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Renishaw Using Metal 3D Printing to Create Custom Styli for Manufacturers

3D printed custom hollow titanium stylus, for REVO 5-axis inspection system

This past summer, Renishaw introduced a 3D printed version, made with its metal laser powder bed fusion technology, to its range of available styli. Now in the new year, the company is launching even more 3D printed styli, so its customers will be able to fabricate complex parts calls for more customized solutions.

Renishaw provides its customers with in-house styli solutions that are both complex and turnkey, and that have the capability of accessing part features that other styli can’t reach. By using flexible metal 3D printing technology to fabricate these custom components, project lead time can decrease. In addition, metal 3D printing can also be used to create parts and components with complex shapes and structures that could not be manufactured using more conventional methods, such as strong yet lightweight lattice structures and complicated geometry with internal structures.

Because Renishaw’s metal 3D printing can achieve such design flexibility, it can ensure repeatable metrology for its customers, and can create and customize 3D printed styli for all sorts of applications.

Customers can add female titanium threads (M2/M3/M4/M5) to fit any additional stylus from Renishaw, and gain more flexibility when it comes to accessing the critical features of a component by adding a curved, 3D printed stylus to its REVO 5-axis inspection system. Renishaw can also add on a larger tip to its styli with 3D printing, which is necessary for components with larger features.

Because it’s using 3D printing to fabricate its styli, Renishaw can achieve:

  • complex geometry – styli can meet access requirements for complicated parts
  • custom design – Renishaw designs and produces all its 3D printed styli in-house
  • design freedom – designing parts for end use, and not for inspection
  • highly accurate metrology – Renishaw uses metal 3D printing to achieve strong, lightweight structures with repeatable metrology results

Because it 3D prints all of its styli in-house, the company can ensure high quality and short lead times, so production won’t be held up. Additionally, 3D printed styli provide access to features that are unable to be reached with more traditional versions, meaning that parts won’t need to be designed for metrology access any longer.

Renishaw writes, “Disc styli are a solution for measuring large features on components, but designing them has been problematic in the past. The discs could only be manufactured in ceramic, which limited the sizes it was possible to produce. A custom AM stylus can provide a stiff and lightweight structure that can be manufactured to a larger diameter than a ceramic styli. A 100 mm titanium disc, with ground outer surface, designed and made by Renishaw, weighs just 13 grams, which means it can be fitted to the REVO multi-sensor platform. it provides a 70% reduction in weight compared with a conventional disc stylus of this size.”

3D printed 100 mm disc stylus

More measurement options are opened up with 3D printed custom styli for metrology applications, as the technology, as previously mentioned, can produce more complex shapes that allow inspection of features that were not accessible before now. Renishaw’s 3D printed styli are even more flexible, as they’re designed to “heighten the capability of the REVO® 5-axis CMM multi-sensor platform.”

By combining the flexibility of 3D printing and the REVO multi-sensor platform, manufacturers can enjoy greater part design freedom. To take advantage of all these benefits, check out Renishaw’s comprehensive custom design services for metrology.

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

[Source: Renishaw]

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US Army Learning About and Using 3D Printing to Improve Military Readiness

The REF Ex Lab at Bagram Airfield produced these items after Ex Lab engineers worked with Soldiers to develop solutions to problems they encountered.

The US Army has long been putting 3D printing to good use. In an article published in the latest edition of Army AL&T Magazine, senior editor Steve Stark takes a deep dive into just how this branch of the military is using 3D printing, and what barriers stand in its way.

Stark wrote that 3D printing “is a natural fit for the Army” as the military branch works to upgrade its manufacturing technologies. Dr. Philip Perconti, director of the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL), says the technology “is at a pivotal stage in development.”

At the opening of the new Advanced Manufacturing, Materials and Processes (AMMP) manufacturing innovation center in Maryland this fall, Dr. Perconti said, “The Army wants to be at the forefront of this advancement in technology.”

Dr. Perconti believes that mobile production of various replacement parts and components is on the horizon, and he’s not wrong: the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marines are already taking advantage of this application.

3D printing can be used to improve readiness, which is a fairly wide-ranging category that covers everything from buildings and repairs to logistics and sustainment. The overarching goal is to send units out with just the right amount of equipment to establish a mobile unit for on-demand 3D printing.

Mike Nikodinovski, a mechanical engineer and additive expert with the Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), explained that various places around the Army, like its Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) and the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC), are currently enhancing readiness, and speeding up the sustainment process, by experimenting with the 3D printing of plastic and metal parts.

“We’ve been repairing parts for the M1 Abrams. … We’ve done projects cross-Army and with the Marine Corps where we printed things like impeller fans. A lot of the things we’ve been doing are just basic one-for-one replacement,” Nikodinovski said. “What can you do with additive for a part that’s traditionally manufactured? A lot of that gets at sustainment, and that’s what we’re trying to stand up at Rock Island—give them the capabilities so they can print metal parts, especially if you want … long-term procurement for parts where you only need a couple, vendors are no longer in business and it doesn’t make a lot of sense to spend a lot of money to set up tooling. Can additive be used to supplement the sustainment process, where I can just, say, print three parts and save all the time it would take to find vendors or set up the tooling?”

A 3D printed 90° strain relief offset connector, which was designed and fabricated by REF engineers at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan to prevent cables from breaking when attached to a piece of equipment.

Additive manufacturing is very different from subtractive manufacturing, which means that critical training is involved.

“That’s a huge undertaking. We need to not only train the people who are going to touch and run the machines, but train the troops and the engineers on the capabilities of and how to design for AM,” explained Edward Flinn, the Director of Advanced Manufacturing at Rock Island Arsenal.

“You’ve got to train the Soldier on the capabilities of the technology along with how to actually use the machine. Then there’s how to teach the design community themselves the benefits of additive so they can start designing for it.”

