GSD Global Partners with Sandvik to 3D Print Critical Titanium Part for E-Bike

Electric bikes are known to be pricey, but if you have ever investigated much about quality cycling equipment, that’s not a surprise—whether you are in the market for a conventional bicycle requiring only the energy of your pedaling legs to act as power, or a more complex battery-powered assist. And while there may be a small percentage of bicyclists out there who ride because they have no other choice, for many, cycling is a passion which offers a host of benefits, from improving cardiovascular health to decreasing stress—and cutting down on the environmental footprint.

Coupled with 3D printing, the potential advantages multiply for the bicycle industry—marked by numerous and impressive forays into designs that are stainless and sleek, prize-winning, and even, yes, compostable. Along with bikes and bike parts, we have also seen 3D-printed helmets for cyclists. In the latest modern bicycling news, however, Sandvik Additive Manufacturing has been able to 3D print a critical part for the GSD Global e-bike, in the form of a motor node—one of the most challenging parts to create for these upscale machines.

GSD Global, an engineering and design consultancy company, reached out for help in 3D printing the metal node for their artisan e-bikes.

“Handmade bikes are the type of product that goes straight to your heart – they are pieces of art to begin with. So, if we can provide these high-end bicycle makers with a material that can make their bikes last 10-20 years – that’s a game-changer to them,” says Zach Krapfl, heading up GSD Global.

When GSD Global started to investigate the possibility of 3D printing their titanium components, they were thrilled to find that through developing the design of the motor nodes and adapting them to be additively manufactured, they could actually reduce their costs with up to 75%.

With almost ten years behind them in collaborating with Bosch e-bike systems, GSD Global’s main focus in design is centered around e-bikes. Noting that they still see a lack of e-bikes in venues like bike shows, the designers attribute that to difficulty in creating the necessary titanium parts.

In 3D printing the node, they found that they would enjoy some of the greatest benefits that the technology has to offer—from high-performance parts and speed in production to greater affordability; in fact, with Sandvik producing the part, they can now save up to 75 percent in costs.

“This is when we realized that we were on to something that wouldn’t just prove to be financially feasible – but enable substantial improvement in terms of quality and energy efficiency as well,” said Zach.

In perfecting their e-bike, GSD Global will now be able to sell it for less, along with promising lighter weight, greater energy efficiency, and longevity due to durable, high-performance parts.

“We really wanted to add the material advantages of titanium to our high-end electrical propulsion systems for e-bikes,” said Krapfl. “We’re so excited to share this with lots of brands, and to start adding more and more additive parts in the future.”

[Source / Images: Sandvik]

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3D Printing Webinar and Virtual Event Roundup, June 23, 2020

We’ve got three upcoming webinars to tell you about in this week’s roundup, with two taking place at the same time on June 24th. The first one is focused on metal 3D printing, while the second is about how to use the technology to unlock massive value, specifically in the food and beverage manufacturing sector. Finally, Stratasys is holding the first of two webinars about aerospace 3D printing on June 25th.

BIG 3D Metal Printing Webinar

This Wednesday, June 24th, at 11 am EDT, EOS North America and Additive Manufacturing Customized Machines (AMCM) are hosting the free “BIG 3D Metal Printing” webinar, focusing on how technology advancements in additive manufacturing are driving applications in commercial space hardware. In this one-hour course, attendees will learn why metal 3D printing is more accessible, what DMLS technology is, what materials can be leveraged, and how customized 3D printing is continuing to advance. The speakers – Martin Bullemer, Managing Director of AMCM; Dr. Ankit Saharan, Manager of Research and Applications Development at EOS North America; and Graham Warwick, Aviation Week’s Executive Editor for Technology – will discuss what metal 3D printing is truly capable of creating.

“The challenges of fast development and innovation have lessened because of industrial metal 3D printing (additive manufacturing, or AM). Whether propulsion, structural, or integrated componentry, AM is accelerating the latest space race.

“Now, AM is moving quickly to meet even greater requirements—such as fully 3D printed combustion chambers with high-performance features, lighter weight structural components, or even fully 3D printed satellites. The latest advancement? Fully printed 3D components up to one (1) meter tall.”

Register for the free webinar here.

3D Printing for Food and Beverage Manufacturers

Ultimaker is also holding a free webinar at 11 am EDT this Wednesday, titled “3D printing for food and beverage manufacturers.” If you don’t want to miss either one, you also have the option of attending the first broadcast session of this webinar at 5 am EDT. Even if you’re not in the food and beverage industry, this 50-minute webinar could still be useful, as the company “will be revealing some of the best ideas and strategies that we use to help our biggest customers unlock massive value with 3D printing.”

