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Betatype and nTopology Use Metal 3D Printing and Intelligent Design to Increase Productivity

3D printing consultancy company Betatype specializes in optimizing metal AM production applications to deliver functional components for customers in many industries, including consumer goods, automotive, and medical. Recently, the company, based in London, published a new case study that explains how it teamed up with software company nTopology to create and manufacture a functionally optimized, 3D printed part for a rocket nozzle.

Betatype recognizes that collaborating with companies in industrial sectors, as well as the AM industry, can help produce better project results, with higher standards, than companies working alone can sometimes manage. Its recent partnership with nTopology is a perfect example of how collaboration was able to increase productivity in metal 3D printing.

“For serial production in additive manufacturing to work, it must make business sense. Through the partnership between nTopology and Betatype, and our shared belief in solving engineering problems by linking design, simulation, and manufacturing processes directly, we are able to present a strong business case for additive manufacturing,” said Brad Rothenberg, the Founder and CEO of nTopology. “We enable our customers to design and manufacture complex parts with speed, efficiency and reliability. We could not be happier with the results of this rocket nozzle case study and are looking forward to working on more joint projects.”

The project at the center of this collaboration was a test part for a rocket nozzle, and was created specifically to show how companies can integrate different solutions through partnerships. nTopology used its own nTop Platform software to help design the rocket nozzle part’s base mechanical structure, converting the part’s 3D model into an implicit one. Then, the design was optimized through the use of nTopology’s advanced simulation and topology optimization tools. Finally, Betatype’s software technology was applied to great effect, before the part was 3D printed.

Additive manufacturing offers material, shape, and structure control in one process, and Betatype’s Engine data processing platform helps maximize these capabilities to the fullest extent. The platform helps users manage, manipulate, and generate CAD and CAM data for multi-scale 3D design, in order to create higher fidelity for complex parts – not easily manufactured with conventional technology – at each scale of 3D design.

By combining technology from both nTopology and Betatype, the two companies were able to optimize the design of the complex rocket nozzle part for metal laser powder bed fusion 3D printing. Together, they achieved a major increase in part productivity – a 28% reduction in build time, down from 25 hours to 18.

“Betatype’s partnership with nTopology is an excellent demonstration of how we can work with talented designers to make additive manufacturing perform,” said Betatype’s Founder and CEO Sarat Babu. “The application clearly shows the benefits of combining the functional design and optimization skills of our partner with process optimization through our technology to achieve productivity levels that would not otherwise be possible with a standard metal LPBF platform.”

Rocket Nozzle: As built onto the base plate in Grade 23 Titanium (190 x 190 x 200).

Betatype fabricated the rocket nozzle test part out of titanium on a Renishaw AM250 3D printer. The nTop Platform’s capabilities highlighted how applying intelligent design can improve a part’s functionality, while also making sure that it is fit for its ultimate purpose. But the input from Betatype showed that design alone only gets you part of the way, and that metal 3D printing, complex functionality, and intelligent design is a winning combination.

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[Source/Images: Betatype]

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UK Researchers Examine Particle Dynamics in Powder Bed Fusion

In ‘Fluid and particle dynamics in laser powder bed fusion,’ authors P. Bidare, I. Bitharas, R.M. Ward, M.M. Attallah, and A.J. Moore examine laser bed and powder bed interaction. In this study, the team was able to study and create images of areas where powder was removed during single line and island scans.

Research gave the scientists further insight into the PBF process, making it obvious that it is more dynamic than previously realized, and includes substantial movement (driven by the laser-induced plume of metal vapor and plasma above the melt pool) between power and agglomerates both in and above the powder bed. Previously, images have been recorded through a Renishaw AM250 3D printer, but laser and powder particles ‘could not be resolved.’ Other image sequences, however, were used to discover powder areas overheating, and then defects.

Schematic of the open-architecture PBF system with modifications for high-speed imaging and schlieren imaging.

The scientists used an open architecture PBF system for in situ measurements, offering automated build of fully dense components. The computer offers:

  • Vertical movement of the build plate between layers
  • Movement of the silicon cord powder spreader
  • Laser illumination and scanning
  • Flexibility is available for laser power and speed

The system offers high resolution imaging plus the ability to melt single tracks in the powder bed and during builds using multiple layers.

“Minor modifications were made to the top and end faces of the Perspex shielding chamber to incorporate viewing windows,” stated the researchers. “For top views of the powder bed, a window of diameter 50 mm made from infra-red absorbing KG glass was added.”

High-speed images for side and top views when scanning single tracks (left to right scan direction) with laser power and scan speeds of (a) and (b) 50 W and 0.1 m/s; (c) and (d) 100 W and 0.5 m/s and (e) and (f) 200 W and 1 m/s. Inset is a schematic of the melt pool shape, which determines the laser plume direction. The videos for all figures are included in the supplementary material.

Direct imaging was allowed through the top viewing window, with an infra-red absorbing window offering the side views. The team inserted the camera onto a tilt stage, transforming the powder bed area, and meaning that several areas could be both scanned and imaged. They then moved forward in imitating gas and plasma dynamics during PBF thermal effects. For process thermodynamics, an energy balance was used to account for all types of heat transfer from conductive to convective to radiative.

Temperature increases build plasma density and powder agglomerates forming when scanning islands.

“Agglomerates can also be affected by the laser plume-induced flow: they can be drawn back into the melted track, presumably with an increased likelihood of producing porosity, or ejected into the atmosphere and produce large molten beads if they interact sufficiently with the laser beam, hot gas, or a combination of both.”

Laser plume was directed in a forward motion for the first time from the melt pool, and other studies have remarked on this happening because of droplet detachment. The team also believes the forward motion is specific to PBF.

 “The combined results showed that the inert atmosphere and laser plume are integral to the heat, mass and momentum transfer of the process,” concluded the scientists. “Their inclusion in numerical models is critical to process optimization, to identify parameter sets which result in reduced denudation. Observation of plume and particle behavior under cross-flow emphasized the importance of uniform extraction streams above the bed, carrying enough momentum to prevent contamination of the bed from ejected particles. Taking hydrodynamic phenomena into account during process planning can improve the overall build quality and limit the adverse effects of ejected vapor and particles.”

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(Top) Calculated temperature fields for 50, 100 and 200 W laser power. (Bottom) Calculated velocity surface plot of fast laser plume, with arrows showing the slower atmospheric gas flow that it induces.

[Source / Images: Fluid and particle dynamics in laser powder bed fusion]