Many industries, including automotive, aerospace, and robotics are using additive parts made of carbon fiber. These parts are popular for the strength-to-volume ratio they offer. But the use of carbon in additive materials may not always produce a part with the desired look and feel.

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Parts 3D printed with carbon composites can display a non-uniform appearance, for example, show wrinkles, ridges, or even voids. According to some 3D printing vendors, this effect can be the result of imprecise consolidation of the carbon fiber plies in the material. Depending on the part, these effects could be considered defects and affect part performance.

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3D Systems application engineers have been working on a way to reduce the chance of such defects. They use stereolithography (SL) along with the company’s SL materials. SL often produces parts with good feature detail that need minimal post-processing. The engineers use two components in the SL machine. […]

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