Metal AM Spring 2021
Metal AM Spring 2021
Metal AM Spring 2021
1 SPRING 2021 THE MAGAZINE FOR THE METAL ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY
METAL
AM
in this issue
BEAMIT: A JOURNEY TO INDUSTRIAL AM
WHY WE NEED WOMEN IN 3D PRINTING
EQUISPHERES AND THE NEED FOR SPEED
Published by Inovar Communications Ltd www.metal-am.com
Make the future with proven
powders created by Praxair
TruForm™ metal powders support every part you make
Now Available:
with capacity, quality and experience.
ADDITIVE
Battlefield Enterprise Park
Shrewsbury SY1 3AF
United Kingdom
Deputy Editor
Industry consolidation in
Emily-Jo Hopson-VandenBos
emily-jo@inovar-communications.com anticipation of growth
Assistant Editor
Kim Hayes The past few months have been quite extraordinary in
kim@inovar-communications.com the world of Additive Manufacturing. One after another, a
Production Manager steady flow of M&A announcements signal that things are
Hugo Ribeiro getting serious for our industry. There is certainly a buzz
hugo@inovar-communications.com
of anticipation that part production is set to see significant
Advertising growth across all AM technologies.
Jon Craxford, Advertising Sales Director
Tel: +44 (0)207 1939 749 The most mature metal AM technologies, Laser Beam Powder
jon@inovar-communications.com
Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) and Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion
Subscriptions (PBF-EB), have today reached a level of production readiness
Metal Additive Manufacturing is published on a
that makes them very attractive to a broad range of end-user
quarterly basis as either a free digital publication
or via a paid print subscription. The annual print companies, many of whom may have never previously
subscription charge for four issues is £150.00 considered investing in metal AM.
including shipping. Rates in € and US$ are
available on application. Binder Jetting, meanwhile, has a momentum of its own,
Accuracy of contents rapidly accelerating towards the end-goal of high-volume
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the series production, thanks in large part to the enthusiasm and
accuracy of the information in this publication,
expertise of leaders in established high-volume sinter-based
the publisher accepts no responsibility for
errors or omissions or for any consequences manufacturing sectors such as Metal Injection Moulding.
arising there from. Inovar Communications Ltd
cannot be held responsible for views or claims Key enablers of this growth are, of course, material
expressed by contributors or advertisers, which producers, who have been ramping up production capacity as
are not necessarily those of the publisher.
well as providing the innovation and expertise that enables
Advertisements AM machines to operate to their full potential – everyone now
Although all advertising material is expected
understands that even the best AM machine cannot deliver
to conform to ethical standards, inclusion in
this publication does not constitute a guarantee without the right powder.
or endorsement of the quality or value of
such product or of the claims made by its Last but not least, AM-related software developers have
manufacturer. risen to the multiple challenges of maximising the potential
Reproduction, storage and usage of AM as a true production technology, from part design and
Single photocopies of articles may be made optimisation to Manufacturing Execution Systems. To see
for personal use in accordance with national
the fruits of the labour of so many coming together at this
copyright laws. All rights reserved. Except as
outlined above, no part of this publication may intersection for the technology is extremely exciting, and we
be reproduced, modified or extracted in any form at Metal AM magazine can’t wait to see what else the year
or by any means without prior permission of the brings.
publisher and copyright owner.
Cover image
This magazine is also available for free The reimagining of an old KTM 250 GS
download from www.metal-am.com motorbike with a futuristic approach,
© 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd featuring a carbon fibre/AM titanium rear
swingarm, and AM aluminium front fork
mounts (Courtesy BEAMIT / Bercella SRL)
www.amcm.com
amcm@amcm.com An company
4 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
55 105 119 131 170
Contents
111 Mauro Antolotti and BEAMIT: 147 The need for speed, and how
The story of Italy’s leading AM parts producer the right powder can reduce
and its founder’s view on the industry AM part production costs by
From machine producers to part manufacturers and
50%
end-users, the Additive Manufacturing industry is rich If metal Additive Manufacturing
in success stories that are the result of one person’s is to compete with casting
vision of what the technology could deliver. In the case and other mass-production
of BEAMIT, Italy’s largest metal AM parts producer, technologies, costs need to
it was the vision of the company’s founder, Mauro be reduced by a factor of ten.
Antolotti. Here, Luca van der Heide interviews Antolotti Optimising metal powder
for Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine and characteristics can get the industry
explores the company’s development, his view of the halfway there, while anticipated
industry, and ambitions for the future >>> improvements in equipment and
processes will do the rest. Here,
Equispheres’ Doug Brouse and Dr
123 Why do we need Women in 3D Printing? Martin Conlon discuss how the use
The what, the who, and the why of the blog of advanced aluminium powders
that became a movement can improve the build rate for
Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion
Since 2014, Women in 3D Printing has grown to
(PBF-LB) by two to four times,
become a highly visible and influential international
as well as offering significant
organisation. But what does the movement stand
advantages for Binder Jetting (BJT)
for, why is it proving to be so popular, and where
production >>>
does it go from here? Metal AM magazine’s Emily-Jo
Hopson-VandenBos spoke with the group’s founder,
Nore Toure, and fifteen members about their views
of the organisation and the current status of women
in the industry. These conversations reveal not only
the challenges that we face to improve diversity in
its broadest sense, but also the tangible benefits
that members are seeing at both the personal and
organisational level >>>
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 5
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
AM METAL POWDER
MANUFACTURER
CHARACTERISTICS APPLICATIONS
Plasma Quality Powder Additive Manufacturing
Traceability Metal Injection Molding
Industrial Capacity Hot and Cold Isostatic Pressing
AS9100 and ISO 9001 Thermal and Cold Spray
6 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
155 Metal Additive Manufacturing: 181 Additive Manufacturing
Why standards lay the foundation for of aluminium parts by
continued industry growth Directed Energy Deposition:
As the metal Additive Manufacturing industry evolves
Possibilities and challenges
towards widespread use for series production, the need SAMOA, a European Union funded
for globally-recognised standards is also increasing. EIT RawMaterials project on
‘Sustainable Aluminium Additive
In this article, Prof Dr-Ing Christian Seidel, Chairman
Manufacturing for High Perfor-
of ISO Technical Committee (TC) 261 ‘Additive
mance Applications’, investigated
Manufacturing’ and Member-at-Large on the Executive
the processing of aluminium
Committee of the ASTM F42 ‘Additive Manufacturing’
powders by Directed Energy
Committee, outlines why standards are so important,
Deposition. In this report, Himani
presents an overview of the current AM standards
Naesstroem, Joerg Volpp, Stefan
ecosystem, and highlights current key areas of
Polenz, and Frank Brueckner
standardisation activity >>>
review the effects of processing
parameters and feedstock mate-
rial age, as well as presenting an
165 The advantages of Additive Manufacturing for industrial case study >>>
the processing of platinum group metals
z
Powder grains
by the potential design innovation offered by Additive Laser beam
Deposited
Melt pool
Manufacturing, but also by the recognition of the clad
vclad
from it.
In this in-depth report, Jochen Heinrich, Thomas 187 Euro PM2020 technical
Laag and Thierry Copponnex review the processing of review: Advances in process
platinum group metals by Additive Manufacturing >>> control for metal Binder
Jetting (BJT)
Within the programme of the
175 Obstacles to the adoption of metal AM by
well-received Euro PM2020 Virtual
small- and medium-sized enterprises
Congress, held October 5–7, 2020,
It is no secret that metal Additive Manufacturing still and organised by the European
faces significant challenges that stand in the way of Powder Metallurgy Association
broader adoption in industry. Aside from AM service (EPMA), a technical session was
providers, very few small- to medium-sized enterprises held on process control in metal
have brought metal AM in-house; many lack the Binder Jetting. In this article,
capabilities, knowledge and resources to do so, even Dr David Whittaker provides a
if the will is there. In this article, Olaf Diegel and Terry summary of two of the papers
Wohlers discuss the complex, and often multi-faceted, presented, which look at applying
obstacles that stand between AM and its wider global the Master Sintering Curve for
adoption, and how those obstacles can be addressed 316L parts, and process param-
and resolved in order to clear the path to achieving the eter optimisation for 17-4 PH parts
technology’s full market potential >>> >>>
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 7
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
From First Stage Debind Equipment (Catalytic, Solvent, Water) and Second Stage Debind & Sinter Furnaces (All Metal or
Graphite) to support with ancillary utility equipment, Elnik’s experienced team is driven to be the only partner you need for
all your MIM and Metal AM equipment needs.
8 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Industry news
“The AM sector is developing fast
BEAMIT Group acquires 3T Additive and there is a need for dedicated AM
Manufacturing partners with specialist skills across
the AM valuechain, not to mention
the resources required to help indus-
The BEAMIT Group, Fornovo di Taro, are now more well equipped than ever, trial customers develop and launch
Italy, has acquired Additive Manufac- having consolidated and strengthened their AM programmes,” commented
turing service provider 3T Additive our AM service offering, established Kristian Egeberg, president of
Manufacturing, Newbury, Berkshire, a footprint in the UK and prepared for Sandvik Additive Manufacturing. “Not
UK, from AM Global Holding GmbH. further expansion and growth with our many AM service companies in the
This follows the acquisition by Sandvik customers in the coming years.” market are able to offer a complete
of a large stake in the BEAMIT Group The group has already transitioned end-to-end process for the additive
in 2019, which established a strong into serial production with OEM manufacturing of complex, high-end,
partnership across the AM value- customers, and produces upwards of components. With our investment
chain. The purchase of 3T Additive 10,000 high-end components every in the BEAMIT Group – now also
Manufacturing was made in order year. It has also integrated operations including 3T Additive Manufacturing –
to continue with the group’s plan of digitally, with certification require- we look forward to helping even more
further integration and industrialisa- ments such as IATF16949, AS9100 industrial customers create value
tion of AM for the serial production of and NADCAP. Alongside Sandvik’s through the application of AM.”
high-end components in demanding materials and metal powders knowl- www.beam-it.eu
industries. edge, 3T Additive Manufacturing will www.3t-am.com
3T Additive Manufacturing will be positioned to expand its Additive www.additive.sandvik
bring to the BEAMIT Group twenty Manufacturing capabilities across
years of industrial expertise and the value chain, including special Discover more about the BEAMIT
capabilities for metal AM, where it processes in advanced heat treatment, Group in our exclusive interview
holds some of the highest-quality NDT, as well as complex machining with Mauro Antolotti, on page
certifications for deliveries to and post-processing, complementing a 111 of this issue, conducted prior
aerospace (AS9100) and medical (ISO joint group R&D programme on next- to the purchase of 3T Additive
13485), and is an approved supplier generation materials and processes. Manufacturing.
for serial production by many leading
OEMs across the UK, the US, Europe
and Japan.
