With the rapidly growing market for additivemanufacturing (AM) and the increasingimportance of fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP)across various industries, our projectincorporates two current research anddevelopment areas. Our goal is to revolutionizethe additive manufacturing of carbon fiber-reinforced plastics.CFRP's are essential for numerous applicationsin the automotive, leisure and sportsindustries, space and aviation as well as theenergy sector. They are characterized by highstrength and stiffness at low weight, which

increases the performance of lightweightstructures. As part of our focus project, we areworking on a new process for the additiveproduction of fiber-reinforced plastics. In ourprocess the fibers are placed directly in theload direction and can thus be more efficientlystressed. As a result, complex lightweightstructures can be realized. Furthermore, ourmethod offers a flexible, economical andautomated alternative to the previously verycomplex processing of FRP.

INTRODUCTION

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Carbon Factory is based on the successful predecessorproject "3D Carb". They were advancing the ContinuousLattice Fabrication (CLF) process, developed by oursupervisor Martin Eichenhofer, to high-performancecarbon fiber-reinforced PEEK. The CLF process enablesthe 3D-printing of thermoplastic free-form structurescontinuously reinforced by carbon fibers. Carbon Factoryaims to enable automated overprinting of high-performance thermoplastic PEEK. This results inunprecedented strengths in 3D printing, which allows thetechnology to manage the breakthrough fromprototyping to the production of load-carrying functionalparts.

GROUNDWORK

Application head

PROJECT GOALS

TEAM

The Carbon Factory team consists of eight Mechanical Engineering students at ETH Zurich in thefinal year of their Bachelor studies. We are supported by the Master student Filippo Kusch, the twoPhD students Martin Eichenhofer and Christoph Karl, as well as the Laboratory of CompositeMaterials and Adaptive Structures (CMASLab) of ETH Zurich led by Prof. Paolo Ermanni.

Mechanical Engineering students in the 5thand 6th Semester of their Bachelor studies aregiven the opportunity to participate in a focusproject, which aims to deepen their skills andknowledge in a specific field of engineering.Starting from a sparking idea, teams of up toeight students develop and realize aninnovative product within a period of tenmonths, covering all aspects of productdevelopment, from design and manufactureto project management and marketing.

A major focus is on self-initiative, creativityand teamwork. The skills and expertiserequired for the challenging engineering taskencountered in a focus project are acquiredmainly through self-study and lectures as wellas the dialogue with professors and tutors.Each focus project climaxes with the rollout(May 29, 2018), at which the products arepresented to the public, with more than 1000visitors from industry and science expected.

PROJECT FRAMEWORK

SPONSORING

Carbon Factory offers your company theunique opportunity to patronize a promisingand innovative technology and to get in touchwith aspiring engineers, doctoral students andestablished professors at ETH Zurich. Inaddition, you can benefit from the supportingfocus project framework at ETH Zurich andestablish contact with representatives fromindustry and research.

Without the support of strong industrialpartners, our project would not be feasible.Your company can benefit from supportingour project in various ways. An overview ofthe different sponsoring packages can befound on the following page.

Sponsoring & ProjectmanagementGeorg Freifreig@ethz.ch+41 44 633 37 37

Sponsoring & FinancesLukas Greinergreinerl@ethz.ch+41 44 633 37 37

Mainsponsor from 15000 CHF:✓ Logo on our website (big)✓ Logo on our brochure / presentations / video (big)✓ Logo on our robot frontal and on control unit (big)✓ Logo on our t-shirt (big)✓ Invitation to the final presentation✓ Personal demonstration of the robot✓ Social Media: Detailed article on Facebook and Instagram

Premiumsponsor from 7500 CHF:✓ Logo on our website (medium)✓ Logo on our brochure / presentations / video (medium)✓ Logo on our robot side (medium)✓ Invitation to the final presentation✓ Personal demonstration of the robot✓ Social Media: Contribution to Facebook and Instagram

Sponsor from 3000 CHF:✓ Logo on our website (small)✓ Logo on our brochure / presentations (small)✓ Invitation to the final presentation

Patron from 500 CHF:✓ Name on our website

Contact:

ETH ZurichFokusproject Carbon Factory

CLA E 32.2Tannenstrasse 3

8092 Zurich, Switzerland

www.carbonfactory.ethz.ch

@CarbonFactoryETHZ