ExOne announces five projects to advance binder jet Additive Manufacturing
June 17, 2020
The ExOne Company, North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, USA, has announced that five projects run by the company in partnership with Pennsylvania universities have received funding through the Manufacturing PA Innovation Program to advance metal Binder Jetting (BJT) Additive Manufacturing.
The award is part of a wider funding round in which Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) awarded $2.8 million to Pennsylvania universities for forty-three projects on advanced manufacturing technologies.
ExOne’s Binder Jetting systems are currently able to additively manufacture parts in more than twenty metals, ceramics and composite materials, but important R&D work is still needed to further advance the production technology.
“The Manufacturing PA program is helping ExOne to expand our research and development efforts in important ways with the assistance of Pennsylvania’s outstanding universities and other technology companies,” stated John Hartner, ExOne CEO. “The projects funded by this program will help ExOne unlock the commercial and sustainability value that binder jet 3D printing has to offer, such as delivering lighter weight vehicles that are more fuel-efficient as well as all-new innovations.”
ExOne’s Additive Manufacturing machines are believed to be the most researched in the field of Binder Jetting, and this work has played an important role in advancing ExOne’s BJT strategies, materials and processes.
“We strongly value our relationships with the academic R&D community, and we appreciate their support enhancing our competitiveness and advancing this important 3D printing field,” Hartner added. “We congratulate our partners and all of the other universities and companies receiving Manufacturing PA Innovation funding.”
The five projects funded by Manufacturing PA are expected to help ExOne resolve challenges related to the Binder Jetting of irregular and porous powders, as well as sintering and identifying parts that can best benefit from Binder Jetting, among other projects. The awards are as follows:
- Carnegie Mellon University: ‘Binder Jet 3D Printing from Powder Produced by Metal Attrition.’ This project will work to optimise BJT AM parameters and densification of irregularly shaped powders, such as those experiencing attrition.
- Carnegie Mellon University, with Kennametal and Ansys: ‘Optimal Parts Consolidation and Structural Redesign for Additive Manufacturing to Reduce Weight, Production Costs, and Lifecycle Fuel Use.’ This project aims to create a software tool that allows users to upload a CAD file of a large-scale system and automatically identify components and subsystems for consolidation and optimisation with BJT. This will allow manufacturers to minimise production costs and lightweight existing parts while preserving functionality.
- The Pennsylvania State University: ‘Advanced Manufacturing of Ceramics for PA Industries.’ This project aims to develop a new class of ceramic materials using Binder Jetting technology, which will provide a unique combination of high-temperature stability, corrosion resistance and toughness for a wide range of applications.
- University of Pittsburgh with Ansys: ‘A Computational Tool for Simulating the Sintering Behavior in Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing.’ This project aims to develop a computational tool for simulating the deformation and porosity resulting from the sintering of binder jet additively manufactured parts made of 316L stainless steel.
- Villanova University: ‘Wetting of Binder Solution on Porous Bed of Microparticles.’ This project will investigate how to best wet porous particles with binder and generate guidelines or parameters for this form of AM.