Following mergers with Zare,
Pres-X and Proxera®, 3T Additive
Manufacturing complements the
BEAMIT Group’s value chain with
established qualified operations
serving key industries such as
aerospace, industrial gas turbines,
medical and automotive. This acquisi-
tion represents the first planned step
towards the BEAMIT Group’s goal of
global expansion.
Mauro Antolotti, president of the
BEAMIT Group, stated, “BEAMIT has
spent some time looking into new
ways to leverage synergies, and the
3T Additive Manufacturing acquisition
adds great value and expertise into
this leap forward we are making. We Inside 3T Additive Manufacturing’s Newbury plant (Courtesy BEAMIT Group)
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 9
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
AM machines
AML3D Limited . . . . .
...................
buyer’s guide
. . . 74
Binder Jetting (BJT), AMPM2021 . . . . . . . . .
...................
. . 176
10 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
S1 NEXT
GENERATION
3D POST PROCESSING
MADE IN GERMANY
Powder Surface
removal finishing
ATEX conformity
Specially developed, antistatic PU wear protection lining
Innovative cleaning process and optimized basket geometry
Integrated media cleaning and easy exchange
Just 1-click between manual and automatic mode
Industry 4.0 ready
Small footprint
additive
We are Oerlikon AM
We are integrating and scaling the entire Additive Manufacturing value chain
to handle your project from A to Z. We partner with pioneers like you to
revolutionize materials and manufacturing.
Come build with us. It’s time to rethink what’s possible in AM.
www.oerlikon.com/am
12 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
Velo3D to become public are excited to partner as they bring their technology to a
broader set of similarly innovative customers across the
company valued at $1.6 billion world,” added Barry Sternlicht, co-founder and chairman
of JAWS Spitfire. “Since commercialisation, Velo3D has
Velo3D, Inc, Campbell, California, USA, and the JAWS attracted an impressive customer base, showcasing the
Spitfire Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose seamless, cost-competitive production of previously-
acquisition company, have entered into a definitive unattainable designs. Velo3D is well-positioned for robust
business combination agreement. Upon completion of growth in an established and expanding market.”
the transaction, expected in the second half of 2021, the Velo3D is ready to release its newest Laser Beam
combined company will operate as Velo3D, listed on the Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) offering, Sapphire XC,
New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol expected to ship in the fourth quarter of 2021. Sapphire
VLD. XC is designed as a scale-up of the previous Sapphire
The transaction values the combined company at an machine and will support the production of parts that are
enterprise value of approximately $1.6 billion, at the $10 up to five times higher volume and three times lower cost
per share PIPE subscription price and assuming no public than existing Sapphire technology.
shareholders of JAWS Spitfire exercise their redemption Assuming no public shareholders of JAWS Spitfire
rights. Velo3D will receive up to $345 million in proceeds exercise their redemption rights, Velo3D’s existing
from JAWS Spitfire’s cash in trust and a $155 million shareholders will own approximately 72%, JAWS Spitfire’s
private placement of common stock at a $10.00 per share existing shareholders and sponsor will own approximately
value. The private placement will be led by strategic and 21% and PIPE investors will own approximately 7% of the
institutional investors, including Baron Capital Group and issued and outstanding shares of common stock, respec-
Hedosophia. tively, of the combined company at closing.
Upon completion of the transaction, Velo3D is set to The transaction was unanimously approved by the
benefit from a flexible capital structure with approximately boards of directors of both companies, though is still
$470 million of cash on the company’s balance sheet, subject to approval by JAWS Spitfire’s shareholders and
net of debt and assuming no redemptions are effected. other customary closing conditions.
Velo3D’s current management team, including founder www.velo3d.com
and CEO Benny Buller and CFO Bill McCombe, will
continue to lead the company through this next stage.
“Velo3D partners with the world’s most innovative
companies leading the future of space travel, transporta- Innovative Metal Paste 3D Printing
tion and energy,” stated Buller. “I am proud that such
visionary partners continue to trust Velo3D to build prod-
ucts through methods that were previously impossible.
Metallic
With JAWS Spitfire’s long-term partnership, we expect
No de-binding process
to extend the reach of Velo3D’s technology and bring its
solutions to even more customers globally. As we scale save time and
money
our business and advance our growth strategy, we expect with our innovative
to expand the high value metal Additive Manufacturing feedstocks
market and strengthen our competitive position.”
Binders and
Velo3D’s financial model is asset light, backed by feedstock available
significant investments and positioned to rapidly scale to for most metals,
meet demand. The company’s growth strategy is to focus ceramics, glass
and aluminum
on specific products that are tailored to its abilities within
the $100+ billion total addressable market for high-value
Desktop printer
metal parts. The additional capital provided from this
suitable for most
transaction will allow Velo3D to make substantial environments
investments in engineering, product development, sales, no toxic fumes
marketing and customer support.
6 different sizes of
“Benny and the Velo3D team have placed technical machines available
innovation at the core of their business model, and we
Submitting news...
For truly global reach, publish your news in Pricing starting $28,000
Metal AM magazine. Contact Paul Whittaker: $33,500 with binder license agreement
paul@inovar-communications.com For more call (772)353-2819 or metallic3d.com
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 13
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
14 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 15
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
16 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
GF Machining Solutions
CUT AM 500
Unique EDM separation
of AM parts
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 17
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
18 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 19
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
20 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
Desktop Metal completes Trine growth over the last three years — a
rate that is expected to continue
business combination, becomes over the next decade as the market
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 21
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
22 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 23
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Al
WWW.CNPCPOWDER.COM
©2020 CNPC Powder Group Co., Ltd.
24 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 25
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
26 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
PST 1-3 advert FINAL.pdf 1 29/03/2021 12:1
M
for additive manufacturing
CY
CMY
SIL2 Compliant with IEC61508
NanoAL, LLC, Boston, Massachu- Vo, CEO of NanoAL LLC. “In partner- for maximum safety.
K
setts, USA, has signed a Commercial ship with RtMJ, a wholly-owned
License Agreement with Mitsubishi subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation, Maintenance free, long-life
Corporation RtM Japan Ltd. (RtMJ), a global integrated business
Tokyo, Japan, to bring its Addalloy® enterprise, we will now be able to
sensors for maximum machine
family of advanced aluminium alloy reach across the globe to deliver uptime.
powders to the growing metal Additive the promise of our aluminium alloy
Manufacturing market in Asia. technologies’ excellent performance Compact design for easy
Addalloy is an aluminium alloy and economics.” integration into production
technology designed and developed Takehito Nagashima, General
process.
for Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion Manager of New Business
(PBF-LB) Additive Manufacturing. Development and DX Office,
Currently, Addalloy consists of 5T, Mitsubishi Corporation RtM Japan
7S, and HX compositions, each with Ltd, commented, “We believe the
application-specific performance aluminium alloys developed by
levels tailored to the demands of the NanoAL are the essential materials
automotive, motorsports, aerospace, for the next generation to achieve
and industrial markets. Addalloy decarbonisation, electrification and
powders are reported to be suitable a circular economy. NanoAL and
for a number of platforms for metal RtMJ will play an important role
AM including EOS, SLM Solutions, in creating a cleaner and greener
Renishaw, Concept Laser, and many society by combining the advanced
others. technology of NanoAL with the Visit
“This announcement is an enor-
mous signal of the market need for
global business network of RtMJ.”
www.mitsubishicorprtm.com
ProcessSensing.com
Addalloy powders,” stated Dr Nhon www.nanoal.com Industries/Additive-Manufacturing
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 27
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
to post-processing or specialised
BASF Ultrafuse 316L Stainless Steel now manufacturing facilities for debinding
supported on MakerBot METHOD and sintering, which turns the part
into solid stainless steel. This process
MakerBot, a Stratasys company, With an open materials platform allows users to create stainless steel
headquartered in Brooklyn, New and a growing portfolio of advanced parts without investing in expensive
York, USA, has announced that the engineering-grade materials, debinding and sintering equipment.
BASF Ultrafuse® 316L Stainless Steel MakerBot states that METHOD is the MakerBot states that final parts
material by Forward AM, the AM only industrial desktop AM machine in can achieve up to 96% of the density
brand of BASF 3D Printing Solutions its price range with a heated chamber of pure 316L metal material. Users
GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany, has that can additively manufacture metal, can produce lightweight, hollow metal
been qualified for the MakerBot polymer and composite materials. parts with high tensile strength.
LABS™ Experimental Extruder for the Once the part is built with www.makerbot.com
MakerBot METHOD® AM machines. Ultrafuse 316L, it can be sent out www.forward-am.com
28 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 29
www.additive.sandvik
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
DIGITAL METAL
– 3D METAL BINDER JETTING FOR SERIAL PRODUCTION
OUR MATERIALS
• Stainless steel 316L
and 17-4PH
• Tool steel DM D2
• Super alloys DM 625 &
DM 247 (equivalent to
Inconel 625 & MAR M247)
• Titanium Ti6Al4V
www.pyramid.se
• DM Cu, pure copper
Developed and
built in Sweden
High productivity, excellent surface quality, great Digital Metal offers advanced industrial 3D metal printers
resolution. These are some of the benefits that have along with all the support you need to set up your own
brought our unique metal binder jetting technology to production. You can also use our printing services for
a world-class benchmark standard with hundreds of serial manufacturing or prototyping.
thousands high-quality components produced and more Contact us today to learn more about how you can
than 30 geometries in serial production. benefit from using the Digital Metal system.
