Carbon fiber-reinforced material used to fabricate world’s first 3D-printed vehicle
A fully functional vehicle being 3D-printed from scratch and assembled by automotive design firm Local Motors (Chandler, AZ) in the space of 44 hours is expected to be driven off the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) floor this Saturday. A carbon fiber-reinforced compound supplied by Sabic’s Innovative Plastics business is being employed as the build material.
Local Motors collaborated with Cincinnati Incorporated (Harrison, OH), a large-scale manufacturing system builder; Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a pioneer in advanced materials research; and Sabic to develop and validate the technology and materials needed to deliver large format 3D printing technology. The vehicle is comprised of just 40 parts, with 3D prints typically emoploying between 13 to 20% carbon fiber and 87 to 80% ABS resin.