Ultimaker’s Director of Community Development, Matt Griffin, and Application Engineer, Jeremy Evers, will discuss which AM applications in this industry are currently working, and how to use the technology to achieve excellent results, such as reduced costs, increased line uptime, and optimized efficiency. During the webinar, they will give examples of industry-proven applications that have saved Ultimaker customers a lot of money, provide two sample criteria that the company’s application engineers use to determine which applications can achieve the largest ROI, discuss the future of 3D printing in the food and beverage industry in a post-coronavirus market, and more. Additionally, attendees will have the chance to participate in a live Q&A afterwards. Register here.

Stratasys Aerospace Webinar Series

This Thursday, June 25th, at 10 am EDT, Stratasys will be hosting the first in its new aerospace webinar series, titled “Challenges Of Manufacturing Aircraft Production Parts.” Niccolò Giannelli, Aerospace Application and Account Manager EMEA for Stratasys, will speak during this hour-long webinar about how certifying 3D printed aircraft parts for installation is easier with the company’s Aircraft Interiors Solution (AIS).

Some of the topics to be discussed in this first webinar include the value of both Stratasys’ AM solution and additive manufacturing for aircraft production parts, what comes in the Stratasys AIS package, and the improved performance of airline companies after they’ve implemented the Stratasys Aircraft Interiors Solution. Register here. The next webinar in this series will be held on June 30th.

Will you attend any of these events and webinars, or have news to share about future ones? Let us know! Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Metal 3D Printing: Enhancing Magnetic Floating Device Systems

Seeking solutions for ‘buckling’ in wall structures and failure in parts, Chalmers University of Technology PhD researcher Bharet Mehta turned to additive manufacturing processes for improved performance in production. Mehta recently presented a thesis, “Enhanced performance of magnetic floating devices enabled through metal additive manufacturing,” to Chalmers.

The author focuses on creating a family of floating devices, using 316L stainless steel. With thin shells of sub-millimeter thickness welded together, the metallic floating structures are meant to resist buckling activity. Mehta explains that the ultimate goal of the study was to create stronger parts that are still light in weight, with the thesis focusing only on laser-based powder bed fusion (LPBF).

AM processes were considered beneficial due to reduction of parts during production and less assembly, greater accuracy and less post-processing, flexibility in design, rigidity in materials, and customization. Mehta listed typical limitations: higher surface roughness, few materials available, increased manufacturing times, and lack of consistency in terms of quality.

λ or buckling factor of safety comparison between sections with different stiffeners under hydrostatic loads: a) λ for an empty tube; b) λ for a tube
with longitudinal ribs; c) λ for a tube with only 5 weld rings; d) λ for a tube with
longitudinal ribs and weld rings

During experimentation, the addition of stiffeners enhanced performance of the part. This was especially effective when high buckling strength or less weight was required.

Effect of poisson’s ratio in selection of stiffeners for thin shells: a) representation of modified honeycomb as expected to be printed on the thin shell b) honeycomb loaded with uniaxial compression, as shown

Ashby chart for reflecting strength/weight ratio of the tubes with different stiffeners

While not all the details regarding the sample part were disclosed, Mehta did describe it as a ‘thin shell cylindrical section which is closed by welding and is supported by some ring stiffeners to make it bear the hydrostatic loads.’

“As a modification to the original part, a slight modification was done based on ANSYS simulation results, producing a simulation-based design to thicken the rings,” said Mehta. “The same was done to avoid the failure at rings and change the load path, in order to get a skin type buckling failure.”

Another customized design was also fabricated but with thicker rings and bigger holes in the rings, allowing for similar weight, and improvement in terms of buckling.

Difference between original ring stiffeners as used by ABB vs a modified ring stiffener: a) the original ring design with 0,5 mm thickness rings ; b) modified ring design with 1 mm thick rings with bigger inner diameter

Different design concepts which are suitable for metal AM: a) with some small protrusions as ring stiffeners; b) with helical supports as stiffeners; c) with honeycombs as stiffeners

Float section with only hollow ring stiffeners

Final design of float section with isogrid patterns as stiffeners

Final design of float section with honeycomb patterns as stiffeners

“As discussed in theory, linear buckling of the part was not the correct representation to what would actually happen when the part fails. This is because hydrostatic buckling represents a plastic failure and the collapse pressure is used to define the maximum loads for the part. Hence, a sturdier design, which incorporated non-linearity, was planned to be tested and prove the design’s performance in real life. Several factors were found to affect the performance while switching to AM, and experimental setups were defined accordingly,” explained Mehta.

