While MarkForged broke new ground with the first 3D printer capable of fabricating composite materials, allowing users to reinforce nylon parts with carbon fiber to produce new geometries never before possible with traditional carbon fiber layup technology. The Massachusetts-based startup, however, is not the only one hoping to revolutionize the way we make composites.Impossible Objects has its own take on printing with materials like carbon fiber. We”ve covered the Chicago firm in the past, when they received $2.8 million in funding, but, now, the company has been more open about their composite-based additive manufacturing (CBAM) process, going into greater detail about how it works. Unlike MarkForged”s technology, which feeds strands of continuous carbon fiber into a specialty printhead to be laid down alongside FFF nylon, Impossible Objects uses a technique that almost resembles a combination of the Selective Deposition Lamination technology of Mcor and inkjet 3D printing.