Ryan Muzii, REF support engineer, cuts metal for a project.

Megan Krieger, a mechanical engineer at the Army’s Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), explained that the use of makerspaces in the MWRs (morale, welfare, and recreation facilities) at libraries is a helpful way to get military personnel more familiar with 3D printing. She explained that this way, “if people are passionate about making things, they’ll learn it a lot better than if they’re just thrown into it.”

Outside of actually learning how to use the technology, the Army is also working to develop new materials and design tools for 3D printing.

Dr. William Benard, senior campaign scientist in materials development with ARL in Maryland, said, “The Army’s near-term efforts are looking at readiness, and in research, one of the simpler things is to just design new materials that are easier to print with, more reliable to print with, [the] properties are well understood—that kind of thing as a substitute, sort of a more direct approach to support of existing parts.

“One of the areas of investment that ARL is making to support this, and I know others in the RDECOM community are looking at it as well, is, really, new design tools for additive.”

The Army also needs to determine the specific economics of adopting 3D printing. While cost is less of a factor when you’re up against a tight deadline, this reverses when manufacturing reproducibility and cost are more important in a project. Additional factors include how critical the need for the part is, how quickly developments are being made, what else depends on the particular project, and where exactly the Army is spending money.

Tim Phillis, expeditionary additive manufacturing project officer for RDECOM’s Armament Research, Development Engineering Center’s Rapid Fabrication via Additive Manufacturing on the Battlefield (R-FAB), explained, “We as scientists and engineers can talk about material properties and print bed temperatures and print heads and all this kind of stuff, but the senior leadership is looking at, ‘So what? How does this technology improve readiness? How can I keep systems and Soldiers ready to go?’ And that’s what we’re learning.”

Soldiers used R-FAB during a Pacific Pathways exercise in 2017 to print a camera lens cover for a Stryker vehicle in four hours. [US Army photo]

Stark wrote that the Army is mostly “focusing its efforts on its modernization priorities,” and leaving further development up to academia and industry. If our military wants to use 3D printing for real-world applications, this development needs to speed up – these parts must stand up under plenty of stress.

Dr. Aura Gimm, who was managing the Army’s MIT-affiliated research center program at the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at the time of her interview, said, “It’s one thing to create decorative parts, but it’s something else if you’re trying to create a loadbearing or actuating parts that could fail.

“The standardization and making sure that we have metrology or the metrics to test and evaluate these parts is going to be quite critical, for [items made with additive] to be actually deployable in the field. Because one thing that we don’t want is to have these parts … not work as expected.”

Dr. Perconti concurred:

“Ultimately, the goal for us is to enable qualified components that are indistinguishable from those they replace. Remember, when you take a part out of a weapon system and replace it with an additive manufactured part, you’re putting lives on the line if that part is not fully capable. So we have to be very sure that whatever we do, we understand the science, we understand the manufacturing, and we understand that we are delivering qualified parts for our warfighters.”

UH-60A/L Black Hawk Helicopter [Image: Military.com]

For example, AMRDEC has been working with General Electric Co. to 3D print parts for the T700 motor, which powers both the Apache and Black Hawk helicopters. However, these motor parts are not in use, as they have not yet been tested and and qualified at the Army’s standards. Kathy Olson, additive manufacturing lead in the Manufacturing Science and Technology Division of the Army’s Manufacturing Technology program at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, said this project is “more of a knowledge transition” to show that it’s possible to 3D print the parts with laser powder bed fusion.

In order to qualify 3D printed parts for Army use, the materials must first be qualified.

“Then you have to qualify your machine and make sure it’s producing repeatable parts, and then qualify the process for the part that you’re building, because you’ll have likely different parameter sets for your different geometries for the different parts [that] you’re going to build,” Olson explained.

“It’s not like you can just press a button and go. There’s a lot of engineering involved on both sides of it. Even the design of your build-layout is going to involve some iteration of getting your layout just such that the part prints correctly.”

One solid application for Army 3D printing is tooling, as changes in this process don’t need any engineering changes.

Dr. Patrick Fowler, right, former lead engineer of the Ex Lab in Afghanistan, works with a Soldier on an idea for a materiel solution.

“You can get quick turnaround on tooling,” Flinn explained. “The design process takes place, but the manufacturing can take place in days instead of weeks…For prototyping or for mainstream manufacturing, I can have a tool made [additively] and up and running in 24 hours.”

If applied correctly, 3D printing will allow soldiers deployed all over the world to make almost anything they need in the field.

“What missions can we solve? We’re finding all kinds of things,” said Phillis. “Humvees are being dead-lined because they don’t have gas caps. Or the gas cap breaks. When they order it, they’ve got to sit there for 30 days or 45 days or however long it takes to get that through the supply system.

“If we can produce it in a couple of hours, now we’ve got a truck that’s ready for use while we’re waiting for the supply system to catch up.”

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

[Images: US Army photos by Jon Micheal Connor, Army Public Affairs, unless otherwise noted]

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Betatype Reducing Build Time and Cost for Manufacturing 3D Printed Orthopaedic Implants

Spinal cage production build

Founded in 2012, London-based Betatype works to increase the productivity and efficiency of metal 3D printing, so that it can be used as a viable production technology. The company has worked with the aviation, automotive, and consumer products industries, and is now moving on to the medical field in its latest case study.

Metal 3D printing, and laser powder bed fusion (PBF) in particular, can be very advantageous when it comes to fabricating orthopaedic implants. Betatype has found time and again that this particular process can majorly increase productivity, as it is able to manufacture strong, complex structures that are durable enough to endure in the human body and can simulate the porous, mesh-like properties of bone, without wasting materials or time. Medical device manufacturers are able to achieve cost-effective serial production of everything from lumbar cages to acetublar cups using PBF, as the technology can be used to make safer, more porous implants of multiple shapes and sizes.

