3D Printing for Aerospace & UAVs: Flight-Ready Parts with CRP Technology's Windform® Composites
CRP Technology is a leader in certified 3D printing for the Aerospace and UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) industries. Their Windform® range of composite materials is specifically designed for these demanding applications. The extensive range of carbon and glass fiber Windform composites are lightweight yet high-strength, making them ideal for creating flight-ready components that can withstand the harsh conditions of aerospace and space environments.
CRP Facilities are not only certified to AS9100 (aerospace quality standards) and ISO9001 (international quality management standard), but these standards are also implemented with utmost rigor and enhanced by dedicated Quality Tracking software providing for real time process monitoring. This ensures every aspect of our operation, from manufacturing processes to management systems.
Dedicated FOD Prevention AreaThis dedicated space ensures a clean and safe environment to produce your critical components and to minimize the risk of contamination.
Carbon and Glass-fiber Windform® composites deliver the industry’s best weight-to-density ratio, resulting in drone components up to 60% lighter than those manufactured with traditional methods. This translates directly to extended flight times, increased payload capacity, and reduced fuel consumption for your UAV/UAS.
Windform® composites aren’t just light they’re tough and durable. Extensively tested in real-world aerospace applications, they can withstand extreme temperatures, chemicals, and high shock/vibration and 14G. UAV, Satellites and deployers manufactured in Windform are still operational in long lasting missions and let you dominate any harsh environment with confidence.
More information: SLS 3D printing for drone parts
The Windform family of composites includes a wide range of options, with a solution for almost any drone design requirement.
Low-density polyamide material with high stiffness and excellent heat resistance, ideal for UAV airframes and arms
Lightweight carbon-filled composite with high stiffness and strength and excellent impact resistance – ideal for heavy-duty and mission-critical components
Impact-resistant and waterproof material for demanding shock and vibration-heavy environments
Space-grade material with excellent strength and stiffness, suitable for both functional prototypes and production
Halogen-free flame-retardant composite with UL 94 V-0 and FAR 25.853 compliance
Glass fiber-filled flame-retardant composite with electrical insulation properties
Glass fiber-filled electrically insulated material with high flexibility and resistance to impact, shock and vibration
Next-generation glass fiber composite with excellent surface finish, ideal for components requiring aesthetic qualities
Rubber-like thermoplastic material resistant to repeated bending and torsion, with good shock absorption
Impact-resistant polyamide with behaviour similar to polypropylene and ABS injection moulded parts
Thermoplastic polyurethane material with excellent flexibility and shock absorption, ideal for robotics parts such as joints, pipes and connection tubes
Aluminium and glass fiber filled polyamide with excellent surface definition, suited to intake ducts and fuel systems
Two carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites, Windform SP and Windform XT 2.0, were used to create functional and critical parts of the Tundra flight-ready professional drone prototype. These parts – arms and body – are fully modular and were able to successfully withstand the design requirements, including space limitations and extreme conditions during flights, allowing for system optimization.
CRP Technology 3D printed various external parts (nose and cockpit, rear fuselage, nacelles, external fuel tanks, fairings) of the 1:8.5 scale wind tunnel model for the prototype of the Leonardo HD tiltrotor AW609, using Carbon fiber filled Windform XT 2.0 as the manufacturing material.
Once assembled, these main components made with Windform underwent a series of dedicated low-speed wind tunnel tests, demonstrating high-performing mechanical and aerodynamic properties.
Windform XT 2.0 was selected as the material of choice for the Flying-Cam’s Discovery helicopter UAV. In particular the tail rotor component required extra rigidity and the ability to withstand the stress of being clamped to the tail boom. The weight-resistance ratio of this advanced material made it ideal for this difficult task.
Windform composites have been used for the first known functional additive manufactured rocket motor system, designed specifically for the small satellite market as a multi-start thruster. It is a complex and functional hybrid, single-part Propulsion System motor that meets the rigid mechanical properties for space applications, capable of multiple restarts and tested at a peak thrust level of 6.2 lbf for a 16-second duration.
While we can only disclose a few real-world applications due to confidentiality concerns, there are a variety of existing application cases in the UAV-UAS, Aerospace and Avio industry where Windform is widely employed
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Windform SL
Windform RS
Windform SP
Windform XT 2.0
Windform FR1
Windform FR2
Windform GT
Windform LX 3.0
Windform RL
Windform FX Black
Windform TPU
Windform GF
