When it comes to 3D printing, high-performance SLS materials, additive technology and innovation, the CRP Group (www.crp.eu) is up with the leaders. From 20 to 21 September, New York’s Science Hall will be hosting Maker Faire 2014, one of the world’s biggest events for Makers, and the CRP Group will be there. Makers, a community of innovators including individuals, firms and associations, are defined by their creative genius and their ability to invent new things and apply ground-breaking technologies. The CRP Group is a worthy member of this select category, having been amongst the first to import additive manufacturing technology to Europe and Italy and develop some of the international market’s most high-performance laser sintering materials, in use for more than 20 years in the motorsport, space, automotive, design and UAV sectors. The majority may only have discovered the world of additive manufacturing and 3D printing in the last decade, but CRP has been familiar with its most obscure backwaters since 1996, when the company created, in-house, one of the first 3D printing departments with professional printers, backed up by an R&D department for material development, capable of transforming rapid prototyping into rapid manufacturing.
CRP is therefore one of the benchmarks in the use of additive technology, with its Windform materials (www.windform.eu), sold to customers worldwide. These polyamide-based materials reinforced with carbon- or glass- fibres have provided the basis for projects of international significance, such as the development of a 100% electric superbike, called the Energica Ego (www.energicasuperbike.com), which leads the field in new-generation sustainable mobility. But that’s not all. The Italian Group, which also includes the American firm CRP USA (www.crp-usa.net), operates at the cutting edge, with intensive research and development work in the areas of boating, medical devices and space, intended to provide industry professionals with key input and transform the conventional concept of manufacturing.
At Maker Faire 2014 in New York, visitors will be able to take a close look at parts created for the Energica Ego electric superbike, not to mention functional components for CubeSats and orthoses customised and built in association with the Mhox design practice (www.mhoxdesign.com). The novelties on show do not end here; also featured will be a tennis racquet with an innovative grip being developed together with two students on the undergraduate product design course at the University of Rimini’s Fine Arts Academy, still a work-in-progress. These are just some examples of the fascinating items that await visitors in the CRP Group’s display area, within the Italian Trade Agency stand housing a number of carefully selected Italian Makers.
Source: CRP