The uptake of Additive Manufacturing by industry, believes Autodesk’s Paul Sohi, has been both stratospherically high and confusingly low. In explaining and addressing this dichotomy, Sohi explores the multiple potentials of AM when approached by taking a more holistic view of design challenges. Whilst there is no doubt that the popularisation of AM technology is influencing how we design products by shifting the design language to embrace more complex or nonstandard forms, Sohi believes that this is where the application of AM seems to be stagnating. So, how can we close the loop from design to manufacturing? [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 2, Summer 2021]
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Metal Additive Manufacturing technologies offer the potential for true mass customisation, but in order to leverage this opportunity, new, complex workflows and business models have to be implemented. In this article, Siemens Digital Industries Software’s Ashley Eckhoff considers the challenges when addressing the topic, from the addition of further complexity, to an already challenging Additive Manufacturing workflow, to traceability and regulation. By adapting the AM process to meet these needs, companies can reap the benefits of new markets uniquely suited to this technology. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 2, Summer 2021]
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An unexpected consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic has been its impact on the multibillion dollar semiconductor microchip market: at the very same moment as demand for consumer electronics skyrocketed due to global lockdowns, the supply of semiconductors was bottlenecked by production disruptions. Now, supply chain shortages threaten the production volume of the industries dependent on these parts. Scott Green and Niels Holmstock, 3D Systems, and Lieven Vervecken and Gert-Jan Paulus, Diabatix, explore how metal AM can be used to increase efficiency in semiconductor fabrication and boost the speed at which these vital components can be produced. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 2, Summer 2021]
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This summer, a new player arrived on the AM scene: the Digital Manufacturing Centre, or DMC. Based on the edge of Silverstone, the UK’s most famous race circuit, home to numerous leading F1 teams, there could be no better place to launch a business aimed at offering AM support to the elite in performance motorsport. Jim Hadfield speaks with the DMC’s CEO, Kieron Salter, to explore how metal Additive Manufacturing is enabling innovation in the booming hypercar industry, and how a truly connected digital manufacturing operation can bring the DMC a competitive advantage in this field and more. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 2, Summer 2021]
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Heat exchangers have become – excuse the pun – a hot topic in metal Additive Manufacturing. This is an application that can, in one go, leverage advances in equation-driven CAD design software and the capabilities of AM to produce geometries that would be impossible by any other manufacturing process. Olaf Diegel, Wohlers Associates, reports on a project exploring workflows for AM heat exchanger design using design tools from nTopology. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 2, Summer 2021]
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In highlighting the vulnerabilities of global supply chains, events such as COVID-19 have inspired renewed interest in alternative forms of organising production. Distributed manufacturing is now seeing early use in fields such as oil and gas and for on-demand spare parts manufacturing. For the first time, large-scale on-demand manufacturing was seen in the supply of emergency PPE at the height of the pandemic. Dr Jennifer Johns discusses how AM can help to address the challenges this new business model presents, and introduces the University of Bristol’s £1 million Brokering Additive Manufacturing project, which seeks to produce a revolutionary new brokering method for highly distributed and diverse manufacturing systems. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 2, Summer 2021]
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While the acceleration of metal Additive Manufacturing adoption is seen as inevitable, thanks to its advantages over conventional manufacturing processes for high-complexity, customised or on-demand parts, Sigma Labs CEO Mark Ruport believes that ‘radical collaboration’ is required for AM to reach its true potential. In this article, Ruport discusses how the company is targeting radical collaboration and the implementation of cohesive quality standards across the value chain to grow AM and overcome the challenges posed by true industrialisation. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 2, Summer 2021]
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Since 2014, Women in 3D Printing has grown to become a highly visible and influential international organisation. But what does the movement stand for, why is it proving to be so popular, and where does it go from here? Metal AM magazine’s Emily-Jo Hopson-VandenBos spoke with the group’s founder, Nore Toure, and fifteen members about their views of the organisation and the current status of women in the industry. These conversations reveal not only the challenges that we face to improve diversity in its broadest sense, but also the tangible benefits that members are seeing at both the personal and organisational level. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2021]
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From machine producers to part manufacturers and end-users, the Additive Manufacturing industry is rich in success stories that are the result of one person’s vision of what the technology could deliver. In the case of BEAMIT, Italy’s largest metal AM parts producer, it was the vision of the company’s founder, Mauro Antolotti. Here, Luca van der Heide interviews Antolotti for Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine and explores the company’s development, his view of the industry, and ambitions for the future. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2021]
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As the metal Additive Manufacturing industry evolves towards widespread use for series production, the need for globally-recognised standards is also increasing. In this article, Prof Dr-Ing Christian Seidel, Chairman of ISO Technical Committee (TC) 261 ‘Additive Manufacturing’ and Member-at-Large on the Executive Committee of the ASTM F42 ‘Additive Manufacturing’ Committee, outlines why standards are so important, presents an overview of the current AM standards ecosystem, and highlights current key areas of standardisation activity. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2021]
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If metal Additive Manufacturing is to compete with casting and other mass-production technologies, costs need to be reduced by a factor of ten. Optimising metal powder characteristics can get the industry halfway there, while anticipated improvements in equipment and processes will do the rest. Here, Equispheres’ Doug Brouse and Dr Martin Conlon discuss how the use of advanced aluminium powders can improve the build rate for Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) by two to four times, as well as offering significant advantages for Binder Jetting (BJT) production. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2021]
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SAMOA, a European Union funded EIT RawMaterials project on ‘Sustainable Aluminium Additive Manufacturing for High Performance Applications’, investigated the processing of aluminium powders by Directed Energy Deposition. In this report, Himani Naesstroem, Joerg Volpp, Stefan Polenz, and Frank Brueckner review the effects of processing parameters and feedstock material age, as well as presenting an industrial case study. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2021]
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