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Wayland Additive to Launch Calibur 3 Production 3D Printer in January 2021

U.K. company Wayland Additive, spun out from engineering firm Reliance Precision, licensed the metal AM NeuBeam process from its parent company with an aim to commercialize it by 2021. This goal will soon become a reality, as Wayland has announced a major milestone — it will be commercially launching the Calibur 3, its first production NeaBeam 3D printing system, on January 27th of 2021.

“We are very happy to confirm the launch date for the Calibur 3,” Peter Hansford, the Director of Business Development for Wayland Additive, stated in a press release. “On 27th January next year we will be unveiling the full specs of the machine to our early adopters and partners as well as to the press at a dedicated event. Currently the plan is to bring people in to see it in action for themselves if we are able to with Covid 19 restrictions, but we will also be live-streaming the event for interested parties that may not be able to attend. 2020 has been an unprecedented year in many ways and the global pandemic has caused a great deal of disruption and uncertainty. At Wayland, however, we have been able to navigate through these difficulties and keep our focus on the development of our system. Talking to industrial users of metal AM throughout, it is clear that despite the disruptions, many companies are still making medium and long-term plans, and we look forward to serving them with our ground-breaking technology.”

NeuBeam metal AM technology is an electron beam powder bed fusion (PBF) process, and was created from the ground up, by a team of in-house physicists, in order to negate most of the compromises made when using metal 3D printing for part production. The process can actually neutralize the charge accumulation you normally see with electron beam melting (EBM), which enables more flexibility. The creators used physics principles learned in the semiconductor sector to come up with this unique method, which, as the press release states, is able to overcome “the inherent instabilities of traditional eBeam processes,” along with the typical internal residual stresses that occur with PBF technologies.

Wayland’s NeuBeam technology can print fully dense parts in many different materials, including highly reflective alloys and refractory metals, which are not compatible with traditional laser PBF and eBeam processes; this results in much better metallurgy capabilities. NeuBeam is also a hot “part” process, instead of a hot “bed” process, as it applies high temperatures to the part only, and not the bed. This allows for free-flowing post-build powder and stress-free parts with less energy consumption, which makes for more efficient part printing.

The soon-to-launch Calibur 3 printer is an open system, and was specifically designed by Wayland to be used for production applications. That’s why the company made sure to add completely embedded in-process print monitoring to the system’s features, which allow users to enjoy full oversight during the process and rest easy knowing each part has full traceability.

“Save the date in your diary now. We are in the process of curating an impressive in-person and on-line event which will be of huge interest to industrial sectors that use or are planning to use metal AM for production applications,” said Will Richardson, Wayland Additive’s CEO. “January 27th 2021 will be a pivotal day for Wayland, but also a pivotal day for industry as they get a first clear view of the opportunities that exist through the use of our NeuBeam technology.”

NeuBeam technology

Wayland has said that it plans to start shipping the Calibur 3 to customers later in 2021.

(Source/Images: Wayland Additive)

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VELO3D Releases Assure for 3D Metal Printing: Stratasys Direct Manufacturing as First Customer

With the release of the VELO3D Assure Quality Assurance and Control System for its Sapphire® 3D metal printers, VELO3D also brings on board a heavy hitter in their first customer as Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Stratasys, Ltd., will be the first to integrate Assure into their manufacturing processes.

VELO3D’s Assure quality control dashboard enables engineers to track the quality and progress of Sapphire® machines in real-time.

Assure offers unprecedented monitoring and substantiation of part quality, offering the following features:

Detects process anomalies
Flags issues
Highlights necessary corrective actions
Offers traceability

“Assure is a revolutionary quality-control system, an inherent part of the VELO3D end-to-end manufacturing solution for serial production,” says Benny Buller, founder and CEO of VELO3D. “Assure is part of our vision to provide an integrated solution to produce parts by additive manufacturing with successful outcomes.”

Upon receipt of their own Sapphire 3D printer earlier this year, Stratasys Direct not only began using Assure, but they produced an entire study from their evaluation, which included:

Monitoring integrity of builds
Validating bulk material density
Observing ongoing process metrics
Verifying calibration of the system

Assure predicts defectivity as a function of layer number. An increase in the defectivity metric is correlated with increasing defectivity in the bulk core of the part.

