Applications

The power of Additive Manufacturing in the hands of artists: Public works to small batch production

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] ... Read more »

Fig. 1 The MX3D Bridge designed by Joris Laarman Lab, seen from above in MX3D's workshop during production (Courtesy Joris Laarman Lab)

The next generation: Using metal AM to drive emissions reduction and educate the engineers of the future

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 »

Fig. 1 Ohio State CDME staff and student researchers examine additively manufactured metal gas turbine components during a collaborative meeting with the Siemens Energy and Engie teams

Improving carbon capture efficiency through Additive Manufacturing in the race for a liveable climate

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 »

Fig. 1 An overview of the Carbon Capture process

Revolution, not evolution: General Motors on building an AM culture and the AM Dream Machine

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 »

Fig. 1 A Cadillac Celestiq show car. The Celestiq, coming soon, will feature more than 100 polymer and metal AM parts – the most in any GM production vehicle to date, with GM’s Additive Industrialization Center at the heart of developments (Courtesy General Motors / Cadillac)

Additive Manufacturing for oil, gas and maritime: An evaluation of capabilities and potential

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 »

Fig. 1 Finished impellers manufactured by PBF-EB, one of several metal AM technologies evaluated in Phase II (Courtesy Eureka)

Transforming access to medical implants: How PrinterPrezz and Additive Manufacturing will improve global healthcare

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 »

Fig. 1 FDA cleared GAIA lumbar cages manufactured by PrinterPrezz (Courtesy PrinterPrezz)

Anatomy of an AM part failure: Lessons for managers, designers and producers from 2021’s Olympic bike crash

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 »

Fig. 1 Team Australia's Kelland O'Brien, Sam Welsford, Leigh Howard, and Alexander Porter pictured during the qualifying round of the Men's Team Pursuit at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (Photo credit Shutaro Mochizuki/AFLO/Alamy Live News)

Innovation to commercialisation: Atherton Bikes and the journey of an SME bringing AM production in house

Bringing Additive Manufacturing in house is a big step for any company, but when you are at the small end of the ‘SME’ spectrum, it can be an especially bold move. Robin Weston recently visited Atherton Bikes, based in rural west Wales, to see how this specialist bike producer is enjoying ramping up in-house production of its titanium and carbon fibre performance mountain bikes on a new, four-laser Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) machine from Renishaw. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 1, Spring 2022] ... Read more »

Opening the discussion: How the humble bottle opener demonstrates the importance of requirements in AM

Designs not driven by requirements increase the risk of an incomplete solution. This relatively simple statement gets to the heart of how designers need to be approaching AM, particularly when balancing the ‘design freedoms’ offered by the technology with the reality of viable and profitable production. Through an exploration of the ubiquitous AM bottle opener, John Barnes, Jennifer Coyne and Chelsea Cummings, The Barnes Global Advisors, and Jon Meyer, APWorks, explore how, by focusing on requirements, a data-driven approach ensures fully functional designs that deliver on multiple requirements for the lowest cost. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2022] ... Read more »

Fig. 1 The opportunistic and restrictive design space: DfAM and MfAM

Making the unmakeable:How metal AM is bringing the aerospike rocket engine to life

The history book of engineering is filled with concepts that failed to achieve success because they were ahead of their time. This was almost the case for the aerospike rocket engine, recognised in the 1950s as a strong concept and tested by NASA in the 1980s and 1990s, but found to demand too much of the manufacturing and materials technology available at the time. Metal AM magazine spoke with Pangea Aerospace and Aenium Engineering about reinventing the aerospike for the 21st century, and how Additive Manufacturing allowed them to ‘make the unmakeable’ – pushing their expertise in AM, materials science and Design for AM to its limits in the process. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2022] ... Read more »

Metal AM in automotive: How the Czinger 21C is redefining next-generation car manufacturing

The Czinger 21C hypercar is a ‘tour de force’ of metal Additive Manufacturing. With over 350 AM components used in the vehicle’s structure, suspension, brake systems, drivetrain and beyond, this is the realisation of the bold vision of Kevin Czinger, CEO of Divergent 3D. Behind the headlines about the car’s record-breaking performance, however, is a far more important story: the development of the Divergent Adaptive Production System (DAPS), a complete software/hardware solution designed to replace traditional vehicle manufacturing. Jeff Kerns reports for Metal AM magazine. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 4, Winter 2021] ... Read more »

Buying time with digital spare parts: Opportunities for metal Additive Manufacturing

ApplicationsMarkets
December 15, 2021

Spare parts keep the world turning, and their complex supply chain is an industry in itself, specifically designed to get trains moving, ships sailing, and industry producing. But this is an expensive business, and one driven by calculated risk. Do you reduce your profits by stocking every expensive, highly engineered part that you might need, even though the chances are that most will never be used? Here, Joseph Kowen considers if digital part inventories, in conjunction with metal Additive Manufacturing, can transform how the spare parts industry operates. What are the opportunities, and how are early adopters already taking advantage of them? [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 4, Winter 2021] ... Read more »

In the latest issue of Metal AM magazine

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Extensive AM industry news coverage, as well as the following exclusive deep-dive articles:

  • Separation anxiety: Lessons learned at NASA from a developmental rocket engine failure
  • What is 'good' metal AM? Exploring the industry's value metrics for production
  • An inside perspective on China’s thriving metal Additive Manufacturing industry
  • Additive Manufacturing for jewellery and watchmaking: Exploring the potential of sinter-based technologies
  • Metal Additive Manufacturing for digital dentistry: An introduction for dental professionals
  • Case study: The development of a multi-material heat sink by Additive Manufacturing using Aerosint technology

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