Obviously, orthopaedic implants have a certain level of design complexity, which can result in high volumes of data being generated that then slow down build processors. But Betatype’s innovative data processing platform Engine, which can manage and control multi-scale design, is able to get past this problem thanks to its supercomputing power, and rapidly create scan data for laser PBF 3D printing.

Engine can produce optimized build data, and has what essentially boils down to limitless scalability for generating builds. Recently, Betatype successfully created serial production build data for a company, to the tune of over 50 GB worth of build files. Its Engine platform can scale up to 640 virtual CPUs with 4.88 terabytes of RAM in just a few hours, saving companies time and money.

Macro of CAD of spinal cage. L-R: traditional mesh format, and ARCH or LTCX format.

Betatype uses its Engine technology to help its orthopaedic clients achieve lower costs on serial production of implants by lowering process time, optimizing high build data volume, and maximizing machine usage. Engine applies specialist algorithms for converting complex geometry, which lets the implant designers work in file formats, like nTopology’s LTCX data or Betatype’s ARCH format, that are up to 96% more lightweight than STL files; for instance, a spinal cage model that weighed 235 MB as an STL file was only 8MB as an LTCX file.

By combining Engine’s build data generation with these more lightweight representations, Betatype can help designers shorten and simplify the orthopaedic implant manufacturing process, so it’s more cost-effective and flexible, without having to deal with any mesh data.

Single stack of posterior lumbar cages, supported via sacrificial beam elements.

In terms of cost per part for serial production, it’s also very important to properly utilize a 3D printer’s total build volume. Betatype designs lattice node matched supports, which allows it stack implant parts on top of one another – an effective use of build volume that results in the production of many complex implants in one print. In addition, standard media blasting can be used to remove the supports, which is another time-saving feature in that it totally eliminates the need for any kind of manual post processing work.

Betatype’s technology is also able to directly optimize laser firing times, and lower delay times, without having to use multiple lasers. This can decrease build time by as much as 40%, and the more parts you 3D print in a single build, without sacrificing time, the more cost-effective those parts are, which is why equipment amortization can majorly effect the cost of orthopaedic implants 3D printed with laser PBF technology.

It’s possible to break build time down into three separate components, which can be addressed in order to speed up the process:

  • dosing (applying powder to the machine bed)
  • fusion (applying energy to the powder bed)
  • motion (movement between fusion)

In another project, Betatype used its technology portfolio to lower the build time for an orthopaedic manufacturer’s implants to 15.4 hours, down from 25.8 hours. Betatype can optimize its laser scan paths in order to decrease how much movement time and firing is necessary to 3D print complex lattice structures, and galvo-driven path optimization can be used to ensure that only prerequisite delays are applied to the process, lowering delay times from 13 hours to just 3.

Discuss this news and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

[Images provided by Betatype]

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Anatomiz3D Partners with Incredible AM to Deliver 3D Printed Patient-Specific Healthcare Solutions

From implant molds, prosthetics, and surgical and educational models to surgical guides and patient-specific surgical models, Mumbai-based medical 3D printing company Anatomiz3D Medtech Private Limited has worked with many aspects of medical 3D printing. Anatomiz3D, which is the healthcare division of tech company Sahas Softech, uses 3D printing to enhance and personalize patient care, whether it’s providing them with peace of mind by showing them a model or making their surgery quicker and easier with guides and implants.

The healthcare solutions company uses patient data from 2D MRI and CT scans to provide 3D modeling and printing services to the medical community, so physicians can better help their patients. More than three years ago, it was the first company in India to provide doctors with a 3D printed, patient-specific pediatric cardiology model before surgery, and has since moved on, 3D printing models for spinal, oral and maxillofacial, orthopaedic, head and neck, and neurosurgery operations using a variety of methods, including SLS, stereolithography, DMLS, and color jet printing.

Anatomiz3D’s mission is two-fold: to aid surgical practices by simplifying and customizing operative planning and procedures in order to improve patient recovery quality, and to develop patient-specific tissue engineering solutions to help lower the need for organ donors in the future.

Now, the surgical 3D printing company has announced that it’s partnering up with another Indian company to develop various 3D printed specialty solutions for the personalized healthcare industry. Incredible AM Pvt Ltd, established in 1974 as part of Industrial Metal Powders Pvt Ltd in Pune, works with both the medical and engineering industries by providing metal 3D printing services.

Incredible AM Pvt Ltd has a great facility that’s based on FDA guidelines, and is also reportedly the only company in India that has received both ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 certifications for the manufacture of metal medical devices; this has helped it provide many customers across India with custom implants for neuro, orthopaedic, and maxillofacial surgeries.

With Incredible AM Pvt Ltd’s capabilities in metal 3D printing, paired with the design and plastic 3D printing skills provided by Anatomiz3D, this new partnership is essentially a one-stop-shop when it comes to personalized, patient-specific healthcare solutions.

Now, Incredible AM Pvt Ltd has invested an undisclosed amount of money into its new partner, Anatomiz3D, so that the two can work together to successfully even offer more 3D printed patient-specific surgical solutions to customers all around the world, focusing on affordable prices, excellent quality, and precise designs. The two companies have already helped create several orthopaedic, maxillofacial, and cranial implants together, and continue to work hard and help their respective R&D teams develop even more 3D printed medical products.

What do you think about this news? Discuss this story and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

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Top 10 3D Printing Aerospace Stories from 2018

3D printing has played an important role in many industries over the past year, such as medical, education, and aerospace. It would take a very long time to list all of the amazing news in aerospace 3D printing in 2018, which is why we’ve chosen our top 10 stories for you about 3D printing in the aerospace industry and put them all in a single article.

