Lattice 3D Print

Lattice 3D Print with Carbon DLS™: Engineering Complexity at Production Scale

Lattice 3D print represents one of the most strategically valuable capabilities that Carbon DLS™ brings to industrial manufacturing, and one of the most technically demanding to execute at production quality. A 3D printed lattice structure is not simply a lightweight infill pattern: it is a precisely engineered internal or external geometry where cell size, strut diameter, density gradients, and orientation are calibrated to deliver specific mechanical behaviours, controlled stiffness, energy absorption, pressure distribution, or thermal management — within a single printed component.

Prototek’s engineering team designs lattice 3D print geometries using Carbon Design Engine, the DfAM software developed specifically for DLS™ production workflows.

This allows our engineers to create variable-density lattice structures for 3D print where different zones of the same part exhibit different mechanical responses — softer where comfort is required, stiffer where load-bearing performance is critical — without assembly, adhesives, or secondary operations.

Industrial applications of lattice 3D print at Prototek include cycling saddle padding for Selle Italia, rowing seat pads for Filippi, helmet liner systems, ergonomic grips, and custom cushioning components for automotive interiors. In each case, the 3D printed lattice structure achieves performance that conventional foam, rubber, or injection-moulded thermoplastics cannot replicate, at production volumes from tens to thousands of units, with consistent repeatability across every batch. 

Carbon 3D

Carbon 3D Technology: Redefining What Polymer Additive Manufacturing Can Deliver

Carbon 3D technology has fundamentally shifted the benchmark for what polymer additive manufacturing can achieve in industrial production contexts. Where conventional resin-based 3D printing produces brittle, anisotropic parts with visible layer lines and limited long-term stability, Carbon 3D Digital Light Synthesis™ delivers isotropic components with injection-mould-quality surface finishes, certified mechanical properties, and dimensional consistency that holds across thousands of production cycles.

The Carbon 3D material portfolio, spanning rigid epoxy resins, high-temperature polyurethanes, and elastomeric EPU formulations, gives engineers access to a range of functional materials within a single production platform.

A component produced on a Carbon 3D printer in EPX 82 epoxy resin behaves structurally comparably to a glass-filled thermoplastic; the same geometry printed in EPU 46 (through lattice 3d print) delivers controlled energy return and variable stiffness through lattice design. No other polymer additive manufacturing platform currently offers this breadth of functional material performance within a single certified production workflow.

As Italy’s leading Carbon 3D partner, with seven active Carbon printers operating 24/5, Prototek brings this technology to European industrial clients across automotive, aerospace, medical devices, footwear, and industrial machinery. Whether your project requires a single validated prototype or a certified production batch of thousands of components, our Carbon 3D production infrastructure is sized and certified to deliver. 

Carbon DLS 3D Printing

Carbon DLS 3D Printing: Industrial-Grade Additive Manufacturing for End-Use Production

Carbon DLS 3D printing — Digital Light Synthesis™ — has become the preferred additive manufacturing platform for engineering teams requiring the mechanical performance of injection-moulded thermoplastics combined with the geometric freedom and tooling-free economics of advanced additive manufacturing. Unlike conventional FDM, SLA, or standard DLP technologies, Carbon DLS 3D printing produces fully isotropic parts, ensuring consistent mechanical properties in every direction rather than only along the build axis — a critical requirement for functional end-use components exposed to complex, multi-directional loads.

At the core of Carbon DLS 3D printing is the proprietary CLIP™ process (Continuous Liquid Interface Production™), which uses UV light projected through an oxygen-permeable window to continuously draw parts from a liquid resin bath instead of building them layer by layer. This continuous manufacturing approach eliminates the inter-layer weakness associated with traditional resin printing technologies, delivering components with uniform density, superior surface quality, and consistent structural performance throughout the entire part volume.

The industrial relevance of Carbon DLS 3D printing lies in the combination of three key advantages: material performance, production scalability, and unrestricted design freedom.

Carbon’s certified resin portfolio supports a wide range of engineering applications, from rigid structural components produced with the EPX series, to high-temperature and impact-resistant parts using RPU formulations, and flexible, energy-absorbing geometries manufactured with EPU elastomers, all within the same validated production workflow, on the same equipment, and under the same ISO 9001-certified quality management system.

For clients operating in footwear & fashion, sport, automotive, aerospace, medical devices, and industrial machinery, Carbon DLS 3D printing provides a significant competitive advantage: the ability to prototype, validate, and serially manufacture components using the exact same materials and process chain, without tooling investment, supplier transitions, or the geometric limitations imposed by injection moulding. This enables rapid iteration during development while maintaining a direct path to scalable production volumes.

Prototek has been delivering Carbon DLS 3D printing services to European industrial clients since the technology’s commercial introduction, developing deep application expertise in sectors where component reliability and repeatability are non-negotiable.