Before and during a build, Assure validates that critical parameters stay within control limits ensuring high quality parts. Clicking on individual squares reveals details on the underlying event.

These results were published in ‘Stratasys Direct Manufacturing Performs Field Validation of VELO3D Assure,’ after the Stratasys Direct team used Assure for 12 weeks, verifying findings produced by VELO3D. They are now using the system in ongoing production efforts.

“AM can print parts and meet requirements for single units but scaling from a single part into serial production has been challenging. OEMs lack confidence in AM process control, and AM users struggle to demonstrate it. Without visibility into each part’s deposition lifetime AM becomes a risk,” states author Andrew Carter, Sr. Manufacturing Engineer at Stratasys Direct Manufacturing.

Assure boosts manufacturing techniques for the user as they can understand tool health better, calculate part quality, and perform field validation. Engineers 3D printed test structures during their study, producing wedges measuring 20mm x 41mm in width and length respectively. The wedges could be stacked into a tower shape, making a structure to match the build z-height. For each test run, they created two towers.

Test structure added to production builds to enable destructive testing. Image from ‘Stratasys Direct Manufacturing Performs Field Validation of VELO3D Assure.’

Ultimately, 75 test structures were created and then analyzed via X-rays. Bulk porosity measured at 0.02 percent, and the researchers pointed out that there was no ‘single part exhibiting porosity higher than 0.1 percent. There were no deviations in print quality for the test builds.

Bulk defectivity measured on test parts by x-ray imagery. Image from ‘Stratasys Direct Manufacturing Performs Field Validation of VELO3D Assure

“Stratasys Direct has built a culture of continuous improvement that means we are continually setting new standards for our industry on quality,” said Kent Firestone, CEO of Stratasys Direct Manufacturing. “We integrated Assure into our quality control workflow because it produces highly actionable insights. The user interface features intuitive graphs and charts that enable us to see and interpret the vast amount of data collected during builds. This information helps our engineers verify the quality of the build each step of the way and enables them to make quick decisions in the event of an issue. Assure helps us reduce production variation, improve yields, and circumvent anomalies to ensure consistent additive manufacturing.”

If you are interested in finding out more about Assure, check out the webinar on November 14th at 10 am PST, offered by Stratasys Direct. Click here to register. Also, if you are attending formnext in Frankfurt, Germany, don’t miss the joint press conference at the VELO3D booth (Hall 11, E79) on November 19 at 10 a.m.

VELO3D continues to be a dynamic presence in the 3D printing realm, from fabrication of a supersonic flight demonstrator to their efforts to expand on design and build limitations. What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

Assure provides true z-height quantitative powder bed and part metrology. Note the sections of parts with red lobes indicating metal protruding >300um above the powder bed but still below control limits.

[Source / Images: VELO3D]

The post VELO3D Releases Assure for 3D Metal Printing: Stratasys Direct Manufacturing as First Customer appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Kodak Launched New Design to Print Service, Showcased 3D Printing Ecosystem

Just a couple of short years ago, Kodak entered the AM market with its 3D Printing Ecosystem, which includes specialized software, the dual extruder, professional Portrait 3D printer, and a line of premium, low moisture content filaments. I learned a lot about this ecosystem while visiting Kodak’s booth at the recent RAPID+TCT show in Detroit, as the Portrait, and a wide array of example prints made on it, were being showcased.

On to new business first – the company launched its new Design to Print Service, which Kodak’s CCO and and co-founder Demian Gawianski told me is helpful for “customers who find designers’ time very valuable.”

“This can go from converting any 3D model into a 3D printable file to tuning the parameters on how to print those files,” he told me. “Basically, if you have complex geometry that wouldn’t go with our preset parameters, because it may have some bridges or overhangs or something like that, we would create the profile for the user, and our designers will actually print out the part to make sure it works.”

The company was offering a launching offer for its new service at the show – any customer who purchased the Portrait 3D printer at RAPID would also receive a $500 credit for the Design to Print Service.

This valuable service is an easy three-step process: first, share your project on your Kodak 3D Cloud account. Then, interact with the company’s professional designers in order to get a quick quote for the project, in addition to an estimated completion date. Finally, have your part optimized for a guaranteed result, printed, and tested by the Kodak team. You will then receive an STL file from the company that’s been modified for successful 3D printing. The service is available in English and Spanish, from 8 am to 5 pm EST, for a standard rate of $45 an hour; a priority job is available for an hourly rate of $90.

