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3D Printing News Briefs: November 25, 2019

We’re finishing the week out with some more formnext news for 3D Printing News Briefs: Poly-Shape presented a metal 3D printed Francis Turbine at the event. Moving on, Etihad Engineering opened a 3D printing lab for aircraft parts with EOS and BigRep, and Y Soft launched an online collection of 3D lessons for educators.

Poly-Shape’s 3D Printed Francis Turbine

At formnext 2019 last week, French company Poly-Shape presented something rather unique: a 72 kg Francis Turbine made with its Directed Energy Deposition-powder (DED-P) metal 3D printing technology. Turbine components are often used in the aerospace and energy industries, and DED-P printing can be used to fabricate the raw part, with its complex geometry, in less than 3 days; in fact, the Francis Turbine was printed in just 55 hours.

“The DED-P process is operated within a 5-axis CNC machine thanks to a material depositing system,” a Poly-Shape press release stated.

“By minimizing the needed allowance (typically < 1,5 mm), the part machining is reduced to finishing operation. In case of hard to access areas, the DED and the machining production can be sequenced such as the tool accessibility would be released.”

Etihad’s 3D Printing Lab for Aircraft Parts

Bernhard Randerath, VP Design, Engineering & Innovation, Etihad Engineering; Abdul Khaliq Saeed, CEO, Etihad Engineering; Markus Glasser, SVP EOS; H.E. Ernst Peter Fischer, German Ambassador to the UAE; Marie Langer, CEO EOS; Tony Douglas, Group CEO Etihad Aviation Group; Martin Black, CEO BigRep.

Etihad Engineering, a division of the Etihad Aviation Group, partnered with EOS and BigRep to open a 3D printing lab. It’s one of the first airline MROs in the Middle East that’s received approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for designing, producing, and certifying cabin parts made with powder bed fusion technology, two years after receiving approval for filament 3D printing. The laboratory is located at the Etihad Engineering facility, adjacent to Abu Dhabi International Airport, and houses two industrial 3D printers – the EOS P 396 and the BigRep ONE. It was opened officially in a ceremony last week, and in recognition of the relationships between Etihad, EOS, and BigRep, was attended by His Excellency Ernst Peter Fischer, German Ambassador to the UAE.

“The launch of the new facility is in line with Etihad Engineering’s position as a leading global player in aircraft engineering as well as a pioneer in innovation and technology,” said Bernhard Randerath, VP Design, Engineering and Innovation for Etihad Engineering. “We are extremely proud to collaborate with EOS and BigRep to expand our capability and support the UAE’s strategy to increase production technology and cement its position as a global aerospace hub.”

Y Soft Launches be3D Academy for Educators

The Y Soft Corporation has launched its be3D Academy, available as part of its YSoft be3D eDee 3D printing solution for education. There are many benefits to using classroom 3D printing as a tool for learning, and adoption in schools is growing fast, but developing lesson plans that incorporate the technology can be difficult, due to lack of knowledge or access. The company’s new online collection of teacher-tested 3D lesson plans in STEAM subjects make it easy for educators to teach in 3D. The be3D Academy lesson plans provide tools like student worksheets, presentations, video tutorials, and 3D model files, all of which can be made on the YSoft be3D eDee printer with its certified filaments.

“3D printing is particularly valuable in the classroom to convey complex subjects. When students can touch and adjust physical objects they have created, understanding increases. Comprehension of STEAM subjects can be difficult, and be3D Academy’s lessons make concepts interesting and fun. be3D Academy lesson plans range from creating castles to understanding geometric shapes and volumes to creating a Da Vinci bridge as a science learning project,” said Elke Heiss, the Y Soft Chief Marketing Officer.

The be3D Academy is open to all educators looking to add 3D printing to their classrooms.

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3D Printing News Briefs: October 18, 2019

The stories we’re sharing in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs run the gamut from materials to new printers. Altair has launched its new industrial design solution, and Remet opened a metal 3D printing lab in Poland. Innofil3D is sharing lots of material news, and Equispheres has released the test results for a unique 3D printing powder. Finally, Hackaday published a micro 3D printer project.

Altair Launches New Industrial Design and Rendering Solution

The “Geko Ring Collection,” jewelry by Luca Palmini, designed and rendered with Inspire Studio. Image courtesy of Luca Palmini.