ANSYS results showing Euler buckling test results and static structural testing results: a) Euler buckling showing the theoretical factor of safety to be 12,9 at 8124 N uniaxial load and 0,4 mm thickness at cylindrical section; b) stress generated at 8124 N in the part, showing the average stress value in the range of 401 MPa at the 0,4 mm thickness

Prints were performed at AMEXCI, Sweden, on an EOS M290, and at ABB Corporate on the ReaLizer SLM 50.

“The simulation results showed about 3 times improvement in specific buckling strength in one of the designs – isogrid stiffened AM part with hollow rings, as can be seen in table 6.1 [below]. The stress levels shown were well below the ultimate strength of the material, which means that the idea might work. However, this design concept has to be proven experimentally,” stated Mehta in conclusion.

“These floating devices take modularity to the next level, by giving an opportunity for optimization of lattice based stiffeners and hollow rings to define ‘new materials.’ Hence, strength to weight ratios can be adjusted to become as high as aluminum or as low as some plastics.”

Table showing improvement in specific strength for different floating
device designs

Improvements in metal 3D printing are continually being made by researchers looking into strengthening mechanical properties, investigating the effects of porosity, and testing metal powders and other materials. What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

Source / Images: ‘Enhanced performance of magnetic floating devices enabled through metal additive manufacturing’]

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3D Printing News Briefs, June 20, 2020: 3DEO and 3MF Consortium

Our 3D Printing News Briefs this week are indeed brief, but no less important. We’ll tell you how 3DEO has reached an important production milestone, and also about the newest member of the 3MF Consortium.

3DEO Reaches 150,000 Production Parts Shipped

Monthly shipment of 3500 pieces to a 3DEO customer

Metal 3D printing company 3DEO, founded in 2016 for the purpose of competing against conventional manufacturing with high-volume metal additive manufacturing, recently announced that it has reached a major milestone: it’s shipped out 150,000 production parts for end-use applications. The California company’s mission is to make metal 3D printing available for mass production through its digital industrial platform, and this announcement is excellent evidence that it’s well on its way. 3DEO has an interesting business model – instead of selling its 3D printers, the company has focused on becoming an expert user of its own patented technology, and built an automated end-to-end industrial platform, to which its customers then have access.

“150 thousand parts is a terrific milestone for 3DEO. It validates our patented technology, our unique business model, and our mission to break metal additive manufacturing (AM) into high-volume production. Today, we routinely win bids against traditional manufacturing because of our competitive cost structure and material performance,” said 3DEO’s President Matt Sand.

“150,000 parts shipped is only the beginning for us. We are scratching the surface of what’s possible with metal AM in the $130 billion U.S. metal parts market. With our additive and automation software and hardware, combined with our world-class R&D team and quality systems, we are primed to scale metal AM into millions of parts next year.”

3MF Consortium Announces New Specification and Member

Five years ago, Microsoft launched the new .3MF file format for 3D printing, along with the collaborative 3MF Consortium. It works to define the 3D Manufacturing Format that facilitates easier operation, making it possible to send 3D models sent to other applications, services, and platforms. Members of the consortium include Ultimaker, GE Global Research, ASTM International, Autodesk, and now Viaccess-Orca (VO), a global provider of advanced data solutions and digital content protection. VO, which will be a Founding Member, helped the consortium define its new 3MF Secure Content Specification, which will address production control requirements and payload protection and is available through GitHub under a permissive BSD license.

“In a modern cloud-connected world, data security and end-to-end encryption are playing an increasingly important role to mitigate the risk of leakages and data corruption in globally distributed manufacturing environments. Protecting the integrity and confidentiality of product designs, patient-specific biometric data, and other sensitive manufacturing content is critical to enabling additive manufacturing to scale into final part production in distributed, contractual, and highly regulated manufacturing environments,” stated Scott White, Software Distinguished Technologist at HP Inc. “We are thrilled that Viaccess-Orca joined the consortium and contributed their decades-long expertise to the design of the 3MF Secure Content extension. The final specification defines the payload encryption based on industry standards, and allows third parties to build their own key management ecosystems upon it. We believe this will allow it to be used to address a broad range of critical use cases simply and seamlessly.”

As a consortium member, VO will help address digital asset security aspects in the digital manufacturing industry. The company also announced the general release of its Secure Manufacturing Platform (SMP), which makes sure that digital assets are traceable and secure, in compliance with the new 3MF specification, across digitally distributed supply chains.