Sintavia Received Approval to 3D Print Production Parts for Honeywell Aerospace

Tier One metal 3D printer manufacturer Sintavia LLC, headquartered in Florida, announced in January that it is the first company to receive internal approval to 3D print flightworthy production parts, using a powder bed fusion process, for OEM Honeywell Aerospace. Sintavia’s exciting approval covers all of Honeywell’s programs.

Boeing and Oerlikon Developing Standard Processes

Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, signed a five-year collaboration agreement with Swiss technology and engineering group Oerlikon to develop standard processes and materials for metal 3D printing. Together, the two companies will use the data resulting from their agreement to support the creation of standard titanium 3D printing processes, in addition to the qualification of AM suppliers that will produce metallic components through a variety of different materials and machines. Their research will focus first on industrializing titanium powder bed fusion, as well as making sure that any parts made with the process will meet the necessary flight requirements of both the FAA and the Department of Defense.

FITNIK Launched Operations in Russia

In 2017, FIT AG, a German provider of rapid prototyping and additive design and manufacturing (ADM) services, began working with Russian research and engineering company NIK Ltd. to open up the country’s market for aerospace additive manufacturing. FIT and NIK started a new joint venture company, dubbed FITNIK, which combines the best of what both companies offer. In the winter of 2018, FITNIK finally launched its operations in the strategic location of Zhukovsky, which is an important aircraft R&D center.

New Polymer 3D Printing Standards for Aerospace Industry

The National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University (WSU), which is the country’s largest university aviation R&D institution, announced that it would be helping to create new technical standard documents for polymer 3D printing in the aerospace industry, together with the Polymer Additive Manufacturing (AMS AM-P) Subcommittee of global engineering organization SAE International. These new technical standard documents are supporting the industry’s interest in qualifying 3D printed polymer parts, as well as providing quality assurance provisions and technical requirements for the material feedstock characterization and FDM process that will be used to 3D print high-quality aerospace parts with Stratasys ULTEM 9085 and ULTEM 1010.

Premium AEROTEC Acquired APWORKS

Metal 3D printing expert and Airbus subsidiary APWORKS announced in April that it had been acquired as a subsidiary by aerostructures supplier Premium AEROTEC. Premium AEROTEC will be the sole shareholder, with APWORKS maintaining its own market presence as an independent company. Combining the two companies gave clients access to 11 production units and a wide variety of materials.

Gefertec’s Wire-Feed 3D Printing Developed for Aerospace

Gefertec, which uses wire as the feedstock for its patented 3DMP technology, worked with the Bremer Institut für Angewandte Strahltechnik GmbH (BIAS) to qualify its wire-feed 3D printing method to produce large structural aerospace components. The research took place as part of collaborative project REGIS, which includes several different partners from the aerospace industry, other research institutions, and machine manufacturers. Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy funded the project, which investigated the influence of shielding gas content and heat input on the mechanical properties of titanium and aluminium components.

Research Into Embedded QR Codes for Aerospace 3D Printing

It’s been predicted that by 2021, 75% of new commercial and military aircraft will contain 3D printed parts, so it’s vitally important to find a way to ensure that 3D printed components are genuine, and not counterfeit. A group of researchers from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering came up with a way to protect part integrity by converting QR codes, bar codes, and other passive tags into 3D features that are hidden inside 3D printed objects. The researchers explained in a paper how they were able to embed the codes in a way that they would neither compromise the integrity of the 3D printed object or be obvious to any counterfeiters attempting to reverse engineer the part.

Lockheed Martin Received Contract for Developing Aerospace 3D Printing

Aerospace company Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor, was granted a $5.8 million contract with the Office of Naval Research to help further develop 3D printing for the aerospace industry. Together, the two will investigate the use of artificial intelligence in training robots to independently oversee the 3D printing of complex aerospace components.

BeAM And PFW Aerospace Qualified 3D Printed Aerospace Component

BeAM, well-known for its Directed Energy Deposition (DED) technology, announced a new partnership with German company PFW Aerospace, which supplies systems and components for all civilian Airbus models and the Boeing 737 Dreamliner. Together, the two worked to qualify a 3D printed aerospace component, made out of the Ti6Al4V alloy, for a large civil passenger aircraft, in addition to industrializing BeAM’s DED process to manufacture series components and testing the applicability of the method to machined titanium components and complex welding designs.

Researchers Qualified 3D Printed Aerospace Brackets

Speaking of parts qualification, a team of researchers completed a feasibility study of the Thermoelastic Stress Analysis (TSA) on a titanium alloy space bracket made with Electron Beam Melting (EBM) 3D printing, in order to ensure that its mechanical behavior and other qualities were acceptable. The researchers developed a methodology, which was implemented on a titanium based-alloy satellite bracket.

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

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3D Printing News Briefs: December 22, 2018

Starting with fashion news, moving to automotive, and finally on to business, we’ve got a short but interesting 3D Printing News Briefs for you today. An Israeli fashion and shoe designer just introduced a 3D printed collection at a San Francisco museum, while Bugatti just tested out its 3D printed brake caliper. Roboze has three new points of contact for customers in North America, and Titomic has signed its second MoU of the week for metal powders.

3D Printed Fashion Collection on Display 

Ganit Goldstein, an Israeli fashion design student at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem whose work we’ve admired before, recently collaborated with Stratasys on her graduation collection, titled “Between the Layers,” which consists of six pairs of 3D printed shoes and seven 3D printed outfits. The high-end, haute couture collection was inspired by her time in Japan learning a traditional weaving technique called ‘ikat’ at the Tokyo University of the Arts, and all of the pieces were 3D printed on the Objet500 Connex3 Color Multi-material 3D Printer by Stratasys. The 3D printed shoes from Goldstein’s collection were unveiled earlier this week at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum as part of the “Arts of Fashion Foundation” International Student Fashion Competition, of which Goldstein is a finalist.

