Sustainability has risen to the top of the global manufacturing agenda. Whilst metal AM has long been considered a green technology because of its net-shape capabilities, it is far from being a process absent of environmental impact. Here, Martin McMahon explores how global efforts are being made to improve this through the use of more sustainable metal powders, combined with a greater focus on powder reuse and recycling. Inextricably linked to this are, of course, economic gains and, in terms of supply chain, national security benefits.
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The growing use of titanium Additive Manufacturing for the production of medical implants is a major success story for the industry. With this growth, however, come vast volumes of process data which need to be monitored to ensure compliance with tight regulatory requirements. Here, Peter Lindecke, amsight GmbH, explains how holistic analysis software can be used to monitor the impact of powder reuse strategies in Electron Beam Powder Fusion to ensure the best possible outcomes.
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The future of Additive Manufacturing lies in part production at scale. Innovation must, therefore, focus on how to reduce part cost and improve performance. Unlike other manufacturing processes, weight is time in AM – and time is money; raw material costs take a back seat when it comes to overall part cost. Here, Jonathan Meyer (APWORKS) and John Barnes (Metal Powder Works/The Barnes Global Advisors) explore the case for scandium-based aluminium alloys for AM from both technical and economic perspectives.
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UK-based Wayland Additive is convinced that, when it comes to metal Additive Manufacturing, Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-EB) has a bright future ahead. Whilst laser-based PBF is the most widely commercialised AM technology, it has inherent limitations that electron beam-based innovations such as Wayland’s NeuBeam process promise to overcome. Rachel Park reports on how the technology could open up the AM market by enabling users of the Calibur3 machine to rapidly develop and commercialise a wider range of industrial materials.
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For Additive Manufacturing to mature as an industrial production process, believe Tommaso Tamarozzi (Oqton) and Juan Carlos Flores (Baker Hughes), it needs to be faster, simpler, and more reliable. This article reports on a step toward this goal through the development of an end-to-end AM workflow for the serial production of a Variable Resistance Trim (VRT) component. Built on a fully digital framework, it includes simulation, real-time process monitoring, anomaly analysis, and data preparation automation, thus laying the foundation for an AM workflow that delivers consistent quality and the documentation necessary for certification.
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The new space race is powered by metal Additive Manufacturing. In turn, the Additive Manufacturing of rocket engines is powered by advanced alloys. Of these, NASA’s GRCop family has found use in numerous critical applications. In this article, Austin Whitt and David Ellis, NASA Glenn Research Center, and Paul Gradl, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, dig deep into the history, production, processing and maturation of these unique materials. As the authors reveal, there is good reason why Additive Manufacturing of GRCop begins by understanding the process-microstructure-property-performance relationship.
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Metal AM offers the jewellery industry significant creative and commercial opportunities. One such opportunity is the production of platinum and titanium jewellery by Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB), a process described as a “match made in heaven” for these metals. This technology offers jewellery designers advantages that include greater creative freedom, the precise control of weight, and a path to scale-up production. Here, Michela Ferraro explores the status of AM for jewellery manufacturers and highlights innovative and critically acclaimed pieces produced by the technology.
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Metal Additive Manufacturing is rapidly gaining momentum across a broad range of industries and is often used for producing components for challenging applications such as medical implants and rocket engines. To maximise the mechanical strength and fatigue resistance of such critical AM parts, they must be processed by Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) to eliminate any residual porosity, and heat treated. Jim Shipley from Quintus Technologies provides an overview of HIP and High Pressure Heat Treatment technology for Powder Bed Fusion AM and considers the opportunities that a new generation of HIP equipment presents.
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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.
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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.
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Additive Manufacturing offers the opportunity to transform industrial production. Currently, however, AM components are typically produced in only one material, which in many cases does not allow for full performance utilisation. In this article, Xiaoshuang Li and Arthur Seibel describe, through a heat sink case study, how multi-material design and manufacturing can increase component performance as well as integrate additional functionalities when using the Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) process.
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So much is discovered when it just all goes wrong. From a ‘design-fail-fix’ perspective, it’s expected that developmental components may be pushed to destruction. With rocket engines that operate near the limits of their performance, however, the need to understand the causes of a failure is critical. In the competitive commercial space business there’s a clear advantage not to disclose knowledge gained from such incidents. Thankfully, NASA can share what others cannot. Here, Alison Park, Deputy Technical Fellow, Materials and Additive Manufacturing, and Paul Gradl, Principal Engineer, share insights into one failure.
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