A decade ago, the majority of commercial metal Additive Manufacturing machine, materials and application developments took place in Europe and North America. Today, the picture is very different and China in particular has become a leading global player. Clear national strategies, combined with a strong drive to leverage commercial opportunities, have resulted in a powerful and dynamic metal AM industry that is moving rapidly towards self-sufficiency. In this article, Xuesong Pan (Peter), co-founder of China’s 3D printing media company Nanjixiong, reports on recent developments.
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Additive Manufacturing offers the opportunity to transform industrial production. Currently, however, AM components are typically produced in only one material, which in many cases does not allow for full performance utilisation. In this article, Xiaoshuang Li and Arthur Seibel describe, through a heat sink case study, how multi-material design and manufacturing can increase component performance as well as integrate additional functionalities when using the Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) process.
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Thanks to a new generation of compact metal Additive Manufacturing machines optimised for dental laboratories, combined with software improvements and optimised workflows, AM technology is now being more widely implemented in medium- to large-sized dental laboratories. In this article, Stijn Hanssen, Director, Dental Applications & Business Development, 3D Systems, reports on the application of metal AM technology for digital dentistry, reducing labour costs, maximising productivity and providing faster outcomes for patients.
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Three years ago, Metal AM magazine published a widely read article on the use of Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) technology for precious metal jewellery production. Today, the continuing rise of sinter-based AM technologies promises to open up the jewellery sector yet further, with new opportunities for both mass-market production as well as bespoke pieces. Chiara Armbruster, Sonja Kappler, Carlo Burkhardt, Gerald Mitteramskogler and Apollinaria Frydmann offer an overview of this new generation of solutions and the state of the technology. A number of application examples are also presented.
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So much is discovered when it just all goes wrong. From a ‘design-fail-fix’ perspective, it’s expected that developmental components may be pushed to destruction. With rocket engines that operate near the limits of their performance, however, the need to understand the causes of a failure is critical. In the competitive commercial space business there’s a clear advantage not to disclose knowledge gained from such incidents. Thankfully, NASA can share what others cannot. Here, Alison Park, Deputy Technical Fellow, Materials and Additive Manufacturing, and Paul Gradl, Principal Engineer, share insights into one failure.
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The Additive Manufacturing industry is in a state of continual evolution. As one group of processes moves towards widespread adoption, others are being introduced and refined. In such a dynamic environment, how do we define AM, and what does ‘good’ AM look like? This article considers the status quo of conventional manufacturing before comparing key AM processes. Steven Camilleri, Andrew Duguid, Sam Katz and Chris Massar (SPEE3D), Martin McMahon (MAM Solutions), Victor Champagne (US Army Research Laboratory), Ozan Özdemir (Northeastern University), Anthony Naccarelli and Timothy Eden (Penn State), Krishnan Kannoorpatti (Charles Darwin University) and Bruce McLean (University of Sydney) unravel AM’s value metrics.
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A technical session at the World PM2022 Congress & Exhibition, organised by the European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA) and held in Lyon, France, October 9-13, 2022, focused on the corrosion and wear resistance of materials processed using beam-based Additive Manufacturing. This session comprised three papers which looked at ways to improve these properties – both particular pain points for AM’s wider adoption – by way of chemical-mechanical surface polishing, adjusted laser power, and the development of new, wear-resistant alloys for AM. Dr David Whittaker reviews the presented papers.
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In the race to optimise AM technologies for the creation of both breakthrough designs and direct part replacements, it is more necessary than ever that companies have access to the deep insights and data needed to advance part designs and processing at every phase of product development. Thanks to its ability to provide these insights non-destructively and in great detail, CT analysis provides an invaluable tool for the advancement of AM processes and their adoption. Philip Sperling, Product Manager AM at Volume Graphics, explains how CT analysis can advance the development and adoption of metal Binder Jetting (BJT).
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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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