The Digital Metal® technology is well-proven in serial
production, providing consistent repeatability and CHECK OUT ALL THE BENEFITS AT
reliability which minimizes post processing and waste. We DIGITALMETAL.TECH
also provide additional equipment to help you limit manual
handling in high-volume production.
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 31
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Desktop Metal launches new P-1 and The P-1’s open material platform
and inert process environment allow
Studio System 2 AM machines customers to use third-party Metal
Injection Moulding (MIM) powders
Desktop Metal, Inc., headquartered P-50. The new AM machine features across a variety of materials, making
in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA, a 1200 dpi print bar, advanced the P-1 suitable for cost-effective
has launched two new metal Additive printhead technology that supports a serial production of small and
Manufacturing machines, adding wide variety of binders, and an inert complex parts in addition to smaller-
the P-1 and Studio System 2 to its processing environment to allow both scale process development activities.
growing range. non-reactive and reactive materials,
said to be a key benefit for businesses Desktop Metal Studio System 2
Desktop Metal P-1 and research institutions looking to The Studio System 2 is a simpli-
The new P-1 Binder Jetting (BJT) experiment with a variety of mate- fied, office-friendly metal Additive
machine expands the company’s rials. As a result, materials research Manufacturing system aimed at
Production System™ range, sitting and new application development low volume, pre-production and
alongside its flagship P-50, and has conducted on the P-1 can be trans- end-use applications. The new system
already begun shipping, with the Ford ferred directly onto the P-50 to scale incorporates a new, two-step process
Motor Company cited as an initial to mass production. based on Desktop Metal’s Material
customer. Designed to serve as a Desktop Metal’s SPJ technology Extrusion (MEX) technology it calls
bridge from process development to used on the P-1 is designed to build Bound Metal Deposition (BMD). The
full-scale mass production of end-use each layer in less than three seconds, two-step process now eliminates
metal parts, the P-1 leverages the including powder deposition, powder the use of solvents, removing the
same patent-pending Single Pass compaction, anti-ballistics, binder debinding stage needed with earlier
Jetting™ (SPJ) technology as the deposition, and printhead cleaning. systems. All-new material formula-
tions allow parts to be transferred
directly from the printer into the
furnace.
The Studio System 2 retains all the
critical features of the original Studio
System, first debuted in 2017, while
delivering advancements that are said
to make metal Additive Manufacturing
even easier, more reliable and acces-
sible. Vacuum sintering in the Desktop
Metal furnace, at temperatures of
up to 1400°C, produces parts and
mechanical properties that are similar
to castings and reportedly meet or
exceed Metal Powder Industries
Federation (MPIF) standards.
Desktop Metal’s new P-1 metal Additive Manufacturing machine (Courtesy
The Studio System 2 is launching
Business Wire)
with 316L stainless steel, but a broad
portfolio of additional materials, that
take advantage of the new streamlined
two-step process, is under develop-
ment. In addition, the Studio System
2 will be backwards-compatible
through the use of the debinder, with
all materials previously supported by
the Studio System, including 17-4PH
stainless steel, 4140 low alloy steel,
H13 tool steel, and copper.
The Studio System 2, which is
set to begin worldwide shipments in
the first quarter of 2021, will also be
available through an upgrade for all
The new Studio System 2 incorporates a two-step process, removing the existing Studio System customers.
debinding stage found in earlier systems (Courtesy Desktop Metal) www.desktopmetal.com
32 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
ADDING VALUE
TO ADDITIVE
MANUFACTURING
Bodycote provides a complete service solution
for metal parts built by the additive manufacturing
process, including stress relief to minimise
distortion and residual stress, EDM to prepare
the component for hot isostatic pressing (HIP),
heat treatment or HIP to remove microporosity,
and associated quality assurance testing.
www.bodycote.com
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 33
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
34 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
Nikon to acquire
majority ownership
of Morf3D
Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has
acquired majority ownership of metal
Additive Manufacturing company
Morf3D Inc., El Segundo, California,
USA. Morf3D specialises in AM and
engineering for the aerospace, space
and defence industries.
Nikon reportedly manufactures
some of the most precise equipment in
the world, with its products being used Morf3D expanded its range of AM machines earlier this year (Courtesy Morf3D)
in applications ranging from advanced
semiconductor manufacturing and
mass production of panels for televi- brings a team of experts accustomed “Nikon’s investment and
sions and smart devices, to medical to partnering with customers to cutting-edge technology acceler-
systems, automotive and satellites. In achieve their unique requirements. ates Morf3D’s position as an
July 2019, the company established This combination is well-aligned innovation leader in advanced
its Next Generation Project Division to with Nikon’s vision for accelerating manufacturing for the aerospace,
accelerate the launch of new growth industrialisation of AM through space and defense markets,”
businesses, including materials innovation, and we look forward to added Ivan Madera, Chief Executive
processing technologies. working together to deliver exciting Officer at Morf3D. “Our unique
Yuichi Shibazaki, Corporate vice next-generation AM solutions to partnership is well-positioned to
president and General Manager of customers globally.” bring forth the highest level of
Next Generation Project Division of Nikon states that it intends to drive quality, service and technological
Nikon stated, “Morf3D has proven industrialisation of digital manu- advancements that will drive
leadership in metal additive tech- facturing by leveraging synergies the industrialisation of Additive
nology, a strong innovation pipeline resulting from strategic investments Manufacturing.”
and highly specialised aerospace and alliances with industry-leading www.morf3d.com
manufacturing qualifications. It also companies worldwide. www.nikon.com
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 35
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Automotive
Magnesium
were issued under the IPO and 3D
Metalforge listed with an initial
3D Metalforge has already generated
revenue of AUD$1.3 million in
Ÿ Spherical, free flowing, low Cobalt
market capitalisation of $38 million. 2019, providing a strong underlying
oxygen content powders Alto Capital acted as Lead Manager
Superalloys
commercial foundation for the
to the IPO. business, with the scope to scale
Nickel
USA. Following the ASX listing, 3D high level of interest and support.
Metalforge also plans to upgrade its We now have a robust capital base
Perth office and pursue opportunities to execute our expansion plans and
in the Australian energy, resources, are listing at a time when strong
industrial and defence sectors. industry tailwinds are driving growth
Founded in 2015, 3D Metalforge and innovation across the Additive
uses proprietary technology and
processes to offer a full range of
HIP
Manufacturing sector.”
www.3dmetalforge.com
Ÿ Automotive
as-a-Service (MaaS) using HMT’s
expertise and equipment.
Titanium
like access to our technology, but
do not yet have enough demand to
Ÿ Aerospace For over eight years, HMT purchase their own system,” stated
Ÿ Energy Storage has been working towards the Nickel
Dr Jason Jones, CEO & co-founder.
Ÿ Energy Generation transitioning of hybrid systems Superalloys
“This new division furthers our
Ÿ Medical into commercial realities. Despite mission to enable wider access to
industry disruption caused by hybrid technology. Our integrated
the coronavirus (COVID-19), HMT approach to digital manufacturing
Medical
was able to double the size of its drives untapped value for customer
Metal Powder & Process Limited facilities. This expansion houses applications not practical with other
Cobalt
the new AM division, headed by approaches.”
Tel: +44 (0)1323 404 844
info@metalpowderprocess.co.uk Peter-Jon Solomon, MSc, CEng. The Silicon
www.hybridmanutech.com
www.metalpowderprocess.co.uk Additive Manufacturing
division hosts capabilities for laser www.hybrid-am.com
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 37
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
38 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Learn more:
MADE
TO MANUFACTURE
CONTRACT MANUFACTURING & ARCEMY® PRINTER SALES FOR AVIATION • DEFENCE • MARINE • MINING • OIL & GAS
Australia +61 8 8258 2658 info@aml3d.com
CERTIFIED
WAM ®: Wire Additive Manufacturing. AML3D ®, WAM ®, WAMSoft ®, ARCEMY® are all registered trademarks for AML3D ®.
FACILITY QUALIFICATION
40 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
Formnext 2021 to take place with “In this way, Formnext can also
aid the economic recovery of a lot
in-person and digital elements of areas by serving as a catalyst of
innovation.”
Formnext organiser Mesago Messe booth concepts that are said to “We’re hoping that these two
Frankfurt GmbH reports that, make planning an entire trade-fair days provide an intriguing digital
following a year in which trade fairs appearance a simple affair without platform, especially for attendees
globally went almost entirely digital, any major additional effort. and exhibitors who can’t make it to
Formnext 2021 will include both “An array of highly innovative Frankfurt in November due to travel
in-person as well as digital elements companies from the various sectors restrictions,” Wenzler concluded.
in a hybrid concept. The in-person of this industry can’t wait to present Further information is available
event will take place in Frankfurt, their latest developments to our via the event’s website.
Germany, from November 16–19, audience in person,” added Wenzler. www.formnext.com
and the digital event will run from
November 30–December 1, 2021.
In planning its hybrid concept
for the upcoming trade fair, the
organiser is said to be building on
the experience it gathered holding
the digital Formnext Connect
2020 event last year. To offer a
counterpart to the in-person event
for the very first time, the Formnext
Digital Days are being planned to
run two weeks later for those who Sintervac® AM debind and sinter
vacuum furnaces for Additive
cannot attend in person. Hosted
alongside the trade fair will be a
Manufactured parts
conference organised by content
partner TCT, which will also have a
digital component.
