3D Printing News Briefs: August 11, 2019

We’re starting off this 3D Printing News Briefs edition with some good news from Xometry – this week, it announced the availability of Carbon DLS technology as one of its process options. Moving on, Markforged published a case study and Aeromet announced new properties for its A20X powder. Finally, HP has launched a design competition.

Xometry Offering Carbon DLS Technology

Just this week, custom on-demand manufacturing network Xometry announced that it will be offering Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) technology by Carbon as one of its available 3D printing process options, in addition to SLS, SLA, FDM, DMLS, PolyJet, and HP’s Multi Jet Fusion. Through its Instant Quoting Engine, Xometry customers can get quotes, design feedback, and lead times for production-grade parts 3D printed with Carbon’s DLS. You can learn more about how to get the most out of this technology, and the Xometry platform, during a live webinar on Wednesday, August 14, from 12 – 1 pm; each attended will be entered to win a pair of Adidas Futurecraft 4D shoes with 3D printed soles by Carbon.

“We are very excited to add Carbon’s cutting-edge DLS technology to Xometry’s capabilities. Our additive customers have been asking us for it due to its reputation for speed and quality,” stated Bill Cronin, Xometry’s Chief Revenue Officer.

Aeromet Announces New Properties for A20X Alloy 

 

 

announcement covering new record-breaking properties achieved by the A20X alloy after a research project involving Rolls-Royce, Renishaw and Aeromet.

A20X™ cements its status as a leading aluminium powder for additive manufacturing after breaking the critical 500 MPa UTS mark.

6th August 2019: A20X, the aluminium alloy developed and patented by UK foundry specialist Aeromet International, has cemented its status one of the strongest aluminium additive manufacturing powders commercially available after surpassing the key 500 MPa UTS mark.

As part of a recent research project involving aero-engine giant Rolls-Royce and additive manufacturing equipment specialist Renishaw, heat-treated parts produced using A20X™ Powder have achieved an Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) of 511 MPa, a Yield Strength of 440 MPa and Elongation of 13% – putting the powder at the forefront of high-strength aluminium additive manufacturing.

Crucially, parts additively manufactured with A20X™ Powder maintain high-strength and fatigue properties even at elevated temperatures, outperforming other leading aluminium powders.

Mike Bond, Director of Advanced Material Technology at Aeromet, commented: “Since bringing the A20X™ alloy to market for additive manufacturing 5 years ago we have seen significant adoption for high-strength, design-critical applications. By working with Rolls-Royce, Renishaw and PSI we have optimised processing parameters that led to record-breaking results, opening up new design possibilities for aerospace and advanced engineering applications”.

The HighSAP project, backed by the UK’s National Aerospace Technology Exploitation Programme (NATEP), was led by Aeromet and involved Rolls-Royce, Renishaw and atomisation experts PSI. A20X™ Powder for additive manufacturing is derived from the MMPDS-approved A20X™ Casting alloy, the world’s strongest aluminium casting alloy, which is in use by a global network of leading aerospace casting suppliers.

 

 

 

  • Aeromet announces new properties for A20X powder
  • Case study: Dunlop uses Markforged technology to save thousands
  • HP launches 3D Print Design Competition

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3D Printing News Briefs: February 16, 2019

We’ve got business, events, software, and materials news for you in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs. MELD has introduced a new operator training course, and Protolabs is launching a range of secondary services. AMUG announced the keynote speakers for its upcoming conference, while the call has gone out for submissions to the 2019 Altair Enlighten Award. This week at SOLIDWORKS WORLD 2019, Stratasys introduced AdvancedFDM software for GrabCAD Print. Finally, a gold partner at America Makes has created an Ultem 9085 materials database for FDM 3D printing, and 3D MicroPrint is using a powder rheometer to push the limits of additive manufacturing.

MELD Manufacturing Offers Training Program

MELD Manufacturing Corporation is launching a new operator training program to teach participants how to operate its award-winning technology, which uses an innovative no-melt process to additively manufacture, repair, coat, and join metals and metal matrix composites. The 4-day courses will provide both classroom instruction and hands-on machine training, and attendees will also review the history of MELD’s development.

“This program creates certified MELDers and delivers the capacity to integrate and innovate with MELD. Our customers have raved about the elegance of the MELD process and the ease of training. We’re excited to offer more of these opportunities,” said MELD’s CEO Nanci Hardwick.

The size of the classes, which will be held at MELD’s Virginia headquarters, will be limited so that each attendee can have the maximum amount of machine time in order to become certified, so you should register ASAP.