Global technology company Altair has launched Inspire Studio, its new 3D design and rendering solution, to help architects, designers, and digital artists create, evaluate, and visualize designs. The solution builds on the functions of Altair Evolve, and includes 3D rendering and animation software Inspire Render, which helps users rapidly generate photorealistic product renderings and animations. Both Inspire Studio and Inspire Render run on MacOS and Windows, and help designers open up their creativity to go beyond traditional CAID tools. The solutions will be introduced next month during a one-day launch event in Italy, and you can also get a free ticket to formnext 2019, where you can learn more about Inspire Studio and Inspire Render at Altair’s booth E11, hall 11.1.

“We are very pleased with these two new solutions for the global industrial design community. Inspire Studio builds on our previous industrial design tool, Evolve, while going beyond Evolve’s capabilities. Inspire Studio will enhance designers’ creativity by letting them drive their designs. It offers an intuitive user interface and a powerful construction history, allowing them to quickly create and explore multiple iterations of their design. Relying on the same modern user experience with powerful interactive, full progressive and raytracing rendering engine, Inspire Render will help designers quickly run photorealistic renderings and walkthrough animations on GPUs and CPUs,” said James Dagg, CTO at Altair.

3D Design and Rendering Software | Altair Inspire Studio

Remet Opens Modern Metal 3D Printing Laboratory

Polish steel structures manufacturer for the oil and gs mining industry, Remet, has launched a metal 3D printing laboratory equipped with a range of high quality machines and devices. The first of these is the DMP Flex 350 by 3D Systems, followed by 3D Systems’ Figure 4, the office-friendly metallic powder atomizer ATO Lab, and plenty of other specialized research equipment. Remet completed the project together with 3D Lab, a top Polish industrial 3D printer distributor and manufacturer of the ATO Lab.

The ATO Lab metal atomizer, which enables testing and fabrication of many powdered metal alloys, was the starting point for this unique laboratory. A new branch of the enterprise, called Remet Metal Labs, is where the company will work on comprehensive additive manufacturing and industrial applications projects. Its goal is to create highly flexible conditions for creating prototypes in the powder production field, and automotive, aviation, and space industry customers are invited to work with Remet to take advantage of the lab. 3D Lab and Remet will present their solutions together at formnext in Frankfurt next month.

Innofil3D Materials and Design Rules Video

This week, Innofil3D, and its parent company BASF, have a lot of news to share. First up, Ultrafuse BVOH, its water-soluble support filament, is now available for purchase, along with its new Ultrafuse 316L metal filament. Designed for easy FFF 3D printing, this is the company’s first metal material – 80% stainless steel with a 20% polymer content.

For users interested in 3D printing their Innofil3D PRO1 filament on a Raise3D printer, you can now join the Raise3D Open Filament Program to take advantage of optimized settings and print profiles. This new program is a collaboration between Raise3D and filament manufacturers, like Innofil3D, to find the top-performing materials for its 3D printers. Finally, Innofil3D has released its second video tutorial for design rules and principles of FFF 3D printing. Check out the video below, and be sure to visit BASF at its large K-Fair exhibit in Hall 5, C21/D21.

Equispheres Releases Test Results for Unique AM Powder

Materials science technology company Equispheres has released the results from its first powder testing phase, completed by a facility that certifies AM materials for applications in aerospace and defense. The results have confirmed that the powder has exceeded expectations, allowing for a 20-30% increase in mechanical performance and a 50% increase in production speeds. In light of this news, Equispheres is launching new equity financing in order to, as the company wrote in a press release, “grow and unlock the vast potential of Additive Manufacturing.”

“The unique properties of our powder, including the high sphericity, narrow particle size distribution and low surface area results in significantly increased packing density.  This allows an increase of powder layer thickness by a factor of 2 which significantly increases build speed. Most importantly, this boost to build speed does not come with a mechanical performance penalty.  Instead, the uniform nature of our powder ensures that parts are produced with reliable and consistent mechanical properties.  The minimal variance in our performance results provides design engineers the statistical confidence to produce stronger, lighter parts,” said Equispheres’ CTO, Dr Martin Conlon.

Hackaday Project: Micro Deltesian 3D Printer

A new Hackaday project by architect Ekaggrat Singh Kalsi was just published – a micro Deltesian 3D printer, which he says offers a quality that’s on par with any Cartesian 3D printer. The printer has a solid aluminum frame, with a standard slider Y axis and a Delta mechanism for the XZ axis. A 3.5″ LCD touchscreen, with a built-in SD card, is fast and easy enough for his young daughter to use, which was his ultimate goal. With an 80 x 100 x 85 mm build volume and a print bed held in place with magnets, the biggest challenge in making the minuscule 3D printer easy to use was the filament loading; Singh Kalsi used a lever-based latch mechanism for this.

