Applications of textiles with additive manufacturing
By directly printing on textiles during the production process, it is possible to create textiles that can be individually designed. The field of application covers the entire range of textile products.
In shoes, for example, reinforcements or brand logos can be inserted into the pattern.
The field of automobiles also offers a wide range of applications. Headliners with integrated fastener or door panales with direct printed switches.
https://www.karlmayer.com/html/textile-makerspace/applications_for_rapid_textile/
Printing directly on a textile during textile production
The additive manufacturing steps take place directly on the warp knitting machine and print directly on the textile fabric.
Our existing prototype can be used with different printing technologies.
Steering of the printing system communicates direct with the warp knitting machine and the patterning system.
The printing is stitch and pattern precise, which can be used to bring logos, player names or tapes for muscle support on designed shirt from a jacquard machine or positioned flowers in a lace fabric.
Additive manufacturing can be useful for each of our machine categories.
Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)
Almost every hobbyist has his own FDM- printer in their workshop. Therefore, this community is very large, creatives generate applications from bottle opener up to high fashion examples.
FDM uses a filament of a thermoplastic material to fed continuously in a heated extruder head. The filament is deposited layer by layer to create a solid component
In particular, the adhesion between the printing polymer and the textile is important for the result.
Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)
SLS is a well-known process for the additive manufacturing. It is characterized by high-precision components. This exact deposit is indispensable for use in the textile sector.
This technique uses a laser to sinter powdered material (e.g. polyamide) to melt layer by layer together to create a solid structure.
Due to the precise control of the laser, the textile can be specifically printed with components such as eyelets, holders or reinforcements
2-Component Process
This technology is new for the field of 3D-printing. Two liquids are mixed together in a extruder and deposit on the textile.
Due to a short time the liquid gets stiff. Typical materials are silicon and PU- materials. The process does not require high temperatures, which is one of the reasons why we started with this process to integrate in a textile production. Another reason is the easy handling of the printing head.
Next Steps
Our next step will be to use one of these technologies as an industrial process for the textile industrie.
Interested to actively work with us ?