“We want to make sure that the user has a very successful experience, with any level of knowledge they may have about 3D printing,” Gawianski continued. “We want to have a comprehensive approach.”

This includes providing users with the right materials and hardware, empowered by good software, and Gawianski believes that Kodak’s design solution offers this unique, comprehensive approach.

Then we moved over to the Portrait 3D printer, which features a compact 215 x 210 x 235 mm build volume with a magnetic, heated build plate and dual extruders. With an intuitive color touchscreen that supports multiple languages, HEPA filter with activated carbon, automatic bed leveling, and live print monitoring via a built-in camera, I can see why Kodak calls it “the new standard for ‘desktop’ professional printing.”

Gawianski noted the “fully enclosed chamber,” which helps enable a “high level of control,” stability, and accuracy. He also pointed out the dual extrusion system with automatic nozzle lifting. The #2 hotend on the left is Teflon for high temperature materials, while the one on the right is metal for lower temperatures. The part being printed while we were standing there was out of white ABS.

“It would be difficult to achieve this level of quality on another printer with ABS, because it would warp and have all kinds of problems,” he explained.

Then we walked over to a setup in the corner of the booth that had caught my eye when I first arrived. A Portrait 3D printer – which was currently operating and weighs about 35 kg – had been placed on a rather thin-looking wooden platform, which was suspended by ropes that were attached to nylon hooks 3D printed on the Portrait itself.

The nylon hooks were strong enough to keep the platform stable, so the print could continue uninterrupted with “the same level of quality” while it was fabricating a blue part out of strong but flexible Nylon 6.

“The printer comes with two filament cases. You open the back of a filament, and place the filament in the case,” Gawianski said. “It has a silica gel that continues to protect the filament all the way from the manufacturing plant to the printed part.”

This case protects the filament from absorbing dust or humidity. Kodak is open to Portrait customers using third party materials, but these clear cases are only for its own filament.

He then started to show me various parts made out of Kodak’s other materials, such as a blue skull printed out of PLA Tough with water-soluble PVA supports, an engineering part made out of ABS with HIPS supports that dissolve in Limonene, and a large part with a green top that can lift 700 lbs of weight.

Kodak offers 11 different materials, including strong, food-safe PETG and semi-flexible Flex 98 with high abrasive resistance. Gawianski brought out a 3D printed part that was a good example of the Portrait 3D printer’s dual extrusion. The figure, which bore a strong resemblance to the Egyptian god Anubis, was made with PLA+ (green) and PLA Tough (red), which are the two materials that come with the Portrait 3D printer out of the box.

“We also have Nylon 12, which is FDA certified and has high resistance to impact,” Gawianski said, showing me two parts in translucent white.

“We also have some further ABS parts – this is a delamination test,” he continued, scratching the side of a small container. “It’s difficult to achieve this with an open printer, you need an enclosed one.”

Kodak will soon be releasing some new materials to the market, such as acrylic, which I also got the chance to see.

Our conversation ended by discussing Kodak’s 3D printing software.

“We have a desktop solution, which is the Kodak 3D Slicer,” Gawianski explained. “And we have the Kodak 3D Cloud, that is a cloud management system that enables you to manage an unlimited number of printers in unlimited locations from a single data place. So from your computer, phone, whatever, you can manage this fleet of printer.”

I asked if the company had anything new on the horizon, and aside from new filaments, Gawianski also said we can expect to see a new 3D printer model by the end of the year.

Take a look at some more of my pictures from the Kodak booth at RAPID+TCT 2019 below:

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[Images: Sarah Saunders]

Monitoring the Laser Powder Bed Fusion 3D Printing Process with Spectroscopy to Detect Defects

Diagram of laser powder bed fusion system.

Laser powder bed fusion 3D printing, one of the most well-established processes for producing metal parts, uses a powder bed of material to build a part layer by layer. The part is formed when energy is put into the powder to fuse it together, which can achieve parts with high resolution at high productivity.

