Check out this next step in 3D printing! First there were plastics, then food, now carbon fiber! What will be next?
The Mark One Is World's First Carbon Fiber 3D Printer
A new 3D printer can print carbon fiber and other composite materials.
Created by Boston-based startup MarkForged, it's called the Mark One.
Company founder Gregory Mark showed off the printer at the SolidWorks World design conference in San Diego, Calif. this week.
“We took the idea of 3D printing, that process of laying things down strand by strand, and we used it as a manufacturing process to make composite parts,” Mark said in an interview with Popular Mechanics. “We say it's like regular 3D printers do the form. We do form and function.”
In addition to carbon fiber, the Mark One can print other composite materials, including nylon, fiberglass and PLA (a thermoplastic made from renewable materials).