“The feedback we’ve received Over 6,500 production and laboratory furnaces manufactured since 1954
from exhibitors, attendees, and the
exhibitor advisory board has made • Metal or graphite hot zones
it clear that a genuine in-person • Processes all binders for
event is essential to this industry. metals or ceramics
Everyone is longing to visit some • Sizes from 8-1500 liters
real booths and have some face-to- (0.3–54 cu ft.)
face conversations,” stated Sascha F • Pressures from 10-6 mbar to
Wenzler, vice president of Formnext Atmosphere
at Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH. • Precision heat treating post
“Digital elements can definitely processing available
complement Formnext, but they’ll • Vacuum, Ar, N2 and H2
never replace the real thing. Like • Max possible temperature
in years past, Formnext 2021 is 3,500°C (6,332°F)
scheduled to take place at the state- • Worldwide field service,
of-the-art facilities on the western rebuilds and parts for all
premises of Messe Frankfurt.” makes
In order to provide Formnext’s
exhibitors with as much flexibility as
possible in their planning, both the Sintervac® AM
related deadlines and the event’s
general terms and conditions have WorkhorseTM AM
been adjusted. It was stated that
exhibitors can, for example, cancel Centorr Vacuum Industries
55 Northeastern Blvd
their bookings free of charge until Nashua, NH 03062
the end of June. In light of the USA
Tel: +1 603 595 7233
current situation, Formnext 2021
is also offering modified, turnkey www.centorr.com Fax: +1 603 595 9220
Email: sales@centorr.com
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 41
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
42 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
We add a fully
engineered technology
demonstrator to each
order for free!
SCAN ME www.gknpm.com/additive/
HP METAL JET
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 43
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
THE MAGAZINE
FOR MIM, CIM AND
SINTER-BASED AM
WWW.PIM-INTERNATIONAL.COM
44 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 45
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Triditive closes $1.8 million seed funding “We are delighted to welcome
our new investors and thankful
round for industrial automated AM to our existing shareholders for
their continued support,” stated
Triditive, Gijón, Spain, has the factory of the future with the AM Mariel Diaz, CEO at Triditive.
completed a $1.8 million series seed industry at its heart. “This funding validates our
investment round, which will be The company provides advanced approach to industrialise Additive
used to provide automated Additive robotics powered by machine Manufacturing through automation
Manufacturing machines in order learning, bringing AM to the and enables us to expand our
to accelerate and support creating production floor and, due to its market presence.”
mass production and metal-polymer Sean Wright, Stanley
AM capacity, the cost of scaling Ventures Managing Director,
production is reduced. commented, “We see tremendous
The seed round was supported growth potential in the Additive
by new investors and industry Manufacturing industry. Triditive
leaders: Stanley Ventures (Stanley demonstrated its ability to innovate
Black & Decker), Techstars, Hunosa and create a novel product. We look
empresas, Fourth Funding, IDEPA, forward to working with the team
and a selected group of ‘business to extend our impact in the Additive
Triditive’s AMCell AM machine angels’ from Spain, France and Manufacturing industry.”
(Courtesy Triditive) Switzerland. www.triditive.com
46 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 47
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
48 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 49
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
ASM’s titanium powder approved for from the mine direct to manufac-
turers, through the delivery of the
Additive Manufacturing Dubbo Project and the establish-
ment of our metals business,” he
Korean Additive Manufacturing group “This independent review of ASM’s continued.
HANA AMT, Cheongju, Korea, is titanium metal powder is a great vali- ASM’s metals business is
reported to have performed a detailed dation of our patented metal process, founded on a novel metallisation
analysis of titanium powder supplied confirming the high purity and the process that converts oxides into
by Australia Strategic Materials (ASM), environmental benefits of the metal high purity metals, alloys, and
headquartered in Burswood, Australia, ASM can produce for the manufac- powders using less energy than
confirming a purity of 99.918% and its turing sector in Korea,” stated David conventional methods. The pilot
suitability for metal AM. Woodall, ASM Managing Director. “We plant in South Korea has proven
The test 20 kg of titanium powder look forward to progressing negotia- the commercial scalability of the
was produced from a 75 kg run at tions and continuing discussions with process and is reported to have
ASM’s metallisation pilot plant in other potential off-take and strategic successfully produced a range
January 2021. ASM and HANA AMT partners during our time in Korea.” of high-purity metals and alloys,
signed a non-disclosure agree- “This is a promising start of the including titanium, neodymium,
ment (NDA) as they progress their year, with 2021 a foundation year praseodymium, dysprosium, and
negotiations towards an initial 1,500 for ASM, as we progress our vision zirconium.
tonne-per-year off-take agreement to become a fully integrated critical www.asm-au.com
for titanium powder. metals producer – supplying metals www.hanaamt.com
50 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 51
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
52 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Discover your
perfect powder
—
Finding exactly the right powder metal solution for your specific application
can be a challenge. It can be difficult to be sure that you’ve made the optimal
choice, but with Höganäs PowderFinder, you can make the right decision in
a matter of seconds.
Our smart web-based tool can show you the ideal solution for your business
based on the powder type required, the process used, the application, or any
combination of these factors. You simply select the parameters that apply to
you, and our system will present the best options available.
Höganäs PowderFinder
3115HOG
www.hoganas.com
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 53
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
sinterbased additive
manufacturing
next dimension of
heat treatment
mut-jena.de
integrated
sintering furnace
for high volume production
Solukon expands business activities in cleaning results has grown a lot in the
last year all over the world. By estab-
Turkey with HASMAK-T partnership lishing HASMAK-T as our trusted
partner for the Turkish market, we
Solukon Maschinenbau GmbH, in order to respond to the increasing take the next step to ensure our
Augsburg, Germany, has entered demand of efficiency and safety in position as best-in-the-industry of
into a partnership with HASMAK-T, industrial Additive Manufacturing. depowdering solutions. All the best to
Istanbul, Turkey, in order to expand Michael Sattler, Global Sales Ufuk Bozkaya and his team.”
business activities in Turkey’s growing Director at Solukon, stated, “The www.solukon.de
Additive Manufacturing industry. demand for repeatable and reliable www.hasmak-t.com
Founded in 1988, HASMAK-T
serves as a consultant for tech
companies to optimise and speed up
their customers’ production lines and
manufacturing processes. It is one of
the largest distribution companies in
Turkey.
Solukon explains that the demand
for an automated and secure depow-
dering process for metal additively
manufactured parts is rising in the
Turkish market. HASMAK-T, with
Managing Partner Ufuk Bozkaya, will
help Turkish companies explore the
Solukon Smart Powder Recuperation®
technology and find the right depow- Solukon manufactures a range of depowdering solutions for metal Additive
dering solution for their application Manufacturing (Courtesy Solukon)
PARTICLE CHARACTERIZATION
OF METAL POWDERS
Microtrac MRB offers the widest range of particle analyzers for comprehensive characterization of metal powders.
I CAMSIZER X2 – dynamic image analysis for I CAMSIZER M1 – static image analysis based I SYNC analyzer – combination of laser
reliable determination of size distribution, on a powerful microscopic evaluation for diffraction and image analysis with a wide
oversize, fused and defective particles. most accurate shape measurement. measuring range and maximum flexibility.
www.microtrac.com
56 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
engineered
and made
in Germany
58 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
GPCMA – MODIFIED
ATMOSPHERE
CHAMBER FURNACE
DEBINDING, PYROLYSIS & STRESS
RELIEVING 3D PRINTED ADDITIVE
MANUFACTURED PARTS
www.carbolite-gero.com
Together
we lead the
Additive
Manufacturing
Revolution
www.materials-solutions.com
60 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 61
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
62 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
ASTM INTERNATIONAL
Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence
Upcoming AM Events
Join the Experts
www.amcoe.org/icam 2021
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 63
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
64 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 65
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
All metal hot zones
High vacuum, bright and shiny
Integrated quick cool
Controlled atmosphere
±3°C uniformity
Sizes from 0.25 to 16ft3 (7-453l)
Work loads from 50 to 1,600lbs (23-726kgs)
Operating pressure 10-6 torr to 6 bar Super Series High Vacuum Furnace
66 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
how automated AM production works, chamber, such as residual oxygen, “The Solukon Digital Factory Tool
where the integration of downstream humidity, pressure, temperature and marks a significant step towards
processes, in particular, are expected frequency of the vibrator, in a protocol automation in postprocessing and
to play an increasingly important file for quality assurance. Effective therefore towards integration into a
role. The SFM-AT800 is constantly evaluation of the recorded data helps holistic AM process chain,” stated
communicating with a control centre to validate the process in an overall Alexander Bauer, Applications
while being loaded by a robot. For this quality certificate and simplifies Manager at Solukon. “Especially
purpose, the SFM-AT800 has been process optimisation. The operator through process validation in
equipped with a special loading door may set limits to sensible values in one comprehensive protocol, our
and an automatic clamping system. advance so that deviations are noticed customers achieve an even faster,
and considered immediately and more accurate and easier certifica-
Process validation and quality quality defects are avoided in time. tion. The Solukon Digital Factory Tool
management Besides process data, even informa- is especially applicable to sensitive
The extended quality feature is said tion referring to the cleaning program industries like Aerospace and
to be the key element of the Solukon itself are recorded automatically. To Medical.”
Digital Factory Tool. Certification create a certification document for Solukon will offer the Digital
is a mandatory challenge for each project, the user has the oppor- Factory Tool as a new option for the
manufacturers of sensitive industries tunity to fill out a large and individual SFM-AT800 and the SFM-AT1000-S.
like medical or aerospace, and each composable input mask. The user Existing SFM-AT800-S systems can
step of production is supposed to can then collect data referring to their also be retrofitted upon request.
be clearly reproducible. The more build job in a flexible dialogue box. Solukon is currently cooperating
process data is recorded and logged, This includes for example type, batch with two leading manufacturers
the easier the certification. The and used material. In the end, the concerning process integration.
Solukon Digital Factory Tool provides user is provided with a final protocol Results of these projects will be
a fine-tuned sensor package to record as PDF, CSV or XML file to be stored presented soon.
relevant conditions in the process centrally or printed on paper. www.solukon.de
SERIES
GRINDING AND POLISHING FOR
METALLOGRAPHIC SAMPLE PREPARATION
The new Qpol 250/300 series offers a high degree of flexibility and ease of use for reproducible sample preparation.
