In Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB), powder is applied to the build platform by a recoater unit performing a horizontal movement. Though not often the focus of research, the quality of powder layers has a significant influence on the quality of the final part, making the powder application process highly relevant to PBF-LB’s productivity and reliability. A collaborative project between the Chair of Hybrid Additive Manufacturing (HAM) at the Ruhr University Bochum and the consulting firm MTS Consulting Partner has shown how the Six Sigma method can be used to improve the process of metal powder application in the PBF-LB process.
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When NanoAL, LLC, a company with a decade of aluminium alloy development experience, decided to speed up its development of alloys for AM, it turned to SLM Solutions’ SLM®125 PBF-LB machine. As NanoAL’s Matthew Simmers explains, the company needed a workhorse machine that fulfilled a number of requirements, from open parameters and material flexibility to specifications and build quality that closely mirrored larger, production-focused machines. This article explores machine choice, installation, and operation in supporting NanoAL’s Rapid Alloy Screening (RAS) process.
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Alloy development has evolved dramatically throughout history, from what was a game of ‘trial and error’ to a systematic approach driven by Design of Experiments and specialist software. Now, the adoption of Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) is once again changing the way new materials are developed and deployed in today’s advanced manufacturing technologies. QuesTek’s Keith Fritz, Director of Solutions Architecture, details how the company’s ICMD® platform is enabling faster, cheaper and more successful development of new alloys for metal Additive Manufacturing, as well as the build parameters to process them.
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The use of metal AM is ramping up, and so, as a result, is the demand for metal powders. However, the variety of materials available remains relatively small. This is due, among other things, to the exacting requirements for the powders used, and the method of production. In addition, the production of smaller quantities of powder can be uneconomical. In a project funded by the AiF, the IWM at Germany’s RWTH Aachen University and Fraunhofer IFAM have developed a sustainable ‘powder kit’ for the individual and robust production of metal powder mixtures with subsequent alloying during PBF-LB processing. The partners share their progress.
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Additive Manufacturing processes offer a high degree of design freedom. The Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion of metals (PBF-LB/M), in particular, has established itself for series applications of complex-shaped parts in numerous industries. In this article, Prof Dr-Ing Christian Seidel considers the next major step in PBF-LB, which could offer designers unknown potential: the production of sensor-integrated AM parts. Methods and solutions for the manufacturing of sensor-integrated AM parts are presented and industry-relevant case studies showcased, illustrating the potential offered by sensor-integrated ‘smart parts.’
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While most people associate the advantages of AM with small- to medium-sized, complex parts, wire-based Directed Energy Deposition (DED) makes it possible to achieve geometric complexity on a huge scale. Although the adoption rate for wire-based DED does not come close to that of the more widely known metal AM processes, this unique technology has advanced dramatically over recent years, and promises major advantages in a volatile global manufacturing landscape. Dr Filomeno Martina, CEO and co-founder of WAAM3D, explains more.
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The development and communication of standards is vital to building customer confidence and trust in Additive Manufacturing, and it is only by building that trust that the industry can advance its adoption across a wider range of markets and applications. In this article, Khalid Rafi, ASTM International, and Shane Collins, Wohlers Associates, highlight the importance of standards, outline the standards development process, and explain why individuals employed within the AM industry should seek to involve themselves in this process. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 3, Autumn 2022]
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In the Summer 2020 issue of Metal AM magazine, Joseph Kowen presented a snapshot of the Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion industry. The conclusion was that the full potential of the technology was, as yet, unrealised, and that PBF-EB had considerably more promise than the level of commercial activity seemed to suggest. Two years later, Kowen returns to the topic to offer an update on the progress of the PBF-EB field over the intervening period. He assesses the growing level of activity to provide an updated estimate on where the technology, and its commercialisation, is headed. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 3, Autumn 2022]
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The importance of, and connections between, the arts and Additive Manufacturing can be unclear. For AM, the greatest challenge is managing and capitalising upon the growing awareness of its role in industry and its impact on society and daily life. Major public works, like the MX3D bridge in Amsterdam, do more to shift public perception of the possibilities AM offers, than any number of industrial successes. Elizabeth Henry, principal and founder of Henry General Strategies, explores the relationship between the world of the arts and the state of the AM industry, and ponders what benefits can be found when the two are brought together. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 3, Autumn 2022]
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As Additive Manufacturing sees growing use in a broader range of industries, researchers have been increasingly focused on expanding the types of material that can be processed via this technology, including the challenging field of refractory metals and hard materials. The AM research featured in the programme of the recently held Plansee Seminar represents the cutting edge of what is possible with these materials using the most advanced manufacturing processes. Here, Bernard North collates the seminar’s takeaways on the suitability of these materials for direct Additive Manufacturing processes. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 3, Autumn 2022]