“Stratasys’ advanced 3D printing technology has opened up endless possibilities for my designs, enabling me to print any design at the voxel level in vibrant colors and a range of materials – all in a single print. This capability to control any voxel for any pattern has enabled me to design without boundaries and to combine 3D printing with traditional weaving techniques to create ultra-realistic shoes. For aspiring designers, the ability to fuse cutting-edge technology with traditional crafts is very exciting, unlocking the freedom to design without limitations of past years,” said Goldstein.

“With the knowledge I’ve gained while working with Stratasys, I’ve come to realize that 3D printing is increasingly becoming an integral part of design thanks to the unique design freedom achievable. For me, the key to good design is to first get an understanding of the traditional design methods and foundations, and then explore how I can enhance the essence of the traditional method with new technology. Not only does 3D printing accelerate the design process and enable reduced production costs, it also affords designers total freedom of design.”

Bugatti Tests 3D Printed Brake Caliper

Last year, super car manufacturer Bugatti revealed that it had created the world’s first 3D printed titanium brake caliper, which was also the largest brake caliper in the automotive industry, as well as the world’s largest 3D printed titanium pressure functional component ever produced. Bugatti worked with Laser Zentrum Nord, part of the Fraunhofer research organization, to develop the caliper, and vehicle trials for the part in series production were expected to start in early 2018.

Earlier this week, the Volkswagen Group posted a YouTube video showing an impressive test run of the 3D printed titanium brake caliper developed by Bugatti. See it for yourself below:

Roboze Announces Three New Customer Points of Contact

Italian 3D printer manufacturer Roboze is continuing its expansion, and this week announced  the names of its three new points of contact for its customers in the US, Canada, and Colombia, which will help it create direct channels in the North American market. This news comes right after the company announced that it had closed its first funding round of €3 million to further develop its R&D department and continue its EMEA and USA market expansion.

Its first new partner is ImageNet Consulting, based in Oklahoma City with a total of 18 US offices. The company chose to work with Roboze because of its high quality 3D printed parts and ability to use flame retardant materials. Ontario consulting company TM3 is working with Roboze because it provides the best opportunity for its customers to use a true industrial platform. Based in Medellin, Colombia, i3D is an expert in FDM technology and was impressed with the high quality of parts that were exhibited by Roboze at RAPID 2018.

Titomic Signs MoU with Sino-Euro

L-R: Sino-Euro’s Cristina Cao and S.J. Liang, Titomic’s Jeff Lang and Vahram Papyran, and Sino-Euro’s Alex Zhao

The day after announcing its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s Lasting Titanium, Australia metal 3D printing company Titomic announced that it had also signed an MoU with Sino-Euro Materials Technologies of Xi’An Co. Ltd, a Chinese company that specializes in producing spherical powder for the plasma rotating electrode process (PREP). According to the terms of the MoU, which is effective immediately, Sino-Euro will be appointed as Titomic’s Chinese sales distributor and customer support for its Kinetic Fusion systems. It will also provide Titomic with an exclusive supply of its aerospace grade titanium PREP process powders, and develop new metal powder for the Titomic Kinetic Fusion systems.

“We chose to execute this MoU with Sino-Euro for supply of their high-quality Aerospace grade PREP titanium powders aligned with their 50+ years of material science research in titanium and super alloys,” said Jeff Lang, Titomic’s Managing Director.

Discuss these stories and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

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Titomic Signs MoU with China’s Lasting Titanium to Secure Supply of Metal 3D Printing Powders

Titomic, a top metal 3D printing company in Australia well known for its innovative Kinetic Fusion technology, announced that it has just signed its latest Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), this time with Shaanxi Lasting Titanium Industry Co. Ltd, which is China’s largest manufacturer and global exporter of titanium powder and titanium alloy products.

The new MoU, which will commence immediately, will allow Titomic to secure a high quality supply of low-cost, commercially pure titanium powders from Lasting Titanium for use with its Kinetic Fusion technology, which includes benefits such as the ability to join dissimilar metals and composites for engineered properties in a single structure and a decreased time to market, thanks to its high deposition speeds.

“This MoU will provide exclusive supply of large volumes of price point titanium powder for use in Titomic’s TKF systems to create new commercial opportunities for titanium in traditional industries in a more efficient and sustainable way for industrial scale manufacturing,” said Jeff Lang, Titomic’s Managing Director.

Headquartered in Xi’An, Lasting Titanium has spent the last two decades supplying titanium products to multiple industries around the world, including aerospace, automotive, defense, medical, and 3D printing. In addition, Lasting Titanium, which has achieved international ISO, AMS, ASTM, and MIL standards across multiple industries, is also involved in research regarding rare metal production, forging, finishing, rolling, smelting, non-destructive testing, and both physical and chemical analyses.

The new partnership between Titomic and Lasting Titanium will, according to a Titomic press release, “enable the cooperative development of new titanium powders for Titomic Kinetic Fusion,” as well as attain an exclusive supply of new price point powders for Titomic’s technology.

Titomic’s unique Kinetic Fusion can be used to manufacture large parts with heat-related distortion or oxidation issues, so there are no size or shape constraints when it comes to the rapid 3D printing of large, complex parts. The process works by spraying titanium powder particles at supersonic speeds of about 1 km per second, using a 6-axis robot arm, onto a scaffold. These particles move so fast that when they collide on the scaffold, they fuse together mechanically to produce huge, load-bearing 3D forms.

The Kinetic Fusion process is also versatile enough to use both spherical and irregular morphology metal powders to 3D print industrial scale metal products, which provides the company with additional opportunities in industries like automotive, marine, building, and oil & gas that previously could not apply titanium due to a lack of economic viability.

L-R: Lasting Titanium’s Gloria Wang, Cai Longyang, Zheng Xiaofeng, and Wang Qi Lu, and Titomic’s Jeff Lang and Vahram Papyan.