68 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 69
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Lockheed Martin to acquire Aerojet costs for our customers and the
American taxpayer,” stated James
Rocketdyne in $4.4 billion deal Taiclet, Lockheed Martin’s president
and CEO. “This transaction enhances
Lockheed Martin Corporation, and production. Lockheed Martin was Lockheed Martin’s support of critical
Bethesda, Maryland, USA, has the first organisation to be certified US and allied security missions and
entered into a definitive agreement to for Additive Manufacturing safety by retains national leadership in space
acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, global safety science company UL and hypersonic technology. We look
Inc., El Segundo, California, USA, for a in October 2018, and in June 2019, forward to welcoming their talented
total transaction value of $4.4 billion. collaborated with Aerojet Rocketdyne team and expanding Lockheed
Aerojet Rocketdyne’s propulsion on a project to identify candidate parts Martin’s position as the leading
systems are already a key component in the F-35 fighter jet that could be provider of 21st century warfare
of Lockheed Martin’s supply chain and produced by Additive Manufacturing. solutions.”
several advanced systems across its In 2020, Aerojet Rocketdyne The transaction is expected to
Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control produced the RS-25 engines used to close in the second half of 2021
and Space business areas. propel NASA’s Space Launch System and is subject to the satisfaction
The proposed acquisition adds (SLS) rocket, a critical element of the of customary closing conditions,
substantial expertise in propulsion Artemis programme, which seeks to including regulatory approvals and
to Lockheed Martin’s portfolio, and land a man and woman on the moon. approval by Aerojet Rocketdyne’s
is said to expand on the foundation The RS-25 engines used on the SLS stockholders. A transition team will
built by Lockheed Martin and Aerojet are reported to contain multiple metal be formed to allow for seamless
Rocketdyne over many years. AM components. integration and ensure continuity
In partnership and separately, “Acquiring Aerojet Rocketdyne for customers, employees and other
Lockheed Martin and Aerojet Rocket- will preserve and strengthen an stakeholders.
dyne have both utilised metal Additive essential component of the domestic www.lockheedmartin.com
Manufacturing in part development defence industrial base and reduce www.aerojetrocketdyne.com
70 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
ECM TECHNOLOGIES - RCS GRENOBLE 478 969 173 - N° Siret 478 969 173 000 44 - Pictures Credit : Denis Morel
technical training and business-focused assignments,
including On-Shore Wind and Diesel Engine Emissions Area Sales Manager - Nicolas VANOISE
Designs Engineering Roles. Tel: +33 4 76 49 65 60
www.barnesglobaladvisors.com St a n d a r d N
info@ecmtech.fr
ed o
if i
rt
rm
Ce
AMS 2750
s
AMS 2769
Part of ECM
Group’s
new offer
dedicated to
laboratories
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 71
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
72 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
ALLOYS
IR O N BASE
RS -
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
MA EL BAS
E ALLOYS
IC K
-N
US SE ALLOYS
VE
N
O BALT BA
-C
U NE
P T
ATOMIZATION NE
Innovative VIGA atomiser.
SIEVING
Multi-frequency
sieving devices
with extended
screening area.
www.mimete.com
BLENDING
Square edge blender
able to homogenize
powder.
PACKAGING
Various options
available depending
on customers’ DELIVERY
requirements.
Fast delivery
and storage availability.
LABORATORY
Fully equipped in-house
laboratory - 17025 certified.
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 73
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
74 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
ULTRASONIC ATOMIZER
SOLUTION FOR SMALL POWDER BATCHES!
● SPHERICAL POWDER WITHOUT ANY SATELLITES
● VERY
ECONOMIC MACHINE SOLUTION ON 2m2 SPACE,
POWERED BY ULTRASONIC TECHNOLOGY, LOW RUNNING COSTS
● ADESIGN FOR EASY HANDLING & CLEANING, QUICK ALLOY
CHANGE WITH MINIMUM CROSS CONTAMINATION
AUS 500
IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM – UNDER CONTROLLABLE IN SMALL BATCHES DOWN TO YOUR OWN EXTREMELY
IT ONLY NEEDS TO FIT INTO ATMOSPHERE OR UNDER 100G OR UP TO SEVERAL KG/H SPHERICAL POWDER WITHOUT
CRUCIBLE VACUUM (FOR BRONZE) ANY SATELLITES
DISCOVER our ULTRASONIC ATOMIZER, our WATER ATOMIZER and our GAS ATOMIZER solutions
on www.bluepower-casting.com
MELD’s titanium certified to meet ASTM consistent with the feedstock material
and conforming to the requirements
& AMS standards of ASTM B265, ASTM B381, and AMS
4911.
MELD Manufacturing Corporation, Data has shown that the as-built “Optical microscopy and SEM
Christiansburg, Virginia, USA, has material exceeds minimum require- investigations produced images
released data confirming that its ments for yield strength, ultimate which revealed clean, defect-free
MELD metal Additive Manufac- tensile strength and elongation as material. The MELD deposited Ti6-4
turing machines produce titanium specified in ASTM B265, ASTM B381, is monolithic, as individual layers are
meeting the ASTM and AMS and AMS 4911 in all axes, including not visible during evaluations,” stated
standards for forged materials, as through the build layers. Ryan Henderson, Process Engineer.
built. ASTM B265 is the ASTM standard Ti6-4 is desirable because of its
The data was said to have been specification for Titanium and high strength to weight ratio and
generated through a programme Titanium Alloy Strip, Sheet, and favourable balance of properties, but
with the National Center for Plate. ASTM B381 is the ASTM its prohibitive cost can prevent use
Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS), standard specification for Titanium in components that require a large
the Army Research Laboratory and Titanium Alloy Forgings. AMS amount of material to be machined
(ARL) and the Advanced Manufac- 4911 is the AMS specification for away. MELD enables use of this
turing, Materials, and Processes Titanium Alloy, Sheet, Strip, and alloy by manufacturing only what is
(AMMP) using Ti6Al4V material Plate, 6Al – 4V, Annealed. Chemistry needed.
(ASTM Grade 5) for the testing. analysis shows that MELD Ti6-4 is www.meldmanufacturing.com
76 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
MTI
Specialized in AM metal materials
Ti Based
Ni Based Fe Based
Powder
Type
Customized
Co Based
HIP
Materials
SLM
R&D
Application Metal 3D
Printer
MIM
EBM
PVD
DEB BJ
Protolabs launches digital our customers to learn about their design analysis
and quoting needs, and then built our new quoting
quoting and design analysis platform around those needs. We then thoroughly tested
platform for US customers the platform with our customer base to refine it even
further. The result is a digital quoting system designed
entirely around an elevated user experience that
Protolabs, Maple Plain, Minnesota, USA, has launched a accelerates their product development cycle every step
new digital quoting and design analysis platform for its of the way.”
US-based customers, following a successful European With the launch Protolabs’ moulding, machining,
launch last year. The company explains that the new and AM services united in a single platform, users
platform has a modern, user-friendly interface that are offered easier quoting and ordering experiences.
enables engineers to better manage their project require- Injection moulding users can now view and discuss
ments, collaborate easier with colleagues and identify gate and ejector pin layout before ordering tooling and
new levels of transparency into their orders. Like the parts. With CNC machining, threading assignments
previous platform, its flagship feature – interactive design have been simplified to let users quickly assign required
for manufacturability (DFM) analysis – remains, but is said threads. AM customers can now see per-part pricing
to now be more intuitive. with itemised costs as well as self-select their desired
“Protolabs was founded on a digital manufacturing delivery date for each part within order at checkout.
model that would dramatically reduce the time it took “Unprecedented changes in many of our markets
to get parts – and it was a success,” stated Rob Bodor, are underway due to customer demand and the ongoing
Protolabs’ incoming CEO and current VP and GM of pandemic, but technological advancement in manufac-
Americas. “Twenty years later we’ve reinvented manu- turing are throwing the doors of innovation wide open
facturing once again with the launch of an all-new digital to allow suppliers and their customers to pivot quickly,”
experience to our customers that reaffirms our position as stated Rich Baker, the CTO who led the platform’s
the global leader in digital manufacturing services.” launch. “That agility is often the difference between
Mark Flannery, global product director for e-commerce success and failure.”
at Protolabs, commented, “We listened to hundreds of www.protolabs.com
Pace Maker
Levil, Virtual Foundry and
for High-End Sapphire3D offer complete
Precision metal AM lab
Parts
Levil Technology, Oviedo, Florida, USA, has partnered
with The Virtual Foundry, Stoughton, Wisconsin, and
Sapphire3D, Chicago, Illinois, to provide an all-inclusive
solution to set up a complete metal Additive Manu-
facturing Lab.The complete kit on offer includes the
Levil EDU-Mill, with its industry-grade dual-head AM
machine and a selection of Levil, FANUC, or Mitsubishi
control options; The Virtual Foundry’s proprietary metal
CROSS-DIMENSIONAL MANUFACTURING
AM filaments, which come in a variety of materials; and
Sapphire3D’s furnace.
We set the pace to keep you a step “Levil Technology could not have asked for better
ahead of the competition. partners when it came to creating a metal 3D printing
solution for our customers,” stated Andres Leon, Levil’s
From 3D metal printing, robotics, machining to injection moulding, General Manager. “We wanted local partners that would
mould making and quality assurance – with toolcraft by your side, provide expertise and support to our users and not only
you can unleash the power of innovation.
did they deliver but also exceeded our expectations.
As your technology partner, we bring together additive and sub- Their products fit seamlessly with our space-conscious,
tractive manufacturing across the production process. This creates low inertia machines. We cannot wait to see what our
a unique consulting and manufacturing standard. end users create when they have all these tools at their
disposal.”
www.leviltechnology.com
www.toolcraft.de/en www.thevirtualfoundry.com
www.sapphire3d.com
78 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS
OF METAL POWDERS & PARTS
ELTRA’s new and innovative ELEMENTRAC series is a mile stone for C/S and O/N/H analysis in Powder Metallurgy and
Additive Manufacturing: easy to use, fast analysis times and reliable results for metal powders and processed samples.
www.eltra.com
Xerox installs first ElemX Liquid Metal it acquired metal AM company Vader
Systems. With the acquisition of
machine at US Naval Postgrad School Vader, the company gained its liquid
metal process along with additional
Xerox, headquartered in Norwalk, “The military supply chain is Additive Manufacturing technology.
