Metal Additive Manufacturing, Vol. 9 No. 2 Summer 2023

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In addition to the latest industry news, this 196-page issue of Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine includes the following exclusive features:

Kennametal: The story of the successful commercialisation of AM hardmetal and steel solutions

Kennametal is a particularly interesting company when it comes to the adoption of Additive Manufacturing. It is a dynamic global producer of tooling and industrial materials with sales of $2 billion in 2022, yet its roots are very much in ‘old school’ sinter-based PM processes. It is, therefore, no surprise that the company was an early adopter of AM, leveraging its materials and sintering expertise, as well as its broad customer base, to develop a leading position in the AM of hardmetals and steels.

Bernard North, who fortuitously happens to be a past VP Industrial Technology at Kennametal, visited the company’s AM operation and reports for Metal AM magazine. 

General Atomics Aeronautical on metal Additive Manufacturing’s place at the centre of the digital manufacturing revolution

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) is the world leader in the design and manufacture of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). The company is no stranger to AM, with its Additive Design and Manufacturing Center of Excellence being integral to the qualification of more than 300 AM flight components and the installation of more than 10,000 AM parts on its aircraft.

Now, it is working to identify and partner with some of the most innovative players in the industry in order to further leverage the capabilities of the technology. Divergent Technologies, the company behind Czinger Vehicles, is one such company. Jeff Kerns reports for Metal AM magazine.

Adrian Keppler on Additive Manufacturing: An insider’s assessment from the outside

Dr Adrian Keppler has been an active participant in the AM industry for close on fifteen years. Based on his past experience as the Managing Director, and later CEO, of EOS GmbH, and his current role on the advisory boards of numerous AM startups, Keppler believes that more can, and should, be done to advance industrial applications of AM.

Are the industry’s efforts to develop new technologies without perfecting and industrialising existing technologies holding it back? Should the less exciting work of industrialisation be prioritised over the next shiny technology release? Joseph Kowen interviews Keppler for Metal AM magazine.

Metal AM’s journey to industrialisation: Are we there yet? And what does the destination even look like?

Metal Additive Manufacturing is on a long journey, from the early technology concepts of several decades ago to its current usage in a relatively small number of markets with specific, highly-specialised application requirements. If the journey leads to the widespread adoption of metal AM technology by industry, can we ask ‘Are we there yet?’

Dr Maximilian Munsch, Dr Eric Wycisk, and Matthias Schmidt-Lehr, from strategy consultancy and AM market analysis specialist AMPOWER, delve into the evolution, current status, and future prospects for the industry, seeking to uncover the true extent of its potential.

A stronger future, layer by layer: How next-generation software will drive adoption of metal AM

The growth of metal Additive Manufacturing has been held back, believes Oqton’s Dr Ben Schrauwen, by a specific set of challenges: repeatability, cost, and the need for a high level of expertise. This article considers how next-generation software solutions that leverage Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing, and hybrid modelling are improving metal AM workflows. By addressing all three challenges, Schrauwen believes that metal AM can achieve faster and deeper adoption, leading to a more efficient and innovative future.

Volkmann: Making the case for the complete automation of powder handling in AM

Two worlds collide in Additive Manufacturing. Consider that a Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) machine completes its job fully automatically over many hours. Yet, before and after that, a multitude of manual tasks often still need to be completed. Employees may be required to perform these tasks while wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect themselves from metal dust, compounded by the high labour costs that this manual work incurs.

Is this the future of cost-efficient, 24/7 production? Christian Mittmann and Manuel Henser, from Volkmann GmbH, believe that the real solution can be found in the complete automation of powder handling.

Metal AM on an industrial scale: GKN Additive draws on decades of sintering expertise to commercialise Binder Jetting

Binder Jetting’s position as an accepted mass production technology for precision metal components is on the near horizon. The coming success will, however, rely as much on expertise in the sintering process as it does on expertise in jetting binder onto a powder bed to make ‘green’ parts.

This article reports on how GKN Powder Metallurgy’s Additive Manufacturing division, GKN Additive, has leveraged decades of sintering expertise in high-capacity continuous furnaces, combined with its application development expertise, to deliver the series production of special filters by Binder Jetting for Schneider Electric.

International Conference on Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing: Highlights from EBAM 2023

Since the first conference on electron beam Additive Manufacturing in Nuremberg in 2016, the EBAM conference series has been the central meeting point for industry and academia to exchange knowledge on this dynamic area of AM. After the event was forced to go virtual in 2020 due to COVID-19, attendees were finally able to meet face-to-face again in Erlangen, March 22-24.

Marie Franke-Jurisch and Dr Matthias Markl report on recent developments in materials, process, and machine technology, all of which serve to demonstrate that electron beam-based technologies are once again firmly established in the metal Additive Manufacturing world.

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