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

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Replacement Parts for Assault Amphibious Vehicle 3D Printed with HP’s Metal Jet

In 2018, HP announced that it was entering the metal side of the additive marketing industry with the introduction of its Metal Jet technology. While Metal Jet has been used for applications in the automotive industry, the United States Marine Corps is now adopting it to make parts for a very different kind of vehicle: the 26-ton, bulletproof AAV, or Assault Amphibious Vehicle. Nicknamed the AmTrac, AAVs have been carrying over 20 humans and a storehouse of supplies safely back to shore since 1972, chugging through the water at eight mph. There are over 1,000 vehicles in the fleet, all of which will be phased out of operation in the next two decades.

An AAV (Assault Amphibious Vehicle)

Unfortunately, because the AAVs are set to retire, private manufacturers that have long made replacement parts for the vehicles are less enticed to do so now. This is causing a negative effect on the USMC supply chain: AAVs are sitting around unused, and Marines may even go to battle without them.

Kristin Holzworth, chief scientist for the Marine Corps Systems Command’s Advanced Manufacturing Operations Cell, stated, “This is a critical part of our future, ensuring readiness of those in uniform.”

HP Metal Jet

That’s why the AAV program is turning to HP’s Metal Jet technology to 3D print replacement parts by the hundreds, like bolts and brackets, couplings and cranks, at California manufacturing company Parmatech.

“We go into some pretty remote areas and the supply chain is just not available to us yet. So, the ability to make our own parts at the point of need is critically important,” said Scott Adams, a civilian member of the USMC.

Most of these parts were previously made with subtractive manufacturing, but, by using metal 3D printing, they can be mass produced much more quickly. Metal Jet printers can place up to 630 million nanogram-sized drops of liquid binder per second onto the powder bed, and a polymer binds the metal particles together during the process to make high-strength parts.

“Being able to clasp (what used to require) 50 different, subtractive-manufacturing lines into a couple of prints, you almost can’t even put words to that. The efficiencies that are likely to come from that are absolutely astronomical,” said USMC Col. Patrick M. Col. Tucker, commanding officer of Combat Logistics Regiment 15 at Camp Pendleton, California, where marines train in AAVs.

Examples of replacement parts 3D printed for AAVs.

A Marine Corps analysis conducted in April found that many AAVs have to wait, on average, 140 days for replacement parts, some of which have been back-ordered for over a year.

“It takes those Assault Amphibious Vehicles offline. As of (April 1), here at Camp Pendleton, we had 41 of our 214 vehicles in maintenance. It’s a very important platform to our combat readiness,” explained Col. Tucker, who served in the Iraq War and helps manage the Metal Jet program.

Additionally, Metal Jet 3D printing allows the soldiers to fabricate assemblies of multiple pieces as a single part, rather than welding them together.

Sgt. Jonathan Anderson, part of the 1st Supply Battalion at Camp Pendleton, said, “It gets rid of welds period, which is absolutely amazing. A weld is always a weak point. We are actually increasing the life cycle of these parts and potentially increasing the life cycle of the vehicle.”

At the moment, fewer AAVs can be used for training at Camp Pendleton, and even out in the field at distant bases, due to current part shortages.

Col. Tucker noted, “In extreme times where we have a kinetic operation, you could foresee that we may have to send (Marine) units without that.”

Soon, the 3D-printed AAV parts in the Metal Jet program will enter the first testing phase to make sure that they function properly in test vehicles and have accurate size and weight. Holzworth says that it’s “promising work” and that all parts tested so far have passed. In the second part of testing, the parts will be installed into the test AAV, which will then be driven in order to test the reliability.

One of the 1,024 AAVs the US Marine Corps hopes to outfit with 3D-printed replacement parts

Once the testing is complete, the retiring AAV fleet will be serviced much more quickly.

“It’s all about equipment readiness, and about our ability to deploy into an area or to sustain ourselves while we are there,” said Adams, who is on the team working to equip AAVs with 3D printed parts.

Col. Tucker states that the AAV is a “good Guinea pig tester,” but notes that the team is also looking into other USMC platforms that may benefit from the use of Metal Jet technology. Additionally, the program could have further reaching ramifications for the entire US military.

Because the Marine Corps is so small, it has what Col. Tucker calls a “shallow” supply chain, which means that the parts it needs aren’t as big as what the US Army uses. And just like with the AAV replacement parts, industrial manufacturers aren’t as inclined to use their machines to make the parts. Also, because the USMC works to defend our country’s interests all around the world, this small supply chain is often strained as well.

“That’s why something like rapid metal is so interesting. This capability would allow us to move around that problem,” Col. Tucker said.