Connecticut, USA, has announced among the most complex in the world, With access to the latest AM
the installation of its first ElemX and NPS understands first-hand equipment, NPS faculty and students
Liquid Metal Additive Manufacturing the challenges manufacturers must will use the ElemX machine to
machine at the Naval Postgraduate address,” stated Naresh Shanker, conduct thesis research to develop
School (NPS), Monterey, California, Xerox’s Chief Technology Officer. “This new capabilities for the Navy and
USA. As part of a collaborative collaboration will aid NPS in pushing Marine Corps.
research and development agree- adoption of 3D printing throughout “As the Department of the Navy’s
ment, NPS aims to explore new ways the US Navy, and will provide Xerox applied research university, NPS
the technology can deliver on-demand valuable information to help deliver combines student operational experi-
metal parts and equipment, with the supply chain flexibility and resiliency ence with education and research
potential to dramatically transform to future customers.” to deliver innovative capabilities and
the way the military supplies its Xerox entered the AM market for develop innovative leaders with the
forces. the first time in February 2019, when knowhow to use them,” added Ann
Rondeau, NPS president retired
Vice Admiral. “This partnership is
about the strategic ability of the
Navy to have sailors on ships with
the capability through creativity and
technology to advance their opera-
tions at sea. Through collaboration,
NPS and Xerox are helping build a
Navy for the 21st Century.”
“Global supply chains leave
industries like aerospace, automotive,
heavy equipment, and oil and gas
vulnerable to external risks,” said
Tali Rosman, vice president and
General Manager, 3D Printing, Xerox.
“Our goal is to integrate localised 3D
printing into their operations, and the
real-time feedback from NPS gives
us actionable data to continuously
improve the ElemX.”
Xerox has installed its first ElemX Liquid Metal Additive Manufacturing machine www.nps.edu
at the Naval Postgraduate School (Courtesy Xerox) www.xerox.com
80 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
82 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 83
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
www.cmfurnaces.com info@cmfurnaces.com 103 Dewey Street Bloomfield, NJ 07003-4237 | Tel: 973-338-6500 | Fax: 973-338-1625
84 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 85
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
86 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
NEW
8
VDM® Powder 71
® Powder 625
VDM
Cr F75
VDM® Powder Co
® Powder C-276
VDM
VDM® Powder 59
and many more!
Outstanding performance
Nickel and cobalt alloys produced by VDM Metals are used
in many of today‘s key technologies for the safe and reliable
handling of corrosive and high-temperature processes and
procedures. In addition to exceptional materials, available
as powders in a wide range of particle fractions, we offer
you various first class services.
A company of ACERINOX
vdm@vdm-metals.com
www.vdm-metals.com
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 87
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Latest Alfa Romeo F1 car doubles the Sauber began its collaboration
with Additive Industries with the plan
amount of AM components to establish a metal AM competence
centre within three years. However,
The newly-launched 2021 Alfa Romeo lighter parts and higher productivity, the collaboration is entering its
Racing Orlen F1 race car, the C41, but also from having direct access to fourth year with four machines
manufactured in partnership with MetalFAB1 machines. already in operation, instead of the
Additive Industries, Eindhoven, the “By having the MetalFAB1 systems intended two machines within three
Netherlands, will take to the track in house, and not outsourcing years.
with 304 additively manufactured externally, it helps us to achieve an www.sauber-group.com/motor-
metal parts, more than doubling the important element of the cost cap,” sport/formula-1
number from 2020’s C39 race car. commented Jan Monchaux, Technical www.additiveindustries.com
The parts for the C41 were Director.
produced on the MetalFAB1 AM
machine from Additive Industries,
with some 22% of the 304 parts made
from Ti64Gd23, 36% from Scalmalloy,
40% built from AlSi10Mg and 2% in
stainless steel. The total combined
weight accounts for approximately
14.86 kg, a comparatively small
increase over last year’s 13.14 kg
considering the 113% parts increase.
Cost savings of up to 90%
per part, in comparison with
traditionally-manufactured parts, has
also been a major benefit for Sauber
Motorsport AG, the Swiss company
which manages and operates the
Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen team. The C41 has an increase of 113% of AM parts from the previous year’s 143
These savings come not only from (Courtesy Sauber Group)
88 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
FROM CONCEPT
TO COMPONENT
Additive Manufacturing
The next dimension in tooling for the
plastic injection moulding industry
As a global steel and technology leader, we offer the full suite of production techniques
and services throughout the value chain, supporting and driving innovation and
development based on lengthy experience around materials and processing. Starting from
the alloy development and metal powder production, to design and manufacturing and
including post-processing. We offer the end-to-end solutions to reduce waste and mitigate
risk in the supply chain with the goal of being your trusted and reliable business partner.
We deliver tailormade solutions from concept to component.
90 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
FS301M
Metal Laser Melting System
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 91
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Uniformity Labs and Desktop Metal sintering aids into the powders, using
binders containing expensive nanopar-
announce new aluminium powder ticles or diluting the aluminium with
metals such as lead, tin or magnesium.
Through a collaboration between automotive, aerospace and consumer Most importantly, Uniformity 6061
Desktop Metal, Burlington, Massa- electronics,” stated Ric Fulop, CEO also allows for the use of water-based
chusetts, USA, and Uniformity Labs, and co-founder of Desktop Metal. “The binders and has a higher minimum
Fremont, California, USA, a new global aluminium castings market is energy relative to other commercially-
powder enabling aluminium sintering more than $50 billion per year, and it is available 6061 aluminium powders,
for Binder Jetting (BJT) AM technology ripe for disruption with Binder Jetting resulting in an improved safety profile.
has been discovered. This comes AM solutions.” Over the coming year, Desktop
after a multi-year effort between the “The introduction of lightweight Metal and Uniformity Labs will continue
companies to develop a low-cost raw metals to Binder Jetting opens the their partnership to qualify the powder
material that yields fully dense, sinter- door to a wide variety of thermal and scale production for commercial
able 6061 aluminium with greater and structural applications across release. Once qualified, Uniformity
than 10% elongation, as well as industries,” added Adam Hopkins, 6061 will be available for use with
improved yield strength and ultimate founder and CEO of Uniformity Labs. Desktop Metal’s Production System.
tensile strength versus wrought 6061 “This innovation is a key step towards “These are the best reported proper-
aluminium undergoing comparable the adoption of mass-produced printed ties we are aware of for a sintered
heat treatments. aluminium parts.” 6061 aluminium powder, and we are
“This breakthrough represents a The Uniformity 6061 powder enables excited to make this material available
major milestone in the development the sintering of unadulterated 6061 exclusively to Desktop Metal customers
of aluminium for Binder Jetting and aluminium, said to be a significant as part of our ongoing partnership with
a significant step forward for the improvement over prior aluminium Uniformity Labs,” Fulop concluded.
AM industry, as it is one of the most sintering techniques, which required www.desktopmetal.com
sought-after materials for use in coating powder particles, mixing www.uniformitylabs.com
92 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 93
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
ESPRIT CAM successfully tested for Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) Additive
Manufacturing with products that
Binder Jetting Additive Manufacturing have been tested and validated
by industrial partners. Relying on
DP Technology, Camarillo, California, In 2020, teams from ESPRIT an established collaboration with
USA, developer of the ESPRIT continued to develop products Cetim, ESPRIT teams validated the
CAM system, a computer-aided to enhance the support of AM support of Binder Jetting.
manufacturing software that supports technologies and released a new By preparing data in ESPRIT
a variety of CNC machines, reports feature that adds support to several Additive Suite products, Cetim
that, through its existing partnership new slice formats such as 3MF was able to build a job made of six
with France’s Technical Centre for and Binary CLI, further improving impeller parts with a BJT machine
Mechanical Industry (Cetim), it has interoperability between software from Digital Metal, part of Sweden’s
successfully tested the ESPRIT CAM and machines. Höganäs group. Although ESPRIT
system with Binder Jetting (BJT) ESPRIT already supports both additive support for BJT technology
Additive Manufacturing. Direct Energy Deposition (DED) and is not yet commercially available, the
company states that this success
demonstrates what’s possible when
both teams collaborate closely.
“We used the ESPRIT Additive
PBF product to slice the 3D model
and produce a compatible file format
that would be readable by Digital
Metal’s machine,” stated Clement
Girard, ESPRIT’s Additive Product
Manager. “All data preparation was
done using a version of ESPRIT
Additive PBF that’s still in develop-
As built (left) and sintered (right) 40 mm impeller designed by Cetim, prepared ment.”
with ESPRIT CAM and additively manufactured on Digital Metal equipment www.cetim.fr
(Courtesy Cetim/ESPRIT CAM) www.espritcam.com
94 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
List of services/topics
Design:
• Initial part review
• Part Feasibility Evaluation
• Design for Manufacturing
• Support/Setter design
Process:
• Mold/Tool Design - MIM
• Molding parameters - MIM
• Feedstock formulation and analysis
- MIM/AM
• Printing parameter analysis - AM
• Depowder process review - AM
• Powder management - MIM/AM
• Curing Process review - AM
• Part Handling and Care
SERVICE CONTRACT
Debind:
• TGA process and report reveiew
• Debind process analysis
• Primary Binder Removal
• Secondary Binder Removal
Our Team of Metal Part making experts wants to support, educate and partner with the • Binder removal analysis
MIM, Metal AM and other metal part making industries to share our knowledge and help
Sinter:
you overcome challenges, develop better processes and become successful. • Sinter process review
• Temperature analysis
• DSC process and analysis
SUPPORT SERVICES
SERVICE CHARGES ARE
PAID UPFRONT
GET IN TOUCH:
TIME IS LOGGED IN 15 MIN
INCREMENTS +1.973.239.7792
107 Commerce Road,
Cedar Grove, NJ 07009 USA
$160.00/HOUR
Vol. 7 No. 1 © www.dshtech.com
2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 95
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
www.aiphip.com
10010
Medical Parts Aerospace & Turbines Additive Manufacturing Drilling & MIM
96 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
HEAT TREAT AC7102/6:HIP
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 97
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
HI-SIFTER BY ELCAN
Contact us today to see how we can improve your
additive process!
