene oxide) grafted copolymer (PDMS-PEO), and driven by fluid pressure (e.g., a fluid pump). Other aspects of the present disclosure relate to growing soft robots. Some non-limiting embodiments provide a novel class of robots which grow in an environment by growing at their tip (or robot head) by using the self-lubricated photopolymerization extrusion techniques of the present disclosure. Emulating biological tip growth, this process is facilitated by converting an internal monomer fluid into the solid body of the growing robot through polymerization.

Improvements in the extrusion of thermohardenable materials are achieved by cooling the material in the initial zone of the extruder and reducing residence time by use of a prescribed length to diameter ratio and screw speed, particularly useful for intermittent application during robotically controlled mass production.