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

(Source/Images: HP)

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Metal Additive Market Reset. How Leading Metal AM Firms Will Weather the Economic Storm

First quarter 2020 market data continues to become available from the world’s leading additive manufacturing companies, shedding more light on how the economic fallout from the global pandemic is impacting the AM industry. Although interest in additive manufacturing has surged as a result of the supply chain interruptions, and some companies believe big opportunities are out there, most agree with SmarTech that it’s going to be a bumpy ride for the remainder of the year for metal additive companies.

Throughout 2019, the industry was already struggling as the pool of customers ready to scale up metal AM operations proved too small to support the relatively large number of suppliers who were lured in the market over the last few years hoping the impending boom in AM that never came.  This combined with the current economic woes creating a round of industry consolidation. In 2016, GE shook up the industry by acquiring Concept Laser and Arcam out of identifying long term opportunities for metal AM.  This may have been the start of something big.

Supply Chain Interruptions put Polymer 3D Printing Technologies Back on the Map, but What About Metals?

During the early stages of the pandemic in the United States, a number of primarily polymer 3D printing solutions were able to be put to use to provide a stopgap for production of a variety of critical parts. Metal technologies also were leveraged, but the applications for metals were longer term projects, such as development of advanced respirator filters, medical facility components made in antimicrobial metals, and other parts. As a result, the COVID crisis has done quite a bit to put polymer 3D printing technologies back into the media spotlight and demonstrate their use as a production tool under various circumstances.  But where do metals find themselves in a post-COVID market?

Source: SmarTech Analysis Metal Additive Manufacturing Advisory Service.

The chart above highlights the “best case” scenario for Q1 2020 metal additive manufacturing market opportunities for hardware and materials based on the most current data SmarTech had at the time of writing this article.

  • Compared to 2019, metal AM hardware revenues declined 14 percent. However, by the time final data is collected for the quarter, it is likely that declines of 20 percent will be seen market-wide for metals.
  • Meanwhile, metal powder sales were not as heavily affected during Q1 but are much more likely to be impacted during Q2.

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The State of 3D Printing at Continental Automotive

Other organizations like NASA have also been using 3D printing technology for prototypes and functional parts—long before the rest of the world had an inkling about the impacts that would be made decades later in nearly every major industrial application. The Continental Automotive division serves as a good example of the long evolution of 3D printing and additive manufacturing within industries like automotive.

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is used to print steel and aluminum. (Image credit: Claus Dick)

With a market cap of roughly $18.5 billion, Continental is a German multinational auto parts maker that manufactures such products as electronics; safety, powertrain and chassis parts; brake systems, tires, and more. Its customers run the gamut of car, truck and bus companies, including Volkswagen, Ford, Volvo, BMW, Toyota, Honda, Porsche and others.

As with every automaker, the firm has been using AM for design and prototyping purposes for some time, but it is now taking the technology to the next level. Just last year, the German-headquartered company opened the competence center for additive design (ADaM) at its Karben site. Five different 3D printing techniques are currently being used at ADaM:

  • Selective laser melting (SLM)
  • Selective laser sintering (SLS)
  • Stereolithography (SLA)
  • Digital light processing (DLP)
  • Fused deposition modeling (FDM)

“Practically at every location there are at least smaller additive systems, but this abundance and variety of systems is only available in Karben,” said Frauke Berger, site manager at Continental Automotive, in a recent interview.

Site manager Frauke Berger presents a printed component made of plastic. (Image credit: Claus Dick)

As the automotive and engineering divisions of the company, founded in 1871, work together closely, they are able to put the advantages of 3D printing into action using both plastic and metal materials.

For Continental, this means enjoying savings on the bottom line, more efficient manufacturing processes, ease in designing and making changes without waiting on a third party, and, most importantly for many industrial users, the ability to fabricate more complex geometries previously impossible with traditional techniques.

“A major advantage of additive manufacturing is that parts can be designed differently, and projects are therefore approached in a constructively different way,” said Berger.

Previously, the Continental team was able to create a more durable brake caliper:

“Usually such patterns come from sand casting. It takes about 14 weeks. The printed part was finished in less than a week,” explained Stefan Kammann, head of the Additive Design and Manufacturing business segment. “In principle, all weldable metals such as aluminum, stainless steel and tool steel, titanium or, to a limited extent, copper can be printed.”

Plastics are usually printed at Continental via selective laser sintering (SLS), as the team finds it to be the fastest route, as well as the most similar to ‘series technology.’ Materials such as PA12, as well as PA6, are often employed, along with polypropylene for parts like brake fluid containers.

As 3D printing and AM processes have continued to make impacts around the world and progress due to user’s needs, that growth has been seen at Continental, too, as software, hardware, and materials have been further refined. Orders for parts that may have previously involved up to 40 hours of production time now may take as little as 60 minutes.