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Metal Additive Manufacturing is a foundational technology for power generation, supporting the prototyping, testing, and design of gas turbines, as well as opportunities in repair and new components. The technology’s future is also dependent on educating a new generation of engineers. Ohio State University’s Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence (CDME), leading efforts to mature AM through the formation of an ecosystem of partners, has formed a collaboration with Siemens Energy and Engie to explore these topics and provide its students with experiential learning in metal AM. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 3, Autumn 2022]
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Many in the Additive Manufacturing industry have spoken on the importance of taking a holistic view of the workflow, from powder production to part finishing. Viewing the workflow in this way enables a systems engineering approach, joining the complex machines and processes involved in AM together. But what if we were able to combine steps from across the AM workflow? What cost, time and safety improvements might that enable? John Barnes presents his DirectPowder™ process, developed in partnership with Christopher Aldridge. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 3, Autumn 2022]
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An important technology in the fight against climate change is carbon capture, able to separate CO2 from the air and convert it into useful products. To ensure that they do not add to the problem they are designed to address, carbon capture systems must operate at extreme efficiency, and require a complex system of heat exchangers, condensers, gas separators, and compressors, ideally suited to metal Additive Manufacturing. Scott Green and Dakota Black, 3D Systems, Matthew Atwood, AirCapture LLC, and Christopher L Douglas, University of Oxford, demonstrate how carbon capture efficiency can be improved through AM. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 3, Autumn 2022]
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For Additive Manufacturing to succeed in the volume production of components for the mainstream automotive industry, it will not only require the creation of an effective AM culture within automotive producers, but also a radical re-evaluation of what different industries need from AM machine manufacturers. Jeff Kerns visited GM’s Additive Industrialization Center (AIC), in Warren, Michigan, USA, for Metal AM magazine and spoke at length with the centre’s team about its role in the exploration of AM for automotive, and how new machine designs will increase AM’s success in the automotive industry. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 3, Autumn 2022]
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As product developers become more and more aware of the possibilities of metal Additive Manufacturing and the design freedom it offers, metal Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB/M) has established itself for series applications in numerous industries. One novel capability of PBF-LB/M which has yet to be fully explored is the production of multi-material metal parts, which would offer huge new potential for designers in many industries. Prof Dr-Ing Christian Seidel looks at methods and solutions for the AM of parts consisting of two arbitrarily distributed metal alloys and presents use cases with the potential for series production by multi-material PBF-LB/M in the near future. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 2, Summer 2022]
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In 2018, a consortium of twenty-three companies, managed by DNV and Berenschot, started a project, ProGRAM JIP, to produce a guideline formulating the necessary requirements to introduce components made by Additive Manufacturing into the oil, gas and maritime industry. This was followed, in May 2020, by ProGRAM JIP Phase II, again managed by DNV and supported by Berenschot. The participants in Phase II spanned the entire value chain, from end-users and OEMs to service providers, material suppliers and testing companies. Here, DNV’s Sastry Yagnanna Kandukuri and Berenschot’s Onno Ponfoort present the consortium’s preliminary Phase II findings. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 2, Summer 2022]
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It is too easy to look at metal Additive Manufacturing technologies as neatly fitting into a small number of convenient process categories. The risk, in doing so, is that the best solution could be overlooked. One AM process that does not fit into such neat boxes is Xerox’s Liquid Metal Jetting. Whilst it falls, broadly, under the ISO/ASTM 52900:2015 category of Material Jetting, it is unique among metal AM processes. Here, Bender Kutub considers where it fits into the drive for supply chain resilience, and explores its market potential. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 2, Summer 2022]
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X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) has long been a powerful tool in metallurgy, but its unsuitability for parts with large grain sizes has made its use for the analysis of metal additively manufactured parts a challenge. In this article, Dr Scott Speakman, Malvern Panalytical, reports on a study in which specimens of soft magnetic Fe-Si steel were made by PBF-LB using a variety of raster and annealing strategies to produce specimens with large grain sizes. The X-ray diffraction data collected illustrates the tell-tale signs of poor crystallite sampling statistics. Speakman presents some strategies for recovering data fidelity with conventionally available options. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 2, Summer 2022]
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Getting to grips with what is really happening in our industry can be a tricky business. Thankfully market analysis is available from a number of expert sources, with the longest established being the Wohlers Report. Here, Noah Mostow, Olaf Diegel, and Terry Wohlers share insight from the recently published 2022 edition, including an overview of machine sales, the acceptance of a new breed of technology suppliers, the growth of service companies, and the evolving metal AM material mix. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 2, Summer 2022]
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Some companies have bolder missions than others. Whilst Elon Musk leverages metal Additive Manufacturing to transform space exploration, the founders of PrinterPrezz, Alan and Alexis Dang, Kishore Karkera and Shri Shetty, are aiming to do something equally bold with the same technology: bring safe, affordable, right-fit medical implants to the 97% of the world that can’t currently access them. Todd Grimm interviewed Alan Dang and Shri Shetty to discover more. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 2, Summer 2022]
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