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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It is no secret that metal Additive Manufacturing still faces significant challenges that stand in the way of broader adoption in industry. Aside from AM service providers, very few small- to medium-sized enterprises have brought metal AM in-house; many lack the capabilities, knowledge and resources to do so, even if the will is there. In this article, Olaf Diegel, Noah Mostow and Terry Wohlers discuss the complex, and often multi-faceted, obstacles that stand between AM and its wider global adoption, and how those obstacles can be addressed and resolved in order to clear the path to achieving the technology’s full market potential. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2021]
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Within the programme of the well-received Euro PM2020 Virtual Congress, held October 5–7, 2020, and organised by the European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA), a technical session was held on process control in metal Binder Jetting. In this article, Dr David Whittaker provides a summary of two of the papers presented, which look at applying the Master Sintering Curve for 316L parts, and process parameter optimisation for 17-4 PH parts. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2021]
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There is growing interest in the use of metal Additive Manufacturing for the production of jewellery and luxury watch components. This interest is driven not only by the potential design innovation offered by Additive Manufacturing, but also by the recognition of the environmental and economic advantages to be gained from it. In this in-depth report, Jochen Heinrich, Thomas Laag and Thierry Copponnex review the processing of platinum group metals by Additive Manufacturing. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2021]
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In the early days of metal Additive Manufacturing process development, automation was off the radar of machine manufacturers. Technologies created for rapid prototyping simply had no need for it and, until the last decade, few truly anticipated the pace at which Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion and Binder Jetting have evolved in the race towards the series production of metal parts. In this article, Joseph Kowen reports on how the industry has addressed the challenges of automation so far, and what developments we can expect in the near future. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 4, Winter 2020]
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China’s Falcontech Co. Ltd. is well on the way to completing its first ‘Super AM factory’, designed to house fifty metal Additive Manufacturing machines supplied by its partner, Farsoon Technologies. Whilst the wider story may take in the dramatic rise of Additive Manufacturing in China over the last decade, at the heart of this ambitious project’s success is the story of a successful partnership between an AM technology supplier and its customer. In this article, Chenlu Fang, Global Marketing Manager of Farsoon Technologies, interviews Shen Yulan, General Manager of Falcontech, and Li Wei, its Sales Director, to tell the story of the company’s rise, its ambitions and the partners’ close collaboration. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 4, Winter 2020]
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