“the micro deltesian was born out of the curiosity of building the convoluted deltesian mechanism,” he explained. “Later on it evolved into the idea of building a 3d printer simple enough to be used by my daughter. The deltesian mechanism seem very wierd when i first saw it but eventually i thought maybe i should give it a try and hence this printer was born.”

Watch the video below to see just how easily his daughter uses the micro Deltesian 3D printer:

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HP and NTU Singapore Partner to Open New Corporate 3D Printing Research Laboratory

Launch of the HP-NTU Digital Manufacturing Corporate Lab. L-R: Ng Tian Chong, President of HP Asia Pacific and Japan; HP CTO Shane Wall; HP CEO Dion Weisler; Minister for Finance and Chairman of the NRF Heng Swee Keat; NTU President Prof Subra Suresh; NRF CEO Prof Low Teck Seng; NTU Vice President (Research) Prof Lam Khin Yong; and NTU Provost and Vice President (Academic) Prof Ling San.

HP Inc. has a solid presence in Asia, with expansions in recent years into Japan and China. But it’s been in Singapore since 1970, and the country is home to its Asia Pacific & Japan Regional Headquarters, global supply chain control towers, and print manufacturing. Now, the company is partnering with Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) to open Singapore’s newest corporate research laboratory.

The HP-NTU Digital Manufacturing Corporate Lab, which is HP’s largest university research collaboration worldwide and first in Asia, is meant to help advance digital manufacturing and drive the economic development, innovation, skills, and technology necessary to advance the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

(Clockwise from bottom right) NTU Vice President (Research) Prof Lam Khin Yong and HP CTO Shane Wall signing the corporate lab partnership agreement, witnessed by HP CEO Dion Weisler; Minister for Finance and Chairman of the NRF Heng Swee Keat; NTU President Prof Subra Suresh; and NRF CEO Prof Low Teck Seng.

“The World Economic Forum estimates more than $100 trillion in value will be created by digital transformation across all industries in the next 10 years. HP is helping lead the development of the underlying technologies, like 3D printing, that will enable the benefits of this transformation,” said Dion Weisler, CEO and President, HP Inc. “Singapore is one of our key worldwide technology development and manufacturing centres in Print technology. The HP-NTU Digital Manufacturing Corporate Lab will significantly deepen our involvement here and serve as a nucleus for this ecosystem. We are proud to collaborate with NTU and we are looking forward to this becoming a blueprint for innovation, collaboration and economic progress.”

The $84 million lab is located at NTU and launched by Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Finance and Chairman of the National Research Foundation (NRF), which is a department within the Prime Minister’s Office. The NRF facilitates corporate labs setups through public-private partnerships, and its 13th lab, the HP-NTU Digital Manufacturing Corporate Lab, is the 7th located at NTU.

“Corporate laboratories are an integral part of our strategy to anchor joint R&D partnerships between our universities and companies in areas that have direct relevance to the growth of industries in Singapore,” said NRF CEO Professor Low Teck Seng. “The HP-NTU Digital Manufacturing Corporate Laboratory is significant to our long-term competitiveness in the advanced manufacturing sector, and ensures that we stay relevant in the Fourth Industrial Revolution that is evolving and growing rapidly world-wide.  It will also strengthen our capabilities to support multinational companies for expansion from Singapore into the region.”

Senior leadership from NTU and HP paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, at the Istana, where they spoke about the new partnership between NTU and HP. L-R: NTU Vice President (Research) Prof Lam Khin Yong; Ng Tian Chong, President of HP Asia Pacific and Japan; HP CEO Dion Weisler; Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong; NTU President Prof Subra Suresh; HP CTO Shane Wall; and NTU Board of Trustee member Inderjit Singh. [Image: MCI]

The partnership between HP and NTU was signed today by HP’s CTO and Head of HP Labs Mr Shane Wall and NTU Vice President (Research) Professor Lam Khin Yong. Weisler, NTU President Professor Subra Suresh, and Guest-of-Honour Minister Keat. The 100 researchers and staff at the new lab will focus on digital manufacturing technologies, particularly 3D printing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and customization, machine learning, and new materials and applications.

According to Professor Suresh, NTU’s partnership with HP is “a significant milestone.”

“NTU has established deep capabilities and is a recognised leader in the areas of machine learning, data science and additive manufacturing,” said Professor Suresh. “These cutting-edge technologies are now an integral part of NTU’s education and research ecosystem, and the NTU Smart Campus serves as a test bed for them. This is aligned with Singapore’s vision of transforming into a Smart Nation.