Lasting TItanium’s irregular powder morphology is the perfect fit for industrial scale 3D printing with Titomic’s Kinetic Fusion systems. By using this irregular titanium powder, Titomic’s customers will be able to access “a price point alternative” that will go well with the company’s additional range of aerospace-grade and mid-end titanium powders; other 3D printing methods can’t use this price point irregular powder in the same way, which will set Titomic apart in its field.

The new MoU between Lasting Titanium and Titomic will open up new commercial opportunities for 3D printed titanium products over multiple industries, and will specifically create a viable way for Titomic’s Kinetic Fusion systems to compete with traditional methods of manufacturing.

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Optomec Acquires Huffman to Increase Its 3D Printing Reach in the Gas Turbine Market

Production-grade metal 3D printing leader Optomec has announced its acquisition of Huffman, a South Carolina-based company that has years of experience in supplying metal 3D printing systems for the additive repair of gas turbine components in the energy and aviation markets. This acquisition will increase its reach within Huffman’s home in the gas turbine market, which is good news for Optomec, as the global commercial aviation and power industry spend quite a lot of money each year on repairs.

Huffman and Optomec both offer a metal 3D printing process known as Directed Energy Deposition (DED), or LENS, which has several advantages over more well-known methods like selective laser melting or powder bed fusion. For example, LENS can 3D print parts in far less time, and for far less money, than SLM (LPBF, DMLS) methods can, and the process is also unique in its ability to add metal to existing parts for applications in coating and repair that can actually increase a component’s useful shelf life.

LENS systems use a high power laser (400W to 3kW) to fuse powdered metals into fully dense three-dimensional structures. LENS 3D printers use the geometric information contained in a solid CAD model to automatically drive the process as it builds up a component layer by layer. Additional software and closed-loop process controls ensure the finished part’s geometric and mechanical integrity.

“The opportunity for additive manufacturing in repair applications is often overlooked, but when you consider that corrosion and wear cost the US economy $300 billion per year, and that the global commercial aviation industry spends almost $100 billion annually on repair, you can get a better sense of the magnitude of these markets. With the Huffman acquisition, we aim to expand the use of DED/LENS repair for the existing installed base of more than 100,000 gas turbines and engines, while also leveraging that expertise to drive greater adoption of cost-effective repairs for mainstream industrial applications,” said David Ramahi, the President and CEO of Optomec.

Huffman’s software and metal additive repair equipment are used by nearly all of the world’s major aircraft engine and industrial gas turbine manufacturers. The company’s metal deposition capabilities are used to help restore damaged or worn components, which costs a lot less money than just going out and purchasing new spare parts.

“Optomec and Huffman joining forces is exciting news in the additive manufacturing space. Having used products from both companies, I know the complementary strengths of their portfolios and the value they provide to aerospace, defense, and power generation customers,” said Christopher E. Thompson, the General Manager of Product Service, GE Power. “Optomec’s innovative and affordable solutions in this space, combined with the robust, production-friendly equipment and intuitive user interfaces provided by Huffman are sure to enable new leaps in free-form additive manufacturing for repairs, new part build and hybrid manufacturing.”

Optomec’s acquisition of Huffman will, on a strategic level, help combine its horizontal market reach with Huffman’s reach in the gas turbine market over many different industries and hundreds of customs. Both businesses should see accelerated growth as the two combine their technical expertise and complementary product portfolios.

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GE Additive Signs MoU with University of Sydney to Drive Metal 3D Printing Adoption in Australia

This week, GE Additive announced that it has signed a major Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Sydney, which includes a master research agreement. Per the agreement, GE Additive will support the university’s vision to create the first metal 3D printing ecosystem in Australia, and will invest a maximum of $1 million in research and development efforts annually over the next ten years to help speed up 3D printing adoption in the region and set up the necessary people and technology to drive education, commercial and economic opportunity, skills and job development, and research.

This agreement with the university is just the latest in a string of recent partnerships that GE Additive has announced in the last several months.

Debbra Rogers, Chief Commercial Officer, GE Additive, said, “We were immediately impressed by the University of Sydney’s vision for additive manufacturing – not just at an academic level, but also because they understand the positive impact this technology can have on Australia’s economy and its workforce in the very near future.

“Additive requires a completely different way of engineering and thinking. Educating and training current workforces with new skills and also getting more engineers into additive takes time and programs need to be developed over a number of years. The University of Sydney recognises this and that in order to build the right mindset, the right skills, the right materials we need to encourage close collaboration between companies, academia and governments.”

The university is actively working to provide intellectual leadership in 3D printing over the next ten years, and this new MoU reinforces its commitment to build a 1,000 square meter Additive Manufacturing and Advanced Materials Processing research facility, which will end up acting as a “focal point,” as GE Additive calls it, for the partnership.

Professor Simon Ringer, the Director of Core Research Facilities at the University of Sydney, said, “This addition to the University’s core research facilities will allow our researchers and research partners to conduct trail-blazing fundamental research, and will directly benefit Australian industry, particularly our aerospace, transport, biomedical and defence sectors.

“We are creating an environment for our researchers to explore the limits of what materials can do, how they are structured, and how to make them. Establishing a world-class capability in Darlington/ Camperdown is a key first step for our grand plans for Advanced Manufacturing in Paramatta/Westmead.”

Additionally, the university will also make an investment in current, and future, GE Additive technologies under the terms of the MoU.

The university’s Vice-Chancellor and Principal Dr Michael Spence said, “This MoU builds on the University’s world-class expertise in the disciplines essential to advanced manufacturing such as materials engineering and integrated digital systems.

“By partnering with GE Additive, an industry leader in additive manufacturing, we can set the agenda for this disruptive technology and ensure that Australia is primed to both participate in, and contribute to, this exciting next phase of the industrial revolution. The collaboration will drive the R&D needed to learn how this disruption to manufacturing can be harnessed for economic benefit. We are especially delighted that this initiative aligns with our plan to establish a new campus at Parramatta/ Westmead, where advanced manufacturing will be a key focus.”