Protolabs Launches Secondary Services in Europe

Protolabs is a digital manufacturing source for custom prototypes and low-volume production parts and offers all sorts of traditional and additive manufacturing services. This week, the company announced that it was introducing detailed measurement and inspection reporting, which will be only the first part of its newly launched in-house Secondary Services across Europe. These services will provide support for the company’s On-Demand manufacturing requirements, and will also help in launching more value-add secondary operations, like assembly and surface treatment, in the future.

“Our customers really value our rapid manufacturing services for low-volume parts and prototypes, but they now want the benefit of On-Demand manufacturing for production parts, which have higher expectations for sampling, measurement and process documentation,” said Stephen Dyson, Protolabs’ Special Operations Manager. “The marked increase from customers across all industries wanting to take advantage of the speed and flexibility of On-Demand manufacturing brings with it a desire to simplify the supply chain. We are offering Secondary Services to reduce the number of process steps that the customer has to manage, saving time and resources.”

Protolabs will hold a webinar for designers and engineers on February 28th as part of its Secondary Services launch.

AMUG Announces Keynote Speakers

L-R: Brian McLean, Brad Keselowski, Todd Grimm

The Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) recently announced who the keynote speakers will be for its 2019 conference, which will be held in Chicago from March 31st to April 4th. The conference, which will have nearly 200 presentations, workshops and hands-on training sessions, is designed for both novice and experienced additive manufacturing users, and the three keynote speakers will address the use of additive manufacturing in a variety of different applications. Brian McLean, the director of rapid prototype for LAIKA, will take attendees on a visual journey of how 3D printing has helped to redefine stop-motion animation, while NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski, the owner and founder of Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing (KAM), will share how technology such as 3D printing can help companies win the race. Finally, Todd Grimm, the president of T. A. Grimm & Associates, is returning to the conference as a keynote speaker again.

“We are extremely excited about our 2019 AMUG Conference keynote speakers,” said Gary Rabinovitz, the AMUG chairman and chair of its program committee. “They will provide a snapshot of the most transformative ideas shaping the AM industry today.”

2019 Altair Enlighten Award Submissions

Michigan-based technology company Altair, together with the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), are now taking submissions from around the world for the 2019 Enlighten Award, which is the only award from the automotive industry for dedicated lightweighting. The award will be presented in the categories of Full Vehicle, Module, Enabling Technology and The Future of Lightweighting, and winners will be recognized during the CAR Management Briefing Seminars (MBS), along with getting the chance to ring the Nasdaq stock market opening bell in New York. Suppliers and manufacturers can learn more about the criteria and submit an entry for the awards here.

“We are pleased to continue our collaboration with Altair because of their global leadership in solutions that produce the optimal balance between weight, performance and cost. This award helps drive innovation in lightweighting, which is critical to the success of e-mobility solutions,” said Carla Bailo, the President and CEO of CAR. “We can’t wait to see the key contributions the 2019 nominations will bring in new approaches to automotive engineering and design, contributing to further reductions in weight, fuel consumption, and emissions.”

Stratasys Announces AdvancedFDM Software for GrabCAD

At this week’s SOLIDWORKS World 2019 in Dallas, Stratasys introduced a new feature for its GrabCAD Print software that will remove more complexity from the design-to-3D print process. Advanced FDM will use intuitive model interaction to deliver lightweight yet strong and purpose-built parts to ensure design intent, and is available now via download with GrabCAD Print from versions 1.24 on up. The software feature will help users avoid long, frustrating CAD to STL conversions, so they can work in high fidelity and ramp up parts production, and it also features CAD-native build controls, so no one needs to manually generate complex toolpaths. Advanced FDM can automatically control build attributes, as well as calculate 3D print toolpaths, in order to streamline the process.

“For design and manufacturing engineers, one of the most frustrating processes is ‘dumbing down’ a CAD file to STL format – only to require subsequent re-injection of design intent into the STL printing process. This software is engineered to do away with this complexity, letting designers reduce iterations and design cycles – getting to a high-quality, realistic prototype and final part faster than ever before,” said Mark Walker, Lead Software Product Manager at Stratasys.

America Makes Ultem 9085 FDM Properties in Database

America Makes has announced that its gold-level member, Rapid Prototype + Manufacturing LLC. (rp+m), has created and delivered a complete, qualified database of material properties for the FDM 3D printing of high-performance ULTEM 9085 thermoplastic resin. This comprehensive database, which features processing parameters and both mechanical physical properties, was released to America Makes, and the rest of its membership community, in order to ensure the widespread use of the Type I certified material for 3D printed interior aircraft components. The database is available to the community through the America Makes Digital Storefront.