“Together with HP Inc., a renowned innovator and leader in the tech industry, NTU seeks to address today’s fundamental challenges with solutions that will benefit both industry and society in Singapore and the world, such as developing automation that is capable of boosting manufacturing productivity.”

Minister Heng Swee Keat (center) looking at 3D printed automotive parts at the NTU-HP Digital Manufacturing Corporate Lab launch showcase.

The new lab, an important pillar of the university’s Smart Campus initiative, supports the country’s continuing drive toward industry transformation in 3D printing and digital manufacturing. The national strategy to develop a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy and society, known as the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2020 Plan, lists Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering as one of its four technology domains, and the corporate lab will build on HP’s strong manufacturing and research capabilities to keep driving Singapore’s innovation.

“One out of every three jobs worldwide, more than 30% of global GDP, and nearly one-third of carbon emissions are related to manufacturing. We are committed to innovating with purpose, not only driving the technology breakthroughs that improve HP’s business but also contribute to creating economic opportunity and improving people’s lives,” said Weisler.

Included in the collaboration between HP and NTU Singapore is the development of educational curriculum covering design for additive manufacturing, which will cover such areas as user experience, security, data management, and business models.

Once formally launched, the HP-NTU Digital Manufacturing Corporate Lab will prioritize 15 separate projects in order to gain a better understanding of AI and machine learning, so that the 3D printers in the lab can autonomously predict and fix any issues. The projects also seek to better understand cybersecurity, as a way to improve end-to-end point security infrastructure and malware mitigation, and new materials and applications, like 4D printed, shape-changing smart systems, advanced polymers for manufacturing, and bioprinting models for fabricating tissues.

Discuss this story and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 

[Images: NTU Singapore unless otherwise noted]

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ACEO Expands to United States with New Silicone 3D Printing Lab in Ann Arbor

WACKER, a global materials and technology manufacturer based in Munich, announced in 2016 that it had developed the first-ever industrial 3D printer for silicone materials. Around the same time, the company launched its new ACEO brand, which would be dedicated to the 3D printing of silicone rubbers. The brand is based out of its ACEO Campus in Burghausen, Germany, but is now expanding to the US. WACKER will be opening a 3D printing lab at its R&D center for silicones in Ann Arbor, Michigan; the lab will be its first regional 3D printing lab outside of Germany.

The new lab will start off with two 3D printers, which will each be able to print with a wide range of silicone rubber materials with different Shore A hardnesses and in different colors, including special media resistant FVMQ grades.

“In general, North America is the largest and most dynamic market for 3D printing,” said Bernd Pachaly, Head of the ACEO 3D printing project at WACKER. “With our new lab, prospective partners will obtain local access to the compelling possibilities of 3D printing with liquid silicone rubber.”

ACEO will continue to 3D print and deliver silicone components from its facility in Burghausen, but the new lab in Ann Arbor will provide technical service and advice to customers in North America, allowing them to get hands-on experience with silicone 3D printing technology.

“Right from the start, we will be engaged in projects involving medical devices and components needed for health care, transportation, aerospace and electronics, all of which are key industry segments, particularly for silicone-based products,” continued Pachaly. “Establishing a regional lab will support expansion of ACEO’s footprint in the US and furthers WACKER’s global service network for silicone rubber 3D printing solutions.”

ACEO’s drop-on-demand 3D printing technology allows for a great deal of design freedom and the printing of complex, functional components. Silicone rubber is a valuable 3D printing material, offering properties such as temperature and radiation resistance as well as biocompatibility. These properties make it a popular material for a range of industries including medicine, aerospace, automotive, equipment and mechanical engineering.

Since its inception, ACEO has expanded and further developed its technology, introducing multi-material 3D printing and functional materials. As the first company to introduce industrial silicone 3D printing, WACKER and its ACEO brand are exploring uncharted territory. Other companies have arisen with silicone 3D printing technology, but WACKER remains among the pioneers.

Locating the new ACEO 3D printing lab at the R&D facility in Ann Arbor is part of the company’s strategic business model for being close to its customers and serving regional business trends, according to Ian Moore, Vice President WACKER SILICONES at Wacker Chemical Corporation in Adrian, Michigan.

“Our Innovation Center is focused on developing advanced and forward-looking solutions that support regional trends which can be quickly brought to market,” Moore said. “Our team of scientists and highly specialized experts in the field of silicones and 3D printing will be able to offer our business partners valuable technical cooperation and services.”

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 

[Images: ACEO]