GE Additive and the University of Sydney will also cooperate on developing new applications, as well as potentially new 3D printing industries, to drive positive economic and commercial impact. GE Additive’s funding will help expand upon the university’s current materials science and advanced manufacturing research infrastructure and capabilities by helping to increase new R&D efforts into analytics, material and powder technologies, and sensing. Both will also enjoy bilateral access to the other’s networks of academic, government, and industry stakeholders.

L-R: Debbra Rogers, chief commercial officer, GE Additive; Professor Laurent Rivory, Pro-Vice-
Chancellor (Research), University of Sydney; Christine Furstoss, chief technology officer, GE Additive; and Dr. Michael Spence, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of University of Sydney

The aforementioned master research agreement, which was agreed to within the terms of the MoU, will cover three separate areas:

  • Image processing and data analytics
  • Materials and powder technologies, such as alloy design and modification, post-processing optimization, and materials gaps in repairs
  • Sensing technologies and advanced materials characterization

This last area will build on the university’s existing experience with electron microscopy and the electron beam melting (EBM) technology developed by GE Additive company Arcam.

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[Images provided by GE Additive]

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Interview with 3D Print Pioneer Kevin McAlea EVP Healthcare and Metals 3D Systems on Industrializing 3D Printing

There are not a lot of people out there with over 25 years of experience in 3D Printing. One of those people is Kevin McAlea. He is currently an EVP at 3D Systems and in charge of the company’s Healthcare and Metal Printing Business Units. In Healthcare 3D Systems is deploying 3D printing and 3D scanning into various medical markets from medical models to patient-specific implants and surgical planning. The company has software for doctors and hospitals, can also sell 3D printing as a service or can sell machines. In metal printing 3D Systems’ sells specialized metal printers for dental as well as larger production systems for industry such as its DMP Flex 350 and DMP Factory 500 systems. Previously Kevin worked as VP for Europe, VP Marketing, SVP for Production Printers at 3D Systems. Before this Kevin was the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at venerable laser sintering company DTM which was acquired by 3D Systems. Kevin started at DTM in 3D printing in 1993. Not only are there few people with this much experience there are very few people that have fullfilled so many different operational roles in 3D printing businesses and barely any people that additionally have as deep an experience with polymer sintering, metal sintering, inkjet and stereolithography. It’s a real treat to be able to interview a true pioneer and veteran such as Kevin.

What have you learned in your 25 years in 3D printing?

Over the course of my career in 3D printing, what I find most interesting has always been the potential applications. In the early years of 3D printing, it was about prototyping. But the realization has existed for quite some time that at some point manufacturers would be able to migrate from prototyping to production. The transformative potential of the technology enables compelling use cases and applications. The industry has gone through several hype cycles, but if you’ve been in industry long enough, you’ve seen steady growth in use for production manufacturing such as for hearing aids and dental aligners. Manufacturing with additive is real today, and will drive this industry beyond what we’ve seen in last 25-30 years – that’s what makes this so exciting.

What have been some of the biggest changes?

For more than 15 years, 3D printing was largely a hidden cottage industry – no one knew anything about it. Today, everyone has heard of it, but with this broad awareness, there have also been some misconceptions about how it can be used and its maturity. In the last 10 years, we’ve seen quite a shift. When 3D printing began, it was initially an industry with a small number of players and limited investment. Today, we’re seeing lots of investment money coming in to the industry. Along with additional money, we’re seeing a lot of new players and technologies. While these will not all prove to be long-term winners, it creates churn in the market – pushing all the technology providers to grow and push the boundaries of what is possible. And this is what helps drive growth and innovation.

What has it been like working in this industry?

In a macro sense, it’s been something of a roller coaster ride. In the history of 3D printing, some have seen its potential as poised for huge success but then they’ve written it off. It’s very cyclical. If you’re fortunate enough to be on the inside of this industry, what makes it so compelling is all the new applications being developed and taking off. Not many people in their careers get the opportunity to work on transformational applications.

Where is our industry now?

With the sheer amount of investment going into the industry right now, new technologies are being developed and existing technologies are expanding. We’re seeing manufacturers implementing new applications and setting up factories. And many large companies are embarking on research and exploration to determine how they can integrate 3D printing into their business. Over the next decade, there will be a big sorting out that will take place as many of these pieces fall into place.

What are some things that need to change?

While the industry has made tremendous strides over the past 30 years, the technology is still relatively immature. And we also see many manufacturers out there that still don’t fully understand where to apply 3D printing, where it makes sense, what parts can benefit from 3D printing and the resulting cost benefit, as well as truly embracing the capital required to set up their factory. There is still quite a bit to be done in terms of educating the market, and providing partnership and counsel to help manufacturers.

What are some of the biggest challenges?

In addition to what I just mentioned, we need to take stock of what is available in the industry with regard to technology, materials and how they can be applied to parts selection and cost. We also need a broader portfolio of materials to expand the range of applications which can be addressed through enhanced speed and parts cost reduction.

A 3D Systems DMP Factory 500 Metal 3D Printing System

What have been some key developments in metal printing?

The fact that we can produce 3D printed parts with excellent properties from traditional metal alloys has been major part of the success story for metal 3D printing. This allows us to create 3D printed parts for aerospace and medical with limited risk that are better or as good as conventionally manufactured parts.

We’ve also seen Increases in print speed which is driving down parts cost, and the ability to make parts in larger sizes that customers like aerospace require.

I believe the third key development to be the ability to certify and validate parts and printers in regulated industries. This is a major breakthrough allowing us to enter advanced manufacturing segments and be successful.

How do you see the future of Direct Metal Printing?

