Over a period of just twelve months, Switzerland’s Oerlikon Corporation AG has made a major move into the world of Additive Manufacturing. Through a combination of acquisitions and new facility investments, the company has established itself as a leading international developer of both AM materials and components, offering its customers the complete process chain, from new alloy development to component post-processing and testing. Metal AM magazine’s Nick Williams reviews the company’s progress to-date [First published in Metal AM Vol. 3 No. 4, Winter 2017]
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Making the investment in a metal Additive Manufacturing machine is, for many, the first step on a journey to truly understanding how the technology can transform a business. There are, however, many considerations when planning such an investment; from essential ancillary equipment and devices, such as sieving stations, to facility changes, software and support. In this exclusive report, Terry Wohlers and Olaf Diegel highlight some of the commonly overlooked costs and considerations when making the move to establish an in-house AM capability [First published in Metal AM Vol. 3 No. 4, Winter 2017]
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In recent years much effort has been put into developing powders that are optimised for AM processes. As a result, a far greater understanding of the complex requirements for powders now exists. Particle size is widely recognised as a key property, but there is also an appreciation that particle shape has an important role to play. As Malvern Panalytical’s Debbie Huck-Jones and Cathryn Langley, explain, finer particles are advantageous from the perspective of packing behaviour, but are typically associated with poor flowability, compromising processing efficiency. Controlling particle shape can help to alleviate this problem [First published in Metal AM Vol. 3 No. 4, Winter 2017]
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In addition to the parallel Metal Powder Industries Federation’s AMPM2017 conference, the programme for the POWDERMET2017 International Conference on Powder Metallurgy & Particulate Materials, Las Vegas, June 13-16, 2017, included technical sessions on AM. Two of these sessions were devoted to powder production methods for AM feedstocks and this report from Dr David Whittaker reviews three selected papers in this subject category [First published in Metal AM Vol. 3 No. 4, Winter 2017]
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From June 20-22, 2017, the German city of Erfurt became a centre of gravity for Additive Manufacturing, hosting the annual RapidTech technical conference and its accompanying trade exhibition, FabCon 3D. Dr Georg Schlieper visited the event for Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine and highlights a number of innovative trends in metal Additive Manufacturing process technology and applications, including the latest binder-based Additive Manufacturing technologies and innovations in toolmaking [First published in Metal AM Vol. 3 No. 3, Autumn 2017]
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An issue of significant current interest to the AM world, which can potentially impact both the quality and cost-effectiveness of built parts, is whether there is a limit on the number of times that metal powders can be cycled around an AM process. In this article, Dr David Whittaker reviews three presentations on the topic from AMPM2017, the fourth annual Additive Manufacturing with Powder Metallurgy Conference, held in Las Vegas, USA, June 13-15, 2017 [First published in Metal AM Vol. 3 No. 3, Autumn 2017]
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Over the past few months it has been hard to avoid hearing about Desktop Metal, Inc. at AM trade shows and in the growing sections of the industrial media. In the following article Terry Wohlers reports on a recent visit to the company’s headquarters. Guided by Ric Fulop, Desktop Metal’s founder and CEO, Wohlers’ initial scepticism is put to rest as he discovers the company’s Studio and Production systems. Together they offer a credible solution to both accessibility to AM technology and the challenges of speed, cost and high-volume production [First published in Metal AM Vol. 3 No. 2, Summer 2017]
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North America’s annual Rapid event has for 27 years been the region’s leading exhibition on Rapid Prototyping and Additive Manufacturing technologies. This year’s event, Rapid + TCT 2017, took place in Pittsburgh from May 8-11 and attracted a record 6,000 attendees from more than 45 countries. Metal AM magazine’s Emily-Jo Hopson attended the event and reports on a theme that is becoming ever more important to the industry as it looks towards new markets – affordability and accessibility [First published in Metal AM Vol. 3 No. 2, Summer 2017]
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In January this year Markforged Inc., based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, announced its Atomic Diffusion Additive Manufacturing (ADAM) process along with the Metal X production system. The company is more widely known for its successful development of composite printing technology, introduced in 2014. In the following report Ian Campbell and Terry Wohlers discuss ‘indirect’ metal AM systems and outline the advantages and disadvantages of such systems in relation to commercial production [First published in Metal AM Vol. 3 No. 2, Summer 2017]
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Materialise NV, headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, has more than 25 years of experience in developing industry-leading software for Additive Manufacturing. The company also operates some of the largest AM factories in Europe, including a metal AM facility in Bremen, Germany. Kirsten Van Praet reveals how the latest release of the company’s Materialise Magics suite can help users achieve higher levels of AM production success through advanced part orientation and support solutions. Key advantages of the metal AM process are also reviewed through a case study and a number of application examples [First published in Metal AM Vol. 3 No. 1, Spring 2017]
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EOS GmbH, based in Krailling, near Munich, has long been recognised as a leader in powder bed Additive Manufacturing technologies for both metals and plastics. The launch of its Additive Minds training and consultancy service, however, represents a significant expansion of the support that the company can offer to those entering the industry. Nick Williams talks to EOS’s Güngör Kara, Director of Global Application & Consulting, on the evolution of the metal AM industry and the changing approach that customers are taking to implement the technology [First published in Metal AM Vol. 3 No. 1, Spring 2017]
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At the World PM2016 Congress, held in Hamburg, Germany, 9-13 October, 2016, two papers discussed the potential for the replacement of gas-atomised powders with water-atomised powders as the raw material for Selective Laser Melting of different alloy types. Dr David Whittaker reports on the work undertaken to assess the viability of the water atomisation process for these materials which could, in turn, offer significant cost savings [First published in Metal AM Vol. 3 No. 1, Spring 2017]
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