“In the past we knocked the supports off the lattice platform with a hammer and chisel and had to be careful not to tear out any piece of the model, the material was so firm,” says Kammann. “The process is extremely precise, and we achieve good surfaces with it.”

With Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), support structures are no longer required. (Image credit: Continental)

DLP printing also allows for the option of 3D printing several parts at once, along with using a selection of materials, like ABS, PLA, TPU, and other plastics.

“For this purpose, a filament, i.e. a rolled plastic, is pressed through a hot nozzle and applied in sausages in a manner comparable to a CNC-controlled hot glue gun,” said Kammann. “You need an infrastructure and other technologies to process, combine, and instill the parts properly.”

Next year, the Continental team is planning to complete a large order for a manufacturer in need of 9,500 parts—all of which will be 3D printed.

Stefan Kammann explains how the rolled plastic is pressed through a hot nozzle. (Image credit: Claus Dick)

Industrial users continue to enjoy the positive impacts of 3D printing and AM processes in a wide variety of other applications too such as aerospace, dental and medical, construction, and far more.

What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

The Continental Competence Center for Additive Design and Manufacturing (Adam) in Karben houses various systems for 3D printing. (Image credit: Claus Dick)

[Source / Images: Automotive IT]

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Ireland: Characterizing Mechanisms of Metallic 3D Printing Powder Recycling

In order to cut down on material waste, and save money, laboratories will often reuse leftover metal AM powder. A trio of researchers from the I-Form Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Ireland published a paper, “X-ray Tomography, AFM and Nanoindentation Measurements for Recyclability Analysis of 316L Powders in 3D Printing Process,” focusing on better understanding and characterizing the mechanisms of metallic powder recycling, and evaluating ” the extent of porosity in the powder particles,” in order to optimize how many times recycled powder can actually be reused in the powder bed fusion process.

Many “risk-tolerant applications,” like in the aviation and biomedical industries, will not use recycled powder, because any part abnormalities that can be traced back to the material can be unsafe and expensive. Parts 3D printed out of recycled powder need to have mechanical properties, like hardness and effective modulus, that are comparable to those of fresh powder parts.

“In order to reuse the recycled powders in the secondary manufacturing cycles, a thorough characterization is essential to monitor the surface quality and microstructure variation of the powders affected by the laser heat within the 3D printer. Most powders are at risk of surface oxidation, clustering and porosity formation during the AM process and it’s environment [1,2],” they explained. “Our latest analysis confirms the oxidation and the population of porous particles increase in recycled powders as the major risky changes in stainless steel 316L powder [3,4].”

A common practice before reusing recycled powders is sieving, but this doesn’t lower the porosity or surface oxidation of the particles. Additionally, “the subsequent use of recycled powder” can change the final part’s mechanical strength, and not for the better.

“Here, we report our latest effort to measure the distribution of porosity formed in the recycled powders using the X-ray computing technique and correlate those analyses to the mechanical properties of the powders (hardness and effective modulus) obtained through AFM roughness measurements and nanoindentation technique,” the researchers wrote.

They used stainless steel 316L powder, and printed nine 5 x 5 x 5 mm test cubes on an EOSINT M 280 SLM 3D printer. They removed the recycled powder from the powder bed with a vacuum, and then sieved it before use; after the prints were complete, they collected sample powders again and labeled them as recycled powders.

“Both virgin and recycled powders were analyzed by number of techniques including XCT and Nanoindentation. XCT was performed by X-ray computed tomography (XCT) measurements were performed with a Xradia 500 Versa X-ray microscope with 80 KV, 7 W accelerating voltage and 2 µm threshold for 3D scan,” they wrote.

“To measure the roughness of the virgin and recycled powder particles, we performed Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and confocal microscopy using the Bruker Dimension ICON AFM. The average roughness was calculated using the Gwyddion software to remove the noise and applying the Median Filter on the images as a non-linear digital filtering technique.”

The researchers also ran nanoindentation on multiple powder particles, under a force of 250 µN for no more than ten seconds, in order to determine “the impact of porosity on the hardness and effective modulus of the recycled powders,” and used an optical microscope to identify pore areas on the powder.

XCT imaging of powder. (a) 3D rendered image of 900 recorded CT images, (b) region of interest, (c) internal pores in particles indicated in a 2D slice, (d) identified pores inside particles after image processing.

The XCT images were analyzed, and “a region of interest” was chosen, seen above, from which pore size and interior particle distribution were extracted.

AFM image on a particle showing the boundary of mold and steel and the area where surface roughness was measured.