With seven Carbon printers operating continuously and a dedicated DfAM engineering team optimising every geometry before production, Prototek offers far more than machine capacity. It provides a complete engineering and manufacturing partnership.

As Italy’s sole operator of seven active Carbon systems, Prototek delivers Carbon DLS 3D printing capability and production scalability unmatched in the European market. 

Carbon 3D Printing Service

Carbon 3D Printing Service: From File to Certified Production Part in Days

Prototek’s Carbon 3D printing service is designed for industrial clients who require production-grade quality, defined lead times, and engineering support — not just a file upload portal. As Italy’s only certified Carbon partner operating seven DLS™ printers 24/5, our Carbon 3D printing service provides European manufacturing companies with direct access to the world’s most advanced polymer additive manufacturing platform, backed by over 20 years of additive production expertise.

Every Carbon 3D printing service engagement at Prototek begins with a technical assessment: our engineers review your geometry for DfAM optimisation, recommend the most appropriate Carbon resin based on your mechanical and thermal requirements, and validate printability before committing to production. This upstream engineering involvement — standard in our Carbon 3D print service workflow, not an optional add-on — eliminates the costly design iterations that result from printing files optimised for injection moulding or CNC machining.

Our Carbon 3D printing service covers the complete production lifecycle: DfAM optimisation, material selection, machine-level process control, UV and thermal post-cure, surface finishing, dyeing, and dimensional quality control. Every production batch is documented and traceable under ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified procedures.

Lead times for our Carbon 3D printing service run from 4–6 days for single functional prototypes to 7–10 days for production batches, including post-processing. 

Carbon DLS

Carbon DLS™: The Technology That Makes Additive Manufacturing Production Viable at Industrial Scale

Carbon DLS™ — Digital Light Synthesis™ — is the production technology that closed the gap between additive manufacturing’s geometric potential and the mechanical performance requirements of industrial end-use components.

Before Carbon DLS™, engineering teams faced a fundamental trade-off: the design freedom of 3D printing came at the cost of anisotropic mechanical properties, poor surface quality, and material instability over time. Carbon DLS eliminates that trade-off.

The technical foundation of Carbon DLS™ is the dual-cure material system: an initial UV photopolymerisation step defines geometry with high precision, followed by a thermal post-cure that activates a secondary chemical reaction within the resin, producing a true interpenetrating polymer network with thermoplastic-equivalent mechanical behaviour.

The result is a Carbon DLS component that combines the geometric complexity of resin 3D printing with the structural integrity of engineering thermoplastics,  in a single, scalable production process.

Prototek operates Carbon DLS™ at a scale unique in Italy and among the largest in Europe: seven active Carbon printers, running continuously from Sunday night through Friday evening, supported by a standardised post-processing workflow and ISO 9001-certified quality management. This infrastructure allows us to deliver Carbon DLS production batches, from tens to thousands of components, with guaranteed repeatability, certified material traceability, and lead times that traditional manufacturing cannot match. 

Carbon Digital Light Synthesis

Carbon Digital Light Synthesis™: The Science Behind Production-Grade Resin Additive Manufacturing

Carbon Digital Light Synthesis™ is the proprietary additive manufacturing process developed by Carbon that fundamentally changed the mechanical performance ceiling of polymer 3D printing.

Understanding the science behind Carbon Digital Light Synthesis explains why it produces parts that behave differently — and perform better — than components made with any other resin-based 3D printing process currently available.

The Carbon Digital Light Synthesis™ process operates through three sequential physical and chemical mechanisms. First, UV light is projected through an oxygen-permeable window at the base of the resin vat, photopolymerising the resin into its initial geometric form while the oxygen-rich dead zone immediately above the window prevents premature curing and enables continuous part extraction — the CLIP™ principle. Second, the part is extracted continuously upward rather than built layer by layer, eliminating inter-layer interfaces and producing fully isotropic internal structure. Third, a controlled thermal post-cure activates the second reactive component in Carbon’s dual-cure resins, completing polymerisation and converting the printed part into a stable, thermoplastic-equivalent structure with predictable long-term mechanical behaviour.

The engineering consequence of Carbon Digital Light Synthesis™ is that parts produced through this process can be designed with genuine confidence in their mechanical performance — not as approximations of injection-moulded components, but as certified, repeatable production parts in their own right.

Prototek applies Carbon Digital Light Synthesis technology across the full Carbon resin library, supported by DfAM engineering, ISO 9001-certified production management, and 24/5 production capacity across seven active Carbon printers.

For engineering teams evaluating Carbon Digital Light Synthesis™ for functional prototyping or serial production, we offer a free technical consultation and component feasibility assessment.