A system for additive manufacturing of composite materials that places continuous reinforcement and matrix along the load paths of the component, exactly where they are needed. The natural evolution of AFP (Automated Fibre Placement) for small and medium structural components that until now could not be automated.
LOOP is the automated deposition system from Spherecube. It lays a pre-impregnated continuous tow and follows the load path with it, on a table or a rotary mandrel, on up to six axes. It is a single system for the small and medium parts that until now required manual lay-up.
Fibre carries load only while it stays continuous, so we do not interrupt it without a reason. It stops only where the part requires it, for a hole, a change in geometry or an obstruction and restarts at exactly the right point. On curves the tow keeps its width and thickness, with no wrinkles and no voids. The hundredth part is identical to the first.
Companies with small and medium-sized structural parts that need to be lighter without losing stiffness, in aerospace, drones and automotive. The parts often have tight radii and closed shapes and every one has to come out the same. That is the job the Spherecube FACTORY platform was built for.
An end-to-end platform: we develop the machine, the software and the materials ourselves, side by side. The program LACE writes is made for LOOP and LOOP runs on towpreg prepared by our own LOOM machine.
Our system for additive manufacturing of composite materials, the natural evolution of AFP. It works on up to 6 axes, on a tilting table or a rotary mandrel. The tow can take any direction and curve without wrinkling or flipping over.
Discover LOOP →Our software. Give it a 3D model in STL and it returns the fibre paths and the program for LOOP. Try several variants and compare weight, cost and time before you build anything.
Discover LACE →We impregnate the towpreg ourselves, with LOOM, our proprietary in-house impregnation system. Carbon, glass, quartz, aramid, flax and hemp, with thermoset resins including bio-based and flame-retardant grades. Thermoplastic UD tapes are in development.
Discover the materials →We follow the part from start to finish, so no step is decided without knowing what happens in the next one.
We start from the real loads, constraints and envelope, not from the shape the part had in metal. We redesign the geometry and decide where the fibre runs: material only where it works, oriented with the forces.
In LACE the 3D model becomes fibre paths and machine code. You try several variants and compare them on screen by weight, material and time, before the machine makes a single move.
LOOP lays LOOM towpreg on a mould, tool or mandrel. The fibre stays continuous and stops only where the part requires it. The program doesn't change, so neither does the part.
A freshly laid part can be cured as it is and keeps its shape and tolerances. For a structural component it pays to compact it, in a press, an autoclave or under vacuum. In a press the cure is fast. We choose with you, based on time, cost and performance.
We made the same component by hand and with Spherecube. The numbers are below. What they don't show is that the next part will be identical to this one.
Values from Spherecube case studies.
Filament winding wraps tubes and vessels, but the process decides where the fibre goes. AFP lays up panels, as long as they are large and simple. Everything else sits in between: small and medium parts, curved, closed, with tight radii, still laid up by hand or simply impossible to make. That is where LOOP comes in, bringing automated composite manufacturing to these parts.
Continuous helices on a mandrel, always at the same angle. Perfect for tubes and vessels. But the fibre never stops, can't go to 0° and struggles at the ends.
Wide tapes on large surfaces: it was built for wings and fuselages. The cells are huge and below a certain radius the tape wrinkles. It is not agile on small parts.
The tow steers without wrinkles, stops and restarts where needed, on a table or a mandrel, on up to 6 axes. Small and medium parts, complex ones included, in a compact cell.
| Filament winding | Traditional AFP | LOOP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0° fibres on rotating parts | |||
| Fibre stop and restart | |||
| Tight curves without wrinkles | |||
| Closed and tapered geometries | |||
| Complex small and medium parts | |||
| Table and mandrel in the same cell | |||
| Cell investment | Medium | Very high | Modest |
Spherecube won the audience award at SKF's challenge on the industry of the future.
SKF Magnetic Mechatronics
Read →Selected among the 60 best deep-tech startups out of more than 6,800 applicants from over 150 markets, we pitched LOOP in Singapore.
SLINGSHOT · SWITCH Singapore
Read →A €11,460 grant under the City of Ancona's call for youth-led startups, part of the "Giovani e Impresa" project.
Comune di Ancona
Read →Co-funded by the EU under the Marche ERDF 2021-2027 programme, the project takes Spherecube's technology further towards digital and sustainable production.
Regione Marche · FESR 2021-2027
Read →Selected for the Industry 4.0 track of Bologna's House of Emerging Technologies programme, ranking second among 15 finalist startups.
CTE COBO · Bologna
Read →A second project to commercially exploit Spherecube's patents has been approved, with a programme worth almost €30,000.
Invitalia · MIMIT
Read →Through Brevetti+, Spherecube turned its patent into a market-ready product: new software interface, industrial design and CE declaration of conformity.
Invitalia · MIMIT
Read →One of the five startups awarded by the international additive manufacturing trade fair in Frankfurt.