Software was used to process the AFM topography images of both the virgin and recycled powders, and the team applied nanoindentation on different locations of the particles, with a force of 250 µm.

(a) powder particles placed on hardening mold for nanoindentation, and (b) an indent applied on a particle surface.

They determined that the reused powder particles had about 10% more porosity than the virgin powder, and the average roughness of the powder particle surfaces was 4.29 nm for the virgin powder and 5.49 nm for the recycled; this means that 3D printing “may increase the surface roughness of the recycled particles.” Nanoindentation measurements show that the recycled powder has an average hardness of 207 GPa, and an average effective modulus of 9.60 GPa, compared to an average of 236 GPa and 9.87 GPa for the virgin powder, “which can be correlated to porosities created beneath the surface.”

Pore size distribution in virgin and recycled powders extracted from image processing on XCT measurements.

“The pore size in recycled powders has a wider distribution compared to virgin counterpart. The main population of pore size is around 1-5 µm in virgin powder which slightly reduces to bigger size but for a smaller population. There are also bigger pores in recycled powder but with a smaller population,” they noted. “On the other hand, looking at higher pore population in virgin powder (around 10 µm size), we believe that the out-diffusion of metallic elements to the surface occurs during laser irradiation.”

Surface roughness plots from AFM measurements on powder particles. Average roughness calculated by Gwyiddion software.

The recycled powder hardness, which is smaller than in the virgin powder, “could be attributed to higher pore density in recycled particles,” since porosity causes the powder to be “more vulnerable to the applied force resulted in smaller hardness.”

While change in grain size of the powder particles can lead to reduced mechanical properties, the team’s AFM and SEM results did not show much grain redistribution in the recycled powder. But, their nanoindentation and XCT results did find that higher powder porosity can decrease both the hardness and modulus of the particles, which “will damage the mechanical properties of the manufactured parts.”

Hardness and effective modulus of fresh and virgin particles by nanoindentation.

“We have previously presented our achievement on surface and size analysis using SEM and XPS analysis. Here, we focused on pore distribution in both powders and correlated that to surface roughness, hardness and effective modulus obtained from nanoindentation analysis of the powder particles,” the researchers concluded. “The results indicate that pores population is about 10% more in recycled powders affected by the laser heat and oxygen inclusion/trap in the powder, which in turn, increases the surface roughness but reduces the hardness and modulus of the recycled powders. The pores are filled with gases (such as Argon or Oxygen) since these gases are not able to skip the melt and have a lower solubility in the melt throughout the solidification process.”

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Additive Industries CEO Daan Kersten Steps Down as Firm Receives $14M Investment

One of a newer generation of metal laser powder bed fusion (PBF) manufacturers, Additive Industries is continuing to grow rapidly. The latest news is a $14 million investment from its existing shareholder, Highlands Beheer. With the funds, the company aims to expand its product portfolio, speed up its technological development strategy and shore up its working capital. This last use for the investment is meant to ensure financial resilience for the company amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Outgoing Additive Industries CEO Daan Kersten (L) with Jonas Wintermans (R). Image courtesy of Additive Industries.

Highlands has acquired the shares of the startup’s CEO and co-founder, Daan Kersten, who will leave the company by June 30, 2020. In the interim, Chief Technology Officer Mark Vaes, who has been with Additive Industries since 2013, will fill the role. Kersten said of the decision:

“This substantial investment confirms the long-term commitment of Highlands to the growth ambitions of the company and it allows Additive Industries to make yet another significant step on its mission to revolutionize the productivity for the additive manufacturing of high-quality metal parts. After eight intense years of fast growth I feel the time is right to make way and hand over the reins to new leadership.”

The firm has quickly rolled out a modular metal PBF system with a high degree of automation and throughput. By reducing the need for operator intervention, the MetalFAB1 system is able to produce parts more rapidly, with pre- and post-processing operations happening in parallel to the build job. The next step in its roadmap was the development with SMS Group of automated factories called the Scale4Series, in which parts can be printed and post-processed automatically. In the process, Additive Industries has earned a number of high profile partners and clients, including Airbus/APWORKS, Volkswagen and the Sauber F1 team.

Cutaway of the MetalFab1 from Additive Industries. Image courtesy of Additive Industries.

As Highlands is increasing its share of the 3D printing firm, it’s worthwhile to learn a bit more about the company. In fact, Highlands now says that it owns Additive Industries, in addition to a cigar machinery manufacturer, ATD Machinery, and NTS Group, which produces optomechatronic systems and mechanical modules for original equipment manufacturers. Interestingly, the CEO of NTS is also stepping down this August.

