LASCALA – LArge SCALe plAstics & composites 3D printing

LASCALA (LArge SCALe plAstics & composites 3D printing) is a novel versatile and scalable additive manufacturing equipment for plastics and composites parts.

This IMT Nord Europe in-house developed machine has unprecedented features: feeding by standard pellets, flexibility (thermoplastics, chopped fiber-reinforced plastics and structural composites with continuous fibers), manufacturing of large components (up to 5 m x 2 m x 1 m).

Main features:

• 6 axis robot mounted on a 5 m long translation rail and equipped with a specially developed and patented polymer and composites deposition tool.
• Polymer extrusion-based technology: two extruders, possibly co-extrusion
• Control of the structure temperature just before the polymer deposition to promote adhesion and good crystallization conditions.
• Control of the layer thickness to compensate the polymer shrinkage and warpage
• Innovative design for both 3D printing and part functionalization by 3D over-printing
• Real time process monitoring under development