“The qualification of the ULTEM 9085 material and the establishment of the material properties database by the rp+m-led team are huge steps forward for AM, particularly within the aerospace and defense industries. On behalf of all of us at America Makes, I want to commend rp+m and its team for enabling the broad dissemination of the collective knowledge of ULTEM 9085 for the innovation of future part design,” said Rob Gorham, the Executive Director of America Makes. “The ability to use AM to produce parts with repeatable characteristics and consistent quality for certifiable manufacturing is a key factor to the increased adoption of AM within the multi-billion dollar aircraft interior parts segment.”

3D MicroPrint Identifying Ultra-Fine 3D Printing Powders

Additive Manufacturing Powder Samples

Germany company 3D MicroPrint uses 3D printing to produce complex metal parts on the micro-scale with its Micro Laser Sintering (MLS) technology, and announced that it is using the FT4 Powder Rheometer from UK-based Freeman Technology, which has over 15 years of experience in powder characterization and flow, in order to push the technology to its limits by identifying ultra-fine metal powders that will process efficiently. The system can differentiate raw powder materials, less than five microns in size, with the kinds of superior flow characteristics that are needed to produce accurate components using 3D MicroPrint’s Micro Laser Sintering (MLS) technology.

“With MLS we are essentially pushing standard AM towards its performance limits. To achieve precise control at the micro scale we spread powders in layers just a few microns thick before selectively fusing areas of the powder bed with a highly focused laser beam. The ultra-fine powders required typically behave quite differently to powders of > 25µm particle size,” explained Joachim Goebner, the CEO at 3D MicroPrint. “We therefore rely on the FT4 Powder Rheometer to identify materials which will perform effectively with our machines, with specified process parameters. Before we had the instrument selecting a suitable powder was essentially a matter of trial and error, a far less efficient approach.”

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Comparing 3D Printed Parts to Parts Produced by High Pressure Die Casting

Additive manufacturing has, in many studies, been compared with traditional manufacturing techniques like, for example, injection molding. In a study entitled “The Use of Selective Laser Melting to Increase the Performance of AlSi9Cu3Fe Alloy,” a group of researchers compared parts made with 3D printing to parts made with die casting, using the same material.

Aluminum and its alloys have an excellent strength to weight ratio, and AlSi9CuFe is frequently used in the automotive industry because of its mechanical strength. It is easy to machine and is usually processed by high pressure die casting, but the method has its imperfections.

“High-pressure die casting (HPDC) enables high production volumes of parts showing high surface quality,” the researchers state. “Compared to gravity casting, even more complex shapes are possible to be produced, but still, the current demands for porous structures or very small dimensions are hardly attainable. Additionally, the HPDC process is limited by the formation of defects, such as oxide films, shrinkage cavities, air porosity, etc., which cannot be eliminated. Such defects then weaken the castings structurally and exclude them for use in the field of safety applications.”

Therefore, the researchers conducted a study in which SLM 3D printing and high pressure die casting were used to produce parts using the same alloy. They then compared the properties of the parts. Porosity was examined in the samples, and transmission electron microscopy was used to observe nanoscale microstructural features. Uniaxial tensile tests were conducted, as were compressive tests and hardness measurement. Fracture surfaces were studied using scanning electron microscopy.

TEM bright field images obtained in the area of (a) a melt pool boundary and (b) a melt pool interior.

“Compared to as-cast microstructure consisting of α-Al dendrites and lamellar Al-Si eutectics, SLM yields in hierarchically heterogeneous microstructure,” the researchers conclude. “Grains are arranged in melt pools representing material melted and solidified by single laser tracks in the direction of the highest temperature gradient. They exhibit very fine cellular substructure in which the cells of α-Al solid solution oversaturated in Si and Cu are separated by eutectic network formed by cubic particles of pure Si, here 30–70 nm in size.”

The 3D printed parts showed a very fine microstructure, and overall, the parts produced by additive manufacturing exhibited greater strength than those produced by die casting, as well as greater plasticity. This is notable because it shows that 3D printing can overcome the strength-ductility tradeoff that is present in so many metals and alloys. The researchers conclude that 3D printing can improve the performance of the alloy compared to high pressure die casting, as well as produce more complex and lightweight structures, opening up new applications.

Comparison between (a) as-cast (HPDC) and (b) SLM microstructures.

