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]
... Read more »
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]
... Read more »
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]
... Read more »
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]
... Read more »
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]
... Read more »
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]
... Read more »
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]
... Read more »
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]
... Read more »
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]
... Read more »
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]
... Read more »
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]
... Read more »
In the men’s track cycling team pursuit qualifying at the 2020 Olympics, broadcast live to a global audience, a handlebar part produced by metal Additive Manufacturing failed with catastrophic consequences for the rider, Australia’s Alex Porter. Six months later, a forensic analysis of the incident was published as a 170-page report. The good news is that the company that made the AM part, along with the technology itself, were cleared of blame. So: what went wrong, and what lessons can be learned? Robin Weston digs into the details. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 2, Summer 2022]
... Read more »
Join 40,000+ other AM professionals – follow us online