Epoxy and fiberglass filling for very strong 3D printed parts

"hobbyman" from Turkey made an Instructables guide on how to make a very strong 3d printed part by filling it with epoxy and cut fiberglass. The parts should hold bicycle bags attached firmly to the handlebar.

Here is a short two videos of the process:






And here are photos of part being saturated with fiberglass pieces:

... and here it is finished and very strong final part:

Detailed guide:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Strengthening-a-3D-Printed-Part/

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Arup develops 3d printed steel elements for heavy construction

Arup developed 3d printed steel part 

Traditional steel element of same purpose

 From the source:

Using the latest 3D printing techniques, or more accurately, ‘additive manufacturing’ – the Arup team has produced a design method for critical structural steel elements for use in complex projects.

The work signals a whole new direction for the use of additive manufacturing in the field of construction and engineering. The research also shows that additive manufacturing has the potential to reduce costs, cut waste and slash the carbon footprint of the construction sector.
We created a redesign of a steel node for a light weight structure using additive manufacturing. Arup has a lot of experience with these kind of structures, for example the tensegrity structure of the Kurilpa Bridge in Australia. The complex geometry of these kind of nodes are an ideal showcase of the possibilities of this new technique.
"By using additive manufacturing we can create lots of complex individually designed pieces far more efficiently. This has tremendous implications for reducing costs and cutting waste. But most importantly, this approach potentially enables a very sophisticated design, without the need to simplify the design in a later stage to lower costs.”– Salomé Galjaard, Team Leader, Arup

A traditionally produced steel node is at the moment still cheaper to produce, but it is expected that this will change in the short term.

Source:

http://www.arup.com/News/2014_06_June/05_June_Construction_steelwork_makes_3D_printing_premiere.aspx

If you have some doubts and want to see more about high strength optimized 3d printed structures, take a look at:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2012/11/fractal-3d-printing-for-ultra-high.html

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Fractal 3D printing for ultra high model strengths

Some scientist on several European research institutions have developed a method using fractal design to produce low weight and ultra high strength objects.

Yong Mao of the University of Nottingham, UK and colleagues have developed a theoretical framework for building structures where the optimal hierarchical order of the structure depends on the load it needs to withstand. Using this technique, the team constructed such a structure – a simple frame – from a polymeric resin, using a “rapid prototyping technique” – which is an advanced form of 3D printing.

For the first element in their structure, Mao and colleagues simply construct a hollow beam, which they refer to as the “generation-0” element. Different values of thickness and radii of the beam are considered, so that the strongest beam can be built, with the least amount of material. The robustness of this beam is then tested by applying a load along its length and along its axis, to see if it fails across either. “We do this to analyse the failure modes at each local level, so that the structure is not unnecessarily strong at each level…we optimize for what properties are necessary,” says Mao. He explains this further by saying that if a 50 kg table balanced on hollow steel legs it would be about 10 times lighter than one with solid steel legs and just as robust.

Generation-3 element could be ten thousand times lighter then an original with the same strength.
One problem is that the structure has to be very precise and without flaws. Any imperfection could lead to serous defects.

“Even a small imperfection at a local scale could have a large impact as there is no extra material that could take the added stress and maybe that is why this kind of fabrication has not been practical to date,” explains Mao, who says that the team is also studying its models to better allow for such errors. But he is convinced that commercial techniques will improve over the coming year, providing the necessary precision tools. Mao also feels that the recently commercialized technique of 3D printing could really benefit the fabrication of these structures. “We could just upload our deferent designs to a program and people could download and print off the structures at home,” he says.

This is MAJOR discovery and push foreward for 3D printing and additive manufacturing! Let's hope it will be implemented soon in some practical solutions.

Source and more information:
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2012/nov/27/ultralight-fractal-structures-could-bear-heavy-loads

Research paper (you have to be registered to download):
http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v109/i20/e204301

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