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Swiss carbon fiber 3D printing specialist 9T Labs is preparing for an imminent expansion into new markets according to a Composites World report. Having seen a drastic rise in interest in its Red Series systems, the company has sought to take advantage by making a spate of new hires, as well as plans to open its first offices in the US. News of 9T Labs’ boom in demand comes after it secured $17 million in funding earlier this year, and it’s now said to be targeting use cases with its technology that require the production of over 100,000 parts per year.“We have new systems out in the field being used to produce both developmental and commercial parts,” Giovanni Cavolina, Co-founder of 9T Labs told Composites World. “And now, with many new production applications initiated last year, we have an additional pool of customers who will scale to series production using multiple 9T Red Series systems, just as soon as the technology is validated.”“Despite the challenges that all of industry has faced during the past two years, we are entering 2022 full of optimism.”9T Labs’ Red Series build module (left) and fusion module (right). Photo via 9T Labs.9T Labs’ Red Series machinesSince being spun-off from ETH Zürich in 2018, 9T Labs has been on a mission to make entering mass-production with high-performance composites as accessible as it currently is with metals. In order to do so, the firm has come up with its Red Series Industrial 3D Printing Solution, an end-to-end platform comprising hardware, software and services, designed for producing lightweight composite parts. Central to the platform’s functionality is 9T Labs’ build module, an extrusion-based fiber layup 3D printer, capable of creating objects reinforced with carbon, glass and basalt continuous fibers. In terms of software, the Red Series also comes with

Formula 2.0 race car racing at high speed on speed track with motion blur 9T Labs is a company that specializes in developing advanced materials and manufacturing processes for the automotive and aerospace industries. Their goal is to help these industries to manufacture strong, lightweight, sustainable products like never before. .One of the key areas of focus for 9T Labs is the development of lightweight materials and structures. This includes the use of advanced composites, combining continuous fibers like carbon fibers and thermoplastic polymers, as well as the development of a new design and manufacturing standard, the Additive Fusion Technology (AFT) that can be used to create these materials at scale.In an interview with Martin Eichenhofer, CEO and Co-Founder of 9T Labs, he discussed the company’s efforts to revolutionize the industry and the following six questions:What inspired you to start 9T Labs and focus on weight saving for the automotive and aerospace industries?Can you tell us about some of the key materials and manufacturing processes that 9T Labs is currently working on?How does 9T Labs approach the challenge of scaling up the production of these advanced materials?Can you give an example of a specific project or product that 9T Labs has helped to develop that has had a significant impact on weight reduction?What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the automotive and aerospace industries in terms of weight reduction and efficiency?How do you see 9T Labs’ work impacting the industry in the future and what role do you see the company playing in the development of sustainable transportation?Eichenhofer: “We started 9T Labs because we saw a need for more advanced materials and manufacturing processes in the automotive and aerospace industries. These industries are under a lot of pressure to reduce weight and increase efficiency, and we saw an opportunity to help them achieve these goals through the use of advanced materials and manufacturing techniques.Currently, we are working on a number of converging topics: materials with the combination of continuous fibers (carbon, glass, basalt, etc) and thermoplastic polymers (PEEK, PEKK, PPS, PA12, etc), software to optimize and fasten the design and validation of parts, manufacturing technologies including additive manufacturing and advanced molding.Scaling up the production of these advanced materials is our main driver since we founded 9T Labs. Our objective is that the products made with our solution have a positive impact on our world. This can only happen at scale. While it is a major challenge, we have the right team of experts in materials science, engineering, and manufacturing who are able to tackle this challenge head-on. It is also important for us to collaborate with major players along the entire value-chain in order to make sure that our final customers can use our technology very soon, even in highly regulated markets.Currently, our focus is on metal parts substitution, especially for smaller, highly loaded parts. One example of a project that we have been involved in is the development of a lightweight door hinge. With the AFT, it

Above: Carbon Composite Material from 9T Labs/Image Source: 9T LabsHigh-performance resin and carbon fibre-reinforced composites supplier, Solvay SA (here) is working with advanced manufacturing solution OEM 9T Labs AG (Zürich, Switzerland) to help bring additively manufactured carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) parts to mass production. The joint effort will focus on development of carbon fiber-reinforced polyetheretherketone (CF/PEEK), CF-reinforced bio-based high-performance polyamides and CF-reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (CF/PPS) composite materials from Solvay for use in 9T Labs’ hybrid 3D printing/molding platform to more repeatedly and affordably produce low-to-medium volume and size parts for the aerospace, medical, luxury/leisure, automation, and oil and gas industries. It also significantly expands the types of neat and carbon fiber-reinforced materials portfolio that 9T Labs currently offers customers.“With 9T Labs’ innovative process and equipment and Solvay’s high-performance thermoplastic materials, we are well positioned to address problems that have long plagued manufacturers in many industries trying to use advanced composites — namely high incremental costs, high scrap, and problems achieving repeatability and traceability,” explains Marco Apostolo, Director of Technology at Solvay. “We believe this collaboration will help solve many challenges and will open entirely new markets and applications to CFRP materials.”“For the fabrication of structural parts, metals still prevail because the manufacturing of structural CFRP parts has not been cost-competitive,” adds Giovanni Cavolina, 9T Labs Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer. “The Red Series® platform in combination with Solvay’s high-performance and recyclable materials will change this and make CFRP parts more sustainable, accessible and cost-competitive, especially at higher volumes.”9T Labs’ hybrid manufacturing technology enables high-performance structural parts — in challenging small-to-medium size and thick sections — to be produced in carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites in production volumes ranging from 100 to 10,000 parts/year. By combining 3D printing (which offers unexcelled design freedom, part complexity, and control of fiber orientation) with compression molding in matched metal dies (providing rapid cycle times, high production rates, excellent surface finishes with low voids, plus high repeatability and reproducibility (R&R)), the hybrid production system offers the best of both additive and conventional / subtractive manufacturing.The company’s patented Red Series® Additive Fusion Solution platform consists of a Build Module (3D printer providing fiber layup and preform production) and a Fusion Module (compact compression press providing preform consolidation and final part forming). The hardware is supported by 9T Labs’ Fibrify® design suite. This software allows CAD files to be imported, part design and fiber layups optimized, then moved into major commercial structural analysis programs to verify structural performance. This eliminates the costly and time-consuming “make & break” cycle of designing parts, producing and testing prototypes, and further modifying designs to more closely meet performance and cost targets. In turn, this helps manufacturers bring parts to market faster and