Formnext · Francoforte
Read →A research and development project with Università Politecnica delle Marche on automation and bio-based composites.
Fondazione Cariverona
Read →Six numbers and where they come from.
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The answers we give engineering teams most often, product by product.
Write it here: the Spherecube team replies within one working day.
LOOP is an additive manufacturing system for continuous-fibre composites, developed and patented by Spherecube, an Italian company. It lays a pre-impregnated continuous tow (carbon, glass, quartz, aramid, flax or hemp) on up to six axes, orients it in any direction and steers it through curves at constant width. It is the natural evolution of AFP (automated fibre placement) and brings automated composite manufacturing to small and medium structural parts with complex geometry.
Both. The principle is that of AFP: a machine lays continuous fibre along a programmed path. Traditional AFP cells, though, are built for large aerostructures. LOOP is compact, reaches up to 6 axes on small and medium parts, steers the tow at constant width and works on a table or on a rotating mandrel. That is why we see it as both the evolution of AFP and an additive manufacturing system.
LOOP ships with 4 axes and can be upgraded to 6, in two configurations: tilting table or rotary mandrel. Either way it has three translations (X, Y, Z) and three rotations and the tow is always laid normal to the surface, even where the shape curves, narrows or closes.
Only when it has to. Fibre carries load as long as it is continuous, so in LOOP it stays continuous. LOOP stops it and restarts it only where the part calls for it: a hole, a change in geometry, a clearance constraint. Every path starts and ends exactly where it should and there are no ply offcuts to throw away. With chopped fibre, by contrast, every fibre end interrupts the load path.
LACE imports models in STL and 3MF formats. The part is positioned on the mould, tool or mandrel, the material is selected and LACE computes the paths and the machine program.
Yes. LACE keeps several versions of the same part side by side and compares them by weight, material and production time. A timeline replays the deposition step by step before the machine moves, so you choose on screen, not through trials on the shop floor.
You decide, layer by layer. Fibre can run at 0°, 90°, ±θ or along curved paths and the inside of the part can be filled continuously, as a grid or as an isogrid with adjustable ribs. That puts stiffness and strength where the part is loaded. Generative design and topology optimisation are in development, in a closed-loop cloud software that will also monitor the process during deposition.
LACE runs on Windows, Mac and Linux and connects through cloud or NAS, so projects and programs are shared between engineering and production.
LOOM is the machine we use to impregnate continuous fibre. It meters resin at a controlled fibre-to-resin ratio and produces the towpreg that LOOP deposits. The material reaches LOOP ready to use, with the same amount of resin along every length of tow.
Because the fibre-to-resin ratio is what sets the stiffness, strength and porosity of the part. With LOOM we fix it before deposition and it stays the same along every metre of tow. No resin applied by hand, less variability, fewer voids. With 3K UD carbon and structural epoxy we reach over 60% fibre by volume and under 2% voids.
Continuous carbon, glass, quartz, aramid, flax and hemp fibres, with thermoset resins: structural epoxies, bio-based epoxies and high glass-transition systems, including flame-retardant ones. The condition is that the resin fits the viscosity window of the process. Unidirectional tape with structural thermoplastic matrices is in development.
Yes. We start from your specification and prepare a custom fibre–resin combination with LOOM, provided the resin fits the viscosity window of the process. We qualify the material on coupons before moving to the part.
We work with continuous carbon, glass, quartz, aramid, flax and hemp fibres, which we impregnate ourselves with LOOM. The resins are thermosets: structural epoxies, bio-based epoxies and high-temperature systems, including flame-retardant ones. Unidirectional fibres with structural thermoplastic matrices are in development. The material depends on what the part needs: stiffness and strength, electromagnetic transparency, service temperature or environmental impact.
With 3K unidirectional continuous carbon and structural epoxy, Spherecube coupons reach 2800 MPa tensile strength, 151 GPa modulus, 1100 MPa flexural strength, 90 MPa ILSS and a Tg of 130 °C, with over 60% fibre by volume and under 2% voids verified by electron microscopy. These are the values in the technical data sheet (TDS) for this material: other fibre–resin combinations have different values.
QZ-400 FR is our unidirectional continuous quartz fibre material with a very-high-Tg flame-retardant resin. Quartz is transparent to electromagnetic waves and has a low dielectric constant, which is why it is used for radomes, antenna covers and sensor windows. The resin has a Tg above 400 °C after post-cure, is rated UL94 V-0, complies with FAR 25.853 and is low-outgassing to ASTM E595. The material suits aerospace, space and defence parts exposed to high temperatures. Mechanical tests on Spherecube UD laminates are in progress.
Often, yes, if the part is loaded in known directions. On one of our aerospace projects, a metal structural component redesigned in continuous carbon/epoxy and made with LOOP came out 92% lighter and 50% cheaper to produce, with the required performance maintained. A feasibility study tells you whether your part is a good candidate.
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