{"id":10151,"date":"2020-01-03T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T14:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=10151"},"modified":"2022-05-31T14:26:25","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T20:26:25","slug":"pe-umaine-uses-carbon-fiber-reinforced-abs-to-produce-the-worlds-largest-3d-printed-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/10151\/pe-umaine-uses-carbon-fiber-reinforced-abs-to-produce-the-worlds-largest-3d-printed-boat\/","title":{"rendered":"UMaine Uses Carbon Fiber-reinforced ABS to Produce the World\u2019s Largest 3D Printed Boat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo
The Oct. 10 unveiling of the 25-foot, 5,000-pound 3Dirigo boat included the presentation of three Guinness World Record awards. (Photo by Tom Drye, Techmer PM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The University of Maine teamed with several partners recently to produce the world\u2019s largest 3D-printed boat, earning three Guinness World Records in the process. The effort set records for the world\u2019s largest prototype polymer 3D printer, largest solid 3D\u2010printed object, and largest 3D\u2010printed boat.<\/p>\n

UMaine\u2019s Advanced Structures and Composites Center unveiled the 25-foot-long, 5,000-pound patrol boat \u2013\u2013 dubbed the 3Dirigo \u2013\u2013 on Oct. 10 at an event attended by some 250 business executives, university leaders, community members, and federal and state officials, including Susan Collins and Angus King, both U.S. Senators from Maine.<\/p>\n

The event culminated with the boat being tested in the Alfond W2<\/sub> Ocean Engineering Laboratory, an offshore model testing facility equipped with a high-performance wind machine over a multidirectional wave basin.<\/p>\n

\"The
The ceremony at the University of Maine\u2019s Advanced Structures and Composites Center drew more than 250 people. (Photo courtesy of Ingersoll Machine Tools Inc.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It normally would take months to construct a boat using traditional manufacturing materials and processes, whether fiberglass or wood. Not so in this case.<\/p>\n

Using a carbon fiber\u2010reinforced ABS resin specially formulated by Techmer PM LLC for additive manufacturing, the UMaine center printed the entire boat in less than 72 hours \u00ad\u00ad\u2013\u2013 from Sept. 19 to Sept. 22 \u2013\u2013 on a MasterPrint hybrid printer made by Rockford, Ill.\u2010based Ingersoll Machine Tools Inc. Tennessee-based Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s largest science and energy laboratory, worked with the university to develop the printing process.<\/p>\n

The huge MasterPrint machine \u2013\u2013 whose printing nozzle is suspended from a gantry \u2013\u2013 is designed to print objects as long as 100 feet by 22 feet wide by 10 feet high, at a rate of up to 500 pounds per hour. The printed parts can then be finish machined with an included, five-axis milling module, according to Ingersoll. A bigger gantry would enable an even larger print envelope.<\/p>\n

\"Photo
The MasterPrint printer by Ingersoll Machine Tools uses a print head suspended from a gantry that runs on a 100-foot-long track. (Photo by Tom Drye, Techmer PM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The boat was made entirely using Techmer\u2019s Electrafil\u00ae ABS 1501 3DP resin, according to Tom Drye, Techmer PM\u2019s vice president for emerging markets, innovation and application development. Techmer, and particularly 3D Technology Manager Alan Franc, have provided \u00a0extensive material support to Ingersoll for the past three years or so.<\/p>\n

Curtis Goffinski,\u00a0Ingersoll\u2019s principal technologist for advanced manufacturing, acknowledged that support, noting that \u201cTechmer\u2019s expertise in engineered thermoplastics continues to accelerate our control of these record-breaking, large-format prints.\u201d<\/p>\n

UMaine, meanwhile, has additional, ambitious plans for this technology and one\u2010of\u2010a\u2010kind printer. A $20 million research collaboration with ORNL will support fundamental research in key technical areas in large\u2010scale,\u00a0bio-based\u00a0additive manufacturing. The UMaine\/ORNL\/ Techmer\u00a0partnership is designed to advance efforts to produce new,\u00a0bio-based\u00a0materials conducive to 3D printing of large, structurally demanding systems.<\/p>\n

\"3Dirigo
The boat was 3D printed in less than 72 hours, using a carbon fiber-reinforced ABS resin specially formulated for additive manufacturing. (Photo by Tom Drye, Techmer PM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The research will focus on cellulose nanofiber (CNF) production, drying, functionalization and\u00a0compounding with thermoplastics, building on UMaine\u2019s leadership in CNF technology and\u00a0extrusion research. By placing CNF from wood into thermoplastics, bioderived recyclable\u00a0material systems can be developed with properties that may rival traditional materials, possibly\u00a0even metals.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaine is the most forested state in the nation,\u201d Sen. Angus King said at the unveiling ceremony, \u201cand now we have a 3D printer big enough to make use of this bountiful resource.\u201d He said this investment in Maine\u2019s forest economy \u201cwill serve to increase sustainability, advance the future of bio-based manufacturing and diversify our forest products industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 3D printer,\u201d added Habib Dagher, \u201cis an outgrowth of research we have been doing for 15 years in combining cellulosic nano and microfibers with thermoplastic materials.\u201d Dagher, executive director of UMaine\u2019s 100,000\u2010square\u2010foot composites center, said, \u201cOur goal is to print with 50% wood products at 500 pounds per hour, and achieve properties similar to aluminum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clinton, Tenn.\u2010based Techmer PM is involved in this development work, as well, Drye said. The\u00a0company has supplied UMaine with its polylactic acid (PLA) resin that contains wood flour for\u00a0use in future 3D printing projects that will require biorenewable\u2010type materials. Techmer is working on many new variations of bio-renewable and more traditional structural materials supporting the growing field of large-part additive manufacturing.<\/p>\n

See a time\u2010lapse video of the printing of the boat at\u00a0https:\/\/youtu.be\/34F71XqvOjg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more information about the partners involved, go to:<\/p>\n