(914)-381-7500 | sales@elcanindustries.com elcanindustries.com
98 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
precious metals
powder atomizer
metalatomizer.com
Premiere
Laboratory
metal powder
atomizer
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 99
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
100 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
E DM
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
P ERFORMANCE
E DM
A CCESSORIES
P ERFORMANCE MOLYCUT WIRE
MOLYCUT WIRE
EDM FOR
A CCESSORIES
EDM FOR
3D additive metal parts &
3D additive
other cutoffmetal parts &
applications
“New”
other cutoff applications
“New”
Advantages:
Advantages:
*Z*ZHeight
Height(up
(uptoto31.5”)
31.5 ”) Several
Several models
models available
available
*Large
*LargeTable
TableSizes
Sizes Available
Available
*Minimal Wire Breaks
*Minimal Wire Breaks
*Cost
*CostofofOperation
Operation
*200-300%
*200-300% Faster
Faster thanstandard
than wire EDM
*Simplified
standard Setup
wire EDM
*SimplifiedInterface
*Ergonomic Setup
*Ergonomic Interface
West
WestCoast:
Coast:1-800-336-2946
1-800-336-2946
Midwest
Midwest/ /East
EastCoast:
Coast: 1-800-511-5532
1-800-511-5532
info@edmperformance.com
info@edmperformance.com
See the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYLT2_Ku9Gw&t=23s
www.edmperformance.com See the video:
www.edmperformance.com
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 101
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYLT2_Ku9Gw&t=23s
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Kurtz Ersa enters into metal AM market types of materials. Because the Alpha
140 is designed as a complete AM
with the Alpha 140 system, it also has its own software
for data preparation (either via preset
Kurtz Ersa, a producer of components, 140 is an ideal entry point into metal parameters or extensive manual
systems and equipment for the Additive Manufacturing. input), from component design to
optimisation of manufacturing simulation and generation of support
processes, headquartered in Kreuz- Optimised production process structures to data preparation,
wertheim, Germany, has entered the The Alpha 140 utilises a 140 W allowing the mapping of the entire AM
Additive Manufacturing equipment fibre-coupled diode laser, enabling workflow.
market with the release of its Alpha the production of fine details and
140 Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion thin wall depths, while the laser’s Cooperation with LMI
(PBF-LB) metal AM machine. gantry mounting enables a constant The Alpha 140 was developed by Laser
Said to combine innovative Additive focus diameter throughout the entire Melting Innovations GmbH & Co.
Manufacturing technology with simple installation space. Layer thicknesses KG (LMI), a spin-off from the RWTH
operation and lower system costs, between 30 µm and 90 µm allow for a Aachen University, where Additive
the Alpha 140 is aimed at small and component- and material-dependent Manufacturing has been an essential
medium-size companies, particularly optimised manufacturing process. part of development activities for
those in the moulding and tooling The spindle-driven axis system allows over twenty years. The cooperation
industries where the Alpha 140 is high positioning and repeatability of with Kurtz Ersa, with its access to a
ideal for complex geometric struc- the laser system, while a laminar- worldwide sales and service network,
tures such as moulds with internal, shielding gas flow creates optimised enabled the machine’s rapid market
near-contour cooling. The company processing conditions for both launch.
believes the Alpha 140 particularly protecting the laser optics and for the “In Aachen, the cradle of metal
shines with small batch sizes, inert welding process. Additive Manufacturing, more than 200
allowing users to save on tooling, The round build envelope of the top developers, specialists and young
something which may also prove machine measures 140 mm in diam- talents are continuously working on
attractive to universities and research eter with a maximum build height of the topic of Additive Manufacturing,”
institutes. 200 mm. With a footprint of just 170 commented Professor Johannes
During the machine’s develop- x 95 cm, and an optional integrated Henrich Schleifenbaum, one of
ment, engineers worked to meet nitrogen generator enabling self LMI’s founders. “In addition to
the desire for a simple, economical, sufficiency without an external processes and machines, we have a
and open architecture, as well as gas supply, the ‘plug and produce’ particular focus on the benefits for
allowing the user to process special machine is ideal for space-saving industrial users, from component
materials, produce customisable use in production environments and design through 3D printing and
designs and provide geometric research labs alike, where connection post-processing to the ready-to-use
freedom. With these specifications, by means of a cold appliance plug and component. Here, we have direct
and the comparatively low costs in optional air cooling enables simple access to a wealth of experience of
mind, Kurtz Ersa states that the Alpha installation. more than 1,000 man-years. We make
The components manufactured this available to our partners.”
on the Alpha 140 are said to reach After signing a cooperation agree-
strengths comparable to traditional ment in August 2020, the assembly
PBF-LB machines with densities of the initial AM machine began just
greater than 99.5%. Being up to 80% ten weeks later, with the first delivery
more economical, Kurtz Ersa states taking place in December 2020.
the Alpha 140 can offer a worthy Further machines have been installed
industry contribution to the European and are already in production – such
Green Deal’s goal of climate neutrality as those at the German Aerospace
by 2050. Centre (DLR) and the Fraunhofer IWKS
Available materials and parameter (Research Institution for Materials
sets for the Alpha 140 include stain- Recycling and Resource Strategies).
less steels (such as 1.4404), nickel- Orders for other Alpha 140’s have
base superalloys (IN625 and IN718), been confirmed, including one for the
tool steel and aluminium alloys Technical University of Cologne, or
The Alpha 140 is a result of a partner- (AlSi7Mg), with more materials upon are close to completion directly with
ship between Kurtz Ersa and Laser request. The open system design also industrial companies.
Melting Innovations (Courtesy Kurtz enables in-house material qualifica- “3D metal printing complements
Ersa) tions and the development of new our relationships in the manufacturing
102 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
The interior of the Alpha 140 shows the inert gas and axis An example of the particularly high degree of
systems. The spindle-driven axis system allows high positioning geometric freedom offered by AM (Courtesy Hans
and repeatability of the laser system (Courtesy Kurtz Ersa) Erlenbach Entwicklungen GmbH)
scene and fits perfectly with our The cooperation between the The Alpha 140 is manufactured
strategy ‘Global. Ahead. Sustain- companies is a classic win-win at the Kurtz Ersa production site
able.’, with which we present scenario. For Kurtz Ersa, the process in Kreuzwertheim. A 24-hour
ourselves as technology leaders knowledge of the LMI team in the field service is offered thanks to a global
in our respective markets,” added of Additive Manufacturing was the key presence, with live presentations
Rainer Kurtz, CEO of Kurtz Ersa. to entering this new business field. For being available in the the Kurtz Ersa
Together with Managing Director its part, LMI, as a young company, was Corporation’s demo centres. An
Uwe Rothaug, Kurtz was also able to utilise the sales and service Alpha 140 specific showroom is also
pleased with the “fantastically channels of the more established planned for LMI in Aachen.
short time to market” of the Alpha Kurtz Ersa as a perfect complement to www.kurtzersa.com
140. the roll-out of its metal AM technology.
Powder
Powder Handling andFlow
Handling and Flowfor
forAdditive
Additive Manufacturing;
Manufacturing; 12 12 – 16
– 16 JulyJuly
20212021 On-line Learning: 14:00 – 17:00
hrs each day
On-line Learning: 14:00 – 17:00
Let us guide
Let guideyou
youthrough the the
through critical aspects
critical of powder
aspects handling handling
of powder and management so that you are
and management soable to
identify potential problematic issues and learn how to avoid or overcome them. hrs each day
that you are able to identify potential problematic issues and learn how to avoid or Claim your discounted fee by
overcome them. are:
Course presenters referring to this advert.
- Dipl. Ing Claus Aumund-Kopp, Group Leader for AM at the Fraunhofer IFAM Institute in Bremen; Claim your discounted fee by
wolfson-enquiries@gre.ac.uk
- Dr Neilpresenters
Course Harrison, Materials
are: Development Manager at Carpenter Additive;
- Prof Mike Bradley, Director of the Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology; referring to
020this
8331advert.
8646
• Dipl. Ing Claus Aumund-Kopp, Group Leader for AM at the Fraunhofer IFAM Institute
in Bremen;
wolfson-enquiries@gre.ac.uk
• Dr Neil Harrison, Materials Development Manager at Carpenter Additive;
020 8331 8646
• Prof Mike Bradley, Director of the Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology;
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 103
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
AML3D and Austal Australia’s maritime can now follow a similar validation
process.“
AM crane receives verification from “This is a fantastic achievement
104 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Industry News
Phoenix
Headmade Materials enables high-end Scientific
titanium pedals for bikes Industries Ltd
Advanced Process Solutions
Headmade Materials GmbH, The sinter-based Cold Metal
Würzberg, Germany, has collabo- Fusion technology, developed
rated with Titanum GmbH, Hamburg, at Headmade Materials, uses a HERMIGA 75 Series
titanium feedstock that can be
to produce lightweight titanium
clipless bike pedals. Through the processed on widely available Research Atomisers
use of Headmade Materials’ Cold
Metal Fusion Additive Manufacturing
standard polymer PBF-LB
machines. Once the green part is
(2 - 5 kg furnaces)
process, the journey from initial built, it is debound and sintered to
contact between businesses to final obtain a fully-dense metal part.
design has taken only six months. Following the production of the
Rico de Wert, co-founder of first prototype, where the perfor-
Titanum, had been working on the mance was said to be outstanding,
design for the clipless pedals for only a few details were changed
a number of years, but technical before the patent was filed. The
feasibility and high-cost manufac- pedals have since been tested and
turing have held the project back. found suitable for both mountain Model 75/3 VI
Matthias Sharvogel, CEO of titanium bike and road use by bike special- Typical median
specialists Element 22 GmbH, based ists such as Ralf Holleis at Huhn (d50) 10 - 100µm
in Kiel, Germany, brought Titanum Cycles and Tom Sturdy from Sturdy Closed coupled
and Headmade Materials together in Cycles. die technology
mid-2020, a successful partnership www.headmade-materials.de
that has resulted in bringing the new www.titanum.bike
MyTi clipless pedals to market. www.element-22.com
Model 75/5 VI
Spherical free
flowing low
oxygen content
metal powder
The MyTi titanium clipless pedals will be available from summer 2021
(Courtesy Headmade Materials GmbH)
Model 75/2 CC
Cold crucible melting
for titanium and
other reactive melts
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 105
Industry News | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Orbex commissions largest industrial begin in 2021 and the first orbital
launch expected in 2022.
