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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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Every so often, something comes along that gets the whole Additive Manufacturing industry talking. Over the past two years, few companies have generated as much intrigue as Seurat Technologies, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory spin-out named for the French pointillist, bringing with it a technology roadmap that promises to evolve metal AM to the crucial point of out-competing conventional manufacturing methods. In this Metal AM exclusive, James DeMuth, Seurat CEO, offers the deepest look yet into the technology behind his company’s promise. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2022]
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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]
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The metal Additive Manufacturing landscape is filled with ambitious, well-funded startups, all promising a wealth of materials innovation and ambitious value propositions. In contrast to these newcomers, Höganäs AB has been a powerful force in the metal powder market for near eighty years, producing half a million tonnes of metal powder annually. Is there a role for such a titan of Powder Metallurgy in the brave new world of AM? Emily-Jo Hopson-VandenBos spoke to Kennet Almkvist, president, Höganäs Customization Technologies, about what the company brings to the table. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 1, Spring 2022]
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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]
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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]
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We all love to talk about how Additive Manufacturing can transform product design, improve an application’s performance, reduce part count and material waste, enable faster design cycles and far more besides. But what is less often discussed is the challenge of scaling up production once an application has been developed. It is this aspect of AM that has been the focus of activity at Burloak Technologies. In this article, the company’s Jason Ball, VP & General Manager, and Keyvan Hosseinkhani, Technical Director, consider the challenges of scaling AM, and how they can be overcome. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 4, Winter 2021]
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A technology such as Additive Manufacturing relies heavily on industry champions to drive awareness, promoting the capabilities and potential of the process within their circle of influence. In the hydraulics industry, AM has no greater champion than Aidro srl’s Valeria Tirelli, whose wide-reaching advocacy belies the company’s modest size. Luca van der Heide interviewed Tirelli for Metal AM magazine and discussed the company’s story, why the hydraulics sector is so well suited to AM, and, of course, the recent acquisition of Aidro by Desktop Metal. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 3, Autumn 2021]
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As metal Additive Manufacturing continues to grow as a technology for the production of critical end-use parts for the most demanding of applications, X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) remains an unrivalled non-destructive testing tool. In this article, Yxlon’s Nathan Serafino and Dirk Steiner report on how Materials Resources LLC, an additive metals research and manufacturing company, defence contractor, and ‘fast factory’, is going a step further, using the technology to improve predictive-model based qualification processes as well as to calibrate in-process monitoring. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 3, Autumn 2021]
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