Together with the company Cousin Trestec, we carried out tests on 3D printed prototypes to test different shapes and materials for the design of a new product.
The Cousin Trestec company is located in Wervicq-Sud, 30 minutes from Lille. It is a manufacturer of innovative ropes and textile braids textile ropes and braids. With an experience of nearly 170 years, Cousin Trestec is the technical and professional expert in the sports and industrial field. Its customers are in various fields such as sport (nautical, climbing, caving, hiking, mountaineering, paragliding, kitesurfing...), safety (high altitude work, rescue, handling, events...) and industrial applications (offshore, lifting, automotive) and military, Cousin Trestec is the reference in the rope market.
In the middle of developing a new product, they wanted to test 3D printed anchor points. They wanted to discover the capabilities of 3D printing and the different materials that could be used, and especially their resistance.
We gladly accepted the challenge! The objective was a priori out of bounds because the part had to be able to resist a pull of 7.5 tons: far too high for a 3D printed part. But we were still curious to know how heavy we could go, and especially with which filament.
PRINTED PARTS
The first one is made of nylon, reinforced with glass fibre: PA - GF
(in the middle of the picture)
The second one is made of nylon, reinforced with carbon fibre: PA - CF; with printing on the same side as the PA - GF. (Horizontal)
The third is also in PA - CF, but printed on a different side. (Vertical)
PA-GF & PA-CF (Horizontal) - in green the printing surface
PA-CF (Vertical) (right) - in green the printing surface
The room is arranged so that the print lines are perpendicular to the direction of the pulling force. Imagine that this part is hung and pulled by ropes.
Here the workpiece is arranged so that the print lines are parallel to the direction of the tensile force
PRINTING CHARACTERISTICS
- As for the print settings, we chose a 50% linear fill. The objective was to vary only one element at a time, and the printing direction seemed sufficient for this first test batch.
- The layer thicknesses (0.2mm) are identical, as are all the settings.
- A temperature of 265°C for the nozzle was required to print these materials, the platen, while The platen had a set point of 70°C. Printing speed 40 mm/s, or just over 18 hours per model.
PULL-UP TESTS
We went to Cousin Trestec to carry out the tests with Gauthier Mahault, R&D engineer, and Karim Benfouzari, design office technician. After attaching the parts with a rope, we used a tensile test bench to measure how much weight each part could bear.
PA - GF: 1060 kg
The room cracked at 1:20, it cracked from the inside.
PA - CF (Horizontal): 1300 kg
The first 2 tests were inconclusive: the machine stopped due to the string slipping. On the 3rd test, the part cracked from the inside, at the same level as the PA-GF.
PA - CF (Vertical):
1450 kg
The piece cracked at 1m56. Unlike the first two, this one broke completely in half at the screws.
We already knew that our 3D printed parts would not be able to withstand the expected weight (7.5 tons), but we were surprised by the strength. So our parts will not be used for this product, but we now know that our filaments could be used for other projects with lower traction. It was also a learning experience for Cousin Trestec, who were able to take this information into account when developing the new versions.
The tests in video :