To date, we’ve seen on-going, increased adoption in advanced manufacturing segments such as aerospace, power generation, and medical devices. This is all still in the early stages, but we’ve seen enough demonstrated success that it will drive advancements in next 5-10 years. I believe the technology will also continue to improve – for example, process control, QA, several-fold increase in speed, and the holes in materials portfolio will close – driving increased adoption.

A DMP Factory 350

What have been some of the key advancements in healthcare?

Healthcare like aerospace is a heavily regulated industry. To be successful, a technology partner must demonstrate they can print a part and meet all the requirements for its use in a very rigorous way. It’s also imperative to demonstrate you can install and validate this (3D printing) equipment for a medical environment. The FDA is very transparent in how they operate and their regulatory requirements. Multiple OEMS and service providers have been able to show they can validate use of the printers to make these parts to meet regulatory approval coupled with quality work in factory environment. Huge breakthroughs have been made in this area which have resulted from lots of work by lots of people. You can talk ad nauseam about parts that could be designed by 3D printing, but without validation and approval, there’s no forward movement.

How difficult is it to manufacture medical devices with 3D printing?

It depends. This is a tough question to answer. It’s important for the manufacturer to understand how to apply 3D printing and what parts to select to print. Right now, this is still very much in its infancy. People are still sorting out the range of potential medical devices (i.e., implants and instrumentation) that make good sense for 3D printing. Before production can even take place, a manufacturer must ensure they can operate correctly in a factory environment and validate the printers for production. Many medical device companies can validate traditional factory equipment, but 3D printers are a whole different animal. Today, this is still not a common practice, nor well-understood.

What advice would you give a company interested in manufacturing medical devices?

If a company wants to manufacture medical devices they need to find the right partner with the know-how to set up and validate these environments. And currently, the know-how exists in pockets. 3D Systems has it with experience in our facilities in Denver, CO and Leuven, Belgium,, and the expertise of application teams that understand how to optimize processes, and validate those processes in-house. When a manufacturer works with the right partner, it reduces the time it takes to get from “want to do this” to actually executing.

· Do you see printing medical devices as something that will be done in-house, by specialized manufacturers, by services?

There are two primary routes for medical device manufacturing. Of course, there is in-house production and all large medical device companies will do some amount of in-house manufacturing. However, even for these large manufacturers, there will still be certain classes or types of parts they choose to outsource. Mid-size manufacturers, on the other hand, will primarily outsource the production based on the segment they’re addressing and how large a percentage of their business it is.

The supply chain will be comprised of large OEMs producing some of the parts complemented by traditional contract manufacturers who already supply these device manufacturers who are considering 3D printing as a new option to deliver those parts. Again, the important piece to keep in mind is selecting a well-trusted vendor partner that has the experience, certifications, and post-processing capabilities required. 3D Systems has an objective to enable this. We’re setting up a certified partner network and acting as the trusted vendor.

In metal printing for dental, what are some interesting recent developments?

There is an on-going good opportunity in dental for direct production of crowns & bridges as well as implants. And, specifically for implants, there are some opportunities for hybrid manufacturing – that is, blending additive manufacturing with traditional manufacturing. There is also a small but interesting opportunity to produce crowns from precious metals.

A 3D printed exhaust made on 3D Systems Equipment is on the right while the conventionally made exhaust on the left would have a much higher part count. 

What is needed to truly industrialize metal printing?

First and foremost, we need strong tools for process control and QA. In situ QA tools are pretty essential to fully industrializing a technology. With these tools we are able to reliably predict the output – or final part – based on inputs. Tools for both are in the early stages right now, but we currently have more and more tools to understand what’s going on in-process. These tools help us learn something about the quality of parts produced prior to inspecting them.

To industrialize metal printing, we also need a closer integration of additive and subtractive manufacturing. In almost all cases we don’t simply take 3D printed parts out of the machine and use them as-is. Typically, there is fairly significant post-processing involving multiple steps to get to the final part including machining and wire EDM. Today, that transition is fairly awkward and not very smooth.

It will also be imperative for manufacturers to have a deeper understanding of parts selection and cost prediction. What parts make the most sense to 3D print? How can we predict the cost to produce them? And then how do we select the right projects to start and ensure a profitable outcome?

In medical printing I see a lot of consumers thinking that they’ll get a heart printed a few years from now. Meanwhile, on the research side, people tell me that it will take 20 years for us to print complex organs. What’s your view?

I believe it’s important to separate the potential proof of concepts and all the fascinating work currently ongoing from all the steps needed to actually put this inside a person. As discussed previously, healthcare is a highly regulated industry. So while there are lots of interesting demonstrations of what’s possible, there is a pretty significant gap to actually going through regulatory steps to get these into a person.

You’ve worked in inkjet for a long time. Binder jetting metal is all the rage. Is this something for 3D Systems to consider?

We track all new technologies, including non-laser powder bed processes. There could be opportunities for two-stage processes, where a green part is created in a printer and then solidified in a high-temperature furnace. This might be suitable for parts that would normally made by MIM (Metal Injection Molding). With no tooling required and the ability to use lower-cost powders, there might be some very interesting opportunities for this approach. However, I have some doubts as to whether the properties are sufficient to target the applications we address today.

What advice would you give firms that wish to industrialize 3D printing for manufacturing?

In my years in the industry, I’ve seen many companies attempt to truly industrialize additive. The ones who are the most successful are the manufacturers that partner with a company that has the expertise and experience to guide them to successful implementation. The biggest obstacle we see is companies that don’t understand the technology well enough to select the right parts to 3D print. If the wrong part is selected for the process, you run the risk of tainting everyone’s view of 3D printing. The right partner can help not only select the right part, but then help design it in a way that is appropriate for AM. Additionally, and perhaps even more fundamentally, is putting together a business plan and developing the case for how AM can positively impact overall operations.