A rendering of the Scale4Series in development by Additive Industries and SMS Group. Image courtesy of Additive Industries.

Highlands is owned by the Wintermans, a Dutch family that founded and ran Royal Agio Cigars, one of the largest cigar manufacturing businesses in Europe, before selling it to Scandinavian Tobacco Group last year. The family divvied up 10 million Euros among its employees as a part of the deal. Highlands maintains its ATD business, meaning that it will continue to focus on the tech side of cigar making, but its investment in Additive Industries and its ownership of NTS Group signifies a continued shift in the family’s business operations overall, which previously had been making cigars since 1904. The sale of Royal Agio seems to suggest that the transition of Highlands from a cigar company to a tech company is near complete.

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Protolabs Expands European Presence with Larger German 3D Printing Operations

Digital manufacturing bureau Protolabs is investing USD$12.87m (£10.5m) into a new German production facility. The funds will expand the company’s 3D printing capacity in Germany by 50 percent, complementing its existing additive manufacturing (AM), CNC machining, sheet metal and injection molding capabilities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shut down large swaths production and shipping globally, in turn highlighting the ability of on-demand manufacturing to provide parts locally. Perhaps spurred by this turn of events, the U.S.-based service bureau is opening a new 5,000 square-meter production facility in Putzbrunn, Germany. Construction begins on the site as general public restrictions and distancing measures are eased in the city, with the initial shell scheduled for completion by the end of December and machinery to be installed beginning in May 2021.

Groundbreaking ceremony for Protolabs’ new German 3D printing facility: (l-r) Michael Meier (Protolabs), Edwin Klostermeier (Mayor of Putzbrunn) and Daniel Cohn (Protolabs). Image courtesy of Protolabs.

This equipment will include up to 25 more 3D printers, along with a 5-axis mill for finishing 3D-printed parts, as well as systems for finishing, coloring and painting. By increasing the 3D printing capacity of its German location by 50 percent, the company will be able to augment its European 3D printing services. According to Protolabs, the company can currently produce over 50 3D printed parts in one to seven days, over 200 CNC parts in one to three days, and over 10,000 injection molded parts in one to fifteen days.

Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing at Protolabs. (Image courtesy of Protolabs.)

The project comes on the heels of a USD$6.13m (£5m) extension being finalized at Protolabs’ European Headquarters in Telford in the U.K. The Telford location represented the Minnesota company’s entry into the European continent when it was established in 2005. This was followed, in 2009, by the opening of a location in Japan. In addition to these and several offices in the U.S., Protolabs now has positions in Sweden, Italy and France.

This latest site in Putzbrunn, outside of Munich, will house all of its current departments from its existing Feldkirchen office. The production facility will support the company’s U.K. activity and will include the ability to produce medical devices certified under ISO 13485.

The metal AM service bureau segment is expected to reach $9.4 billion in revenues by 2025, according to the recent “The Market for Metal Additive Manufacturing Services: 2020-2029” report from SmarTech Analysis. The company’s recent “Polymer Additive Manufacturing Markets and Applications 2020-2029” report has additive polymer parts from service bureaus reaching $7.8 billion by the same year.

SmarTech believes metal 3D printing service bureaus in particular can solve the short-term disruptions associated with the pandemic and then aid in production re-shoring to prevent future disruptions. To reflect the changes in the metal AM service bureau segment from the pandemic, the company will be providing updated forecasting in June 2020.

A metal powder bed fusion room at Protolabs. Image courtesy of Protolabs.

Protolabs can definitely see the direction that the market is headed. In 2016, the company began integrating multiple metal powder bed fusion systems from Concept Laser (now GE Additive) into a new 77,000 sq. ft. facility. By 2018, it was one of the first partners in the GE Manufacturing Partner Network and more recently installed over 25 GE Additive Concept Laser Mlab and M2 machines in one of its production facilities. As for polymers, Protolabs has also been an early adopter of HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology, which is becoming continuously important for AM service bureaus.

The company is not alone in the segment, however, even when matched against other digital manufacturing providers and service networks that also do not focus solely on AM. While it may still be larger than startups like 3D Hubs and Xometry, it contends with Stratasys Direct Manufacturing and 3D Systems on Demand, who also provide a multitude of manufacturing options. This also doesn’t include the pureplay service bureaus or those owned by much bigger conglomerates. Sculpteo, for instance, is now owned by BASF, the largest chemical company in the world and Siemens owns selective laser melting experts Material Solutions.

Protolabs, then, is in an increasingly competitive industry and, with the benefits of distributed production becoming more and more evident, we can safely say that that industry is only going to increase in its competitiveness.

 

 

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