This study is another example of how 3D printing can improve upon traditional manufacturing techniques. 3D printing is often hailed for its ability to speed up production, save money, and produce more complex and lightweight components than traditional manufacturing, but the researchers’ study shows that the very microstructure of 3D printed materials can be superior to that of the same materials fabricated in a traditional way.

Authors of the paper include Michaela Fousova, Drahomir Dvorsky, Marek Vronka, Dalibor Vojtech and Pavel Lejcek.

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Study Shows Anisotropic Properties of 3D Printed Nickel Super Alloy K418 (713C)

3D printing materials don’t just suddenly appear and get put to use without further thought – there is a great deal of study that goes into them, particularly metal materials. Their behaviors and properties must be known in order to make sure they perform. Especially now that our technology is being used in high-value applications such as aero-engines and medcine research about material properties and performance is growing in both volume and importance. In a new study entitled “Anisotropy of nickel-based superalloy K418 fabricated by selective laser melting,” a group of researchers used 3D printed samples to study the anisotropic mechanical behavior of one particular material – K418, a nickel-based superalloy.

K418 was developed in the 1960s and has been used on a widespread basis in aerospace engines, hot end turbocharger impellers, turbine blades the automotive industry, and more. It has excellent mechanical properties, excellent ductility and fatigue strength, good oxidation resistance at high temperatures, making it a stable and reliable material. It is difficult to machine by conventional methods at room temperature, however, due to excessive tool wearing, high cutting temperature, and other issues. Components made from K418 are often complex, with inner chambers, thin walls, and overhangs, making them difficult to fabricate through one single method such as machining. This alloy is also known as 713C Alloy, 713C,or Inconel 713C Alloy and many derivatives thereof. Inconel is actually a superalloy that was developed in the 60″s but became a catch-all name for the many superalloys developed around the same time frame. Inconel 713LC was a proprietary alloy made by the INCO (INCO was a global Canadian mining company that was the world’s largest producer of nickel, bought by Vale in 2006) and this term plus all of the derivatives are used interchangeably. 713C or as it is also known K418 has been used extensively in rocket engines, turbo stages and in the space and defense industries since the 60’s. SpaceX, NASA, Rocketdyne and others are all using this material to 3D print rocket engines.

Selective laser melting (SLM, also called powder bed fusion, DMLS, Direct Metal Laser Sintering, PBF) has shown itself to be more effective than conventional techniques like machining at manufacturing complex metal components. Thanks to its high temperature and rapid cooling, it also offers better mechanical properties than casting.

In this study, the researchers looked at the anisotropic properties of the K418 alloy. Anisotropy is defined as a difference in physical or mechanical properties when measured along different axes – in other words, a material’s properties could be different along the vertical axis than along the horizontal axis. In FDM (material extrusion) printed parts for example parts are weaker in between layers than laterally.

The researchers used a self-developed SLM 3D printer to produce several cylinders from the K418 material. The samples were manufactured both horizontally and vertically, or transverse and longitudinal. Microstructural anisotropy analysis was performed on both the horizontal and vertical samples.

“The microstructural anisotropy analysis was performed by optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM),” the researchers explain. “Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis was used to identify their crystallographic preferred orientation (texture) and to correlate the anisotropy of the mechanical strength with the texture of the material. The results showed that the transverse specimens had slightly higher yield strength, but much significantly higher ductility than that of the transverse specimens with the elongated columnar grains along the building direction.”

SEM micrographs of (a and b) the horizontal samples and (b and c) the vertical samples.

The extremely high thermal gradient and rapid cooling rate during the SLM process led to strong non-equilibrium solidification of the molten pool and the formation of ultrafine grain structure, which resulted in anisotropic microstructures and mechanical properties in different directions.

“The presence of textures renders the SLM processed K418 samples anisotropic in their mechanical properties, indicating that the transverse specimens display a ductile-brittle hybrid fracture mode with a slightly higher yield strength, while the vertical specimens show a ductile fracture mode with a significant increase in ductility,” the researchers continue.

The fact that SLM-produced K418 has anisotropic properties is an interesting finding. The finding may mean that engineers will feel more comfortable using and designing K418 parts using 3D printing. Metal 3D printing is an extremely effective method for producing components from this material, particularly complex structures. Given the performance envelope of this material and its space applications, this is sure to be an article that many will take an interest in. For some more reading on Inconel this article discusses cooling rates and their effects on Inconel 718 and in this article, we look at how Inconel 718 is being used by Launcher.

Authors of the paper include Zhen Chen, Shenggui Chen, Zhengying Wei, Lijuan Zhang, Pei Wei, Bingheng Lu, Shuzhe Zhang, and Yu Xiang.

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