Unfortunately, a lot of things can go wrong and cause defects in metal parts made with powder fed fusion 3D printing, such as cracking, root concavity, residual stress, porosity, balling, delamination, microstructural impurities, and surface defects. 3D printed metal parts with defects can cause safety issues and compromised functionality, and while some issues can be detected and fixed during post-processing, others can’t, which results in part failure. In order to detect and correct defects before it’s too late, we need to keep studying the source of these defects.

Andrew Drieling from Wright State University in Ohio recently published a paper, titled “In Situ Defect Detection Using Three Color Spectroscopy in Laser Powder Bed Additive Manufacturing,” about using spectroscopy to monitor 3D printing for defects.

The abstract reads, “Additive Manufacturing (AM) provides a way to create parts that would be extremely difficult or impossible with conventional manufacturing processes. However, AM also introduces defects, which are detrimental to the mechanical performance. These defects are potentially unknown until post-processing inspection and testing, wasting time and resources on an unusable part or initiating unexpected failure. Historically, spectroscopy has successfully been used for in situ monitoring of laser welding, using changing parameters in the generated plume to predict defects. In situ monitoring using a visible spectrometer for fabrication of Alloy 718 on a test bed laser powder bed fusion system is performed. AM defects, such as keyhole porosity and unfused powder, are detected in the sensor output and a physics-based modeling approach is used to predict defect occurrence. Spectroscopy can provide near real-time monitoring, allowing defects to be predicted, and potentially corrected before the completion of the part, saving time and resources.”

Effects of varying processing parameters on bead quality.

In his paper, Drieling explained that spectroscopy is the study of matter’s absorption and emission of light and other radiation as it relates “to the dependence of these processes on the wavelength of the radiation.” It actually measures the interaction between matter and photons.

There has been previous research completed regarding the use of spectroscopy for defect detection and closed loop control of laser welding processes – it can be used to provide real-time monitoring of the 3D printing process, which can save time, money, and resources by making it possible to detect any defects early enough to correct them.

Processing parameters and beam layout.

“If defect detection is important in laser welding, where it is only a single pass and the surface of the entire weld can be seen, then it is even more important in laser powder bed fusion where most of the welds are hidden by the top surface,” Drieling wrote. “The defects found in laser powder bed fusion are determinately to part performance and current methods to detect defects cannot be employed until fabrication of the part is complete, even then, not all defects can found by nondestructive methods. With current methods, the part must be completely fabricated, then if unacceptable defects are detected, all the time and resources put into that part have been wasted. If the defects go undetected, then they can initiate unexpected failure, leading to potentially dangerous situations.”

Drieling used a custom built laser powder bed fusion 3D printer from Universal Technology Corporation for his research and recorded data with a spectrometer, a high-speed camera, a profilometer, and visible and thermal cameras as well. He ran 15 individual tests, while varying the power and speed parameters, to see if this had any effect on the spectroscopy data.

“Once the experiment was complete, the beads were examined under a microscope and accessed for quality,” Drieling wrote. “The top set of five were run at 500 mm/s, the middle at 1000 mm/s and the bottom at 1500 mm/s. Within each group, the top bead was run at 450 watts, running down through the power levels to 150 watts for the bottom bead.”

Intensity plot for all three beads of interest.

Three features were looked at for possible future experiments while the beads were being examined: keyholing, balling, and highest quality of bead.

“Keyholing was most prominent in the 500 mm/s, 450 watt “High Power” bead,” explained Drieling. “The 1500 mm/s, 375 watt “Low Power” bead was chosen for balling features. It should be noted that the 1500 mm/s, 430 watt bead exhibited worse balling behavior, however it wasn’t able to maintain a continuous bead, therefore it wasn’t chosen. The 1000 mm/s, 225 watt “Nominal” bead was chosen for having the highest observable quality in terms of bead width and consistency. These three beads were further examined using the spectroscopy data.”

By varying the processing parameters, Drieling saw a range of defects in the produced beads; after analyzing the spectroscopy data, he saw that the intensity values varied for the defects and that the intensity data is not only affected by the energy input, “as two beads studied had similar energy inputs and different intensity readings.”

“All these results show that closed loop control of laser powder bed fusion is possible with spectroscopy,” Drieling concluded.

In the future, Drieling plans to expand the build to larger geometries, like cubes.

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