AM machine in Europe for rapid Uniquely for a commercial rocket,
106 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
VIBENITE
REDEFINING WEAR RESISTANCE
® VIBENITE®
Alloys that redefine
wear resistance
IS WEAR RESISTANCE
ON THE AGENDA?
With our patented Vibenite®
materials you get:
• exceptional wear
resistance
• extreme heat resistance
• complex geometry
Whether you choose the
world’s hardest steel or our
cemented carbide, you will
experience a new perfor-
mance in your application.
108 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 109
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Enabling
the impossible!
We know that additive manufacturing offers
undreamed-of potential. Only, however, if all the
upstream and downstream processes are taken
into account – from design to material and qual-
ity assurance.
Does your technology contribute here?
If so, do secure your space in Frankfurt.
formnext.com
110 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | The BEAMIT story
BEAMIT, an Additive Manufacturing “There is no doubt that AM one that is available to everyone.”
company founded in 1997 when AM processes will very soon become This vision is of a more affordable and
technologies were in their nascency, more accessible to the wider public,” automated AM value chain, leading to
is today the largest AM manufacturer stated Antolotti, “but, first, we will mass production and the replacement
in Italy and one of Europe’s leading have to navigate a crucial transition, of more inefficient and restrictive
players. Born from the vision of from a technology that is still a industrial processes. But how will
its founder, Mauro Antolotti, and prerogative of the richer markets to BEAMIT get there?
sustained by careful planning and
a strategic vision, the company has
not only been able to survive the
coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, but
to more than double its revenues
throughout the period, culminating in
an increase of 130% in 2020.
At the root of BEAMIT’s success
is Antolotti, the ‘heart and soul’ of
the company, who shared with Metal
Additive Manufacturing magazine
how the business’s current situa-
tion is the result of many years of
experience in the industry, careful
timing, and well-planned choices.
After recent acquisitions and a
major international partnership,
Antolotti and his team are now eager
to face the challenges of a market
which is anticipating an increasingly
widespread use of AM technology in Fig. 1 Mauro Antolotti founded BEAMIT in 1997. Today the company is one of
industry. Europe’s leading manufactuerers of metal AM components (Courtesy BEAMIT)
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 111
The BEAMIT story | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Fig. 2 A selection of metal additively manufactured parts produced by BEAMIT (Courtesy BEAMIT)
The BEAMIT story 2020, BEAMIT then acquired a share he is involved with. Since his modest
in the startup company Pres-X, which beginnings in the small town of
Based in Emilia-Romagna, one specialises in post-processing for Fornovo, Antolotti has spent much
of Italy’s wealthiest regions and a metal AM, and the same year it fully of his life in search of innovations
globally recognised centre of industry, acquired its main competitor in Italy, that would allow him to differentiate
BEAMIT has grown from a startup the AM service provider Zare. himself from the competition. When
with just a handful of employees to a The business has been built on ground-breaking surface coating and
company with more than a hundred solid foundations that are grounded heat treatment technologies first
employees distributed across five in research and development. This arrived in Italy from the USA, making
plants, as well as commercial offices has allowed it to focus on both its it possible to extend component
in France, Germany, the United technical capabilities and quality durability and improve quality, he
Kingdom and Japan. management. Recently, it received its seized the opportunity and became
Motivated by the commercial and seventh NADCAP certification for its an expert in these special processes,
technological opportunities in what is aerospace related activities. Financial quickly extending his experience
still a relatively new industry, BEAMIT stability has also been a consistently in the following years to a range of
opened its doors to international high priority, with the company sectors, including aerospace.
collaboration in 2019, when global having received CRIBIS Prime In 1997 Antolotti recognised the
engineering group Sandvik acquired Company certification in recognition potential of Additive Manufacturing
a significant stake in the company. of the highest levels of stability and and invested. “BEAMIT has reached
Sandvik has more than 150 years of reliability in its business activities, where it has today because it
advanced materials expertise and something that has been granted benefitted from strategies learned
offers what is believed to be the to only 7% of six million candidate over many years of special
widest material range for Additive companies. processes and application develop-
Manufacturing on the market. By Such achievements are not the ment,” Antolotti commented. “My
joining forces, the two companies now result of mere business acumen, but, experience in special processes
have leading expertise across the AM rather, of Antolotti’s near fifty years taught me that, with technologies
value chain, which is crucial to the of expertise in the industry and a such as AM, it is crucial to have
industrialisation of the technology. In close familiarity with the processes every variable under control, at
112 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | The BEAMIT story
Fig. 3 Kristian Egeberg, president of Sandvik Additive Manufacturing, and Mauro Antolotti at the signing of the
partnership between the two companies in 2019 (Courtesy BEAMIT)
every stage of the value chain, and It wasn’t until around 2014–2015 up with a strong industrial partner
to recognise that, in this market, that the technology was finally with an international reputation,
only those who innovate and keep accepted into the market, stated which had a strong metallurgical
innovating can survive the fierce Antolotti. That’s when BEAMIT’s background, a shared ethos, and
competition.” consistent efforts to innovate proved that could bring longevity and
These words seem to encompass to be a winning strategy. “You credibility to the business.
the whole of Antolotti’s philosophy can have as much capital as you Sandvik, which already had a
and entrepreneurial agenda: need,” said Antolotti, “but, if you world renowned metal powder
Innovation. In 1997, BEAMIT was in a do not spend it on innovating, you manufacturing business as well
research phase and could only work will be out in no time. Important as advanced metal AM research
with polymeric products. However, international customers see activities, proved to be an ideal
as soon as the Additive Manufac- a reliable partner as one who match, and acquired a 30% stake in
turing of metals became possible, continues to offer the latest BEAMIT in July 2019. “Sandvik came
around 2004–2005, BEAMIT did not available materials and technology, to us spontaneously,” said Antolotti.
hesitate to set up its first metal AM because they know it will give them “They came to visit our facilities
facility. This was not for the purpose the edge they need to differentiate and it was love at first sight. They
of doing business, since there was themselves from their competitors. are honest, respectful people and,
no business to be made, but rather This is especially true in times of after one year and a half, we are as
to develop the technology and get it crisis.” committed as ever.”
ready for market. “The market was As 2019 approached, a year that Partnering with Sandvik was the
only going to open its doors to the would turn out to be pivotal for the qualitative leap they were looking
technology if we could demonstrate company, BEAMIT realised that the for. “Many doors opened at a global
that its mechanical characteristics objective of becoming one of the level and, by assimilating our market
were reliable and repeatable. To leading AM manufacturers in Europe strategy to that of a business with a
achieve this goal, we worked in was close, but that a leap of faith 150 year-long history of successes,
close contact with universities and was needed. Antolotti knew that to we know we have consolidated
research centres for ten years,” reach the next level required more a future for our company. In this
explained Antolotti. than just capital: he needed to pair sector, you are chosen not only
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 113
The BEAMIT story | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
114 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | The BEAMIT story
It should come as no surprise that Fig. 5 A heat exchanger, originally developed in partnership with Politecnico di
the markets that profit most from Milano, produced as a single piece in an aluminium alloy for high-performance
AM technologies are those that motorsport applications (Courtesy BEAMIT)
particularly benefit from its unique
potentialities and are resourceful
enough to absorb the costs. These
are, for the most part, rich markets
where time savings in develop-
ment, sustainability and efficiency
concerns are absolute priorities.
For the gas turbine and aero-
space markets, AM processes have
the two-fold advantage of curbing
the environmental impact of turbines
and aircraft engines, while allowing
companies to reduce costs. “Where,
with old processes, a turbine
burned as much as 300 litres of oil,”
explained Antolotti, “by utilising AM
technology they consume around 260 Fig. 6 Some of the first metal AM applications were in the area of medical
litres, producing the same energy implants. This tibial implant is produced in Ti6Al4V and CNC machined
with about 15% reduced waste. (Courtesy BEAMIT)
Financial advantages also come into
play, as aircraft burn less fuel and,
in turn, airlines see considerable
cost savings. This proves that, even
though the technology is expensive,
the companies that can afford it end
up saving money in the long term,
while reducing carbon emissions at
the same time.”
Another crucial contribution
to sustainability in the aerospace
sector is weight reduction. “The
aerospace sector is constantly
searching for ways to reduce the
weight of aeroplane components.
We have produced components
via AM whose final weight is up to Fig. 7 Additive Manufacturing can be used for complex geometries with
60% lighter than production via extremely small and intricate internal channels that would be difficult, if
conventional technologies, and this, not impossible, to obtain with traditional technologies. This AM aerospace
of course, represents a massive component has been cut open to show such internal channels
difference.” (Courtesy BEAMIT)
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 115
The BEAMIT story | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Fig. 8 EOS M 400-4 Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion machines at BEAMIT (Courtesy BEAMIT)
In comparison with conventional money and time. “AM machines allow Smaller markets and the
manufacturing technologies, our customers to obtain very complex Italian manufacturing
AM also represents a huge step components in very little time,” said landscape
forward for both design freedom Antolotti. “Let’s take, for example, the
and time efficiency. The possibility world of motor racing. Before Additive Whilst the majority of BEAMIT’s
for engineers to create complex Manufacturing, a team had to design larger customers are the industrial
gas turbine, space, aerospace and
defence, motor racing, biomedical
“Let’s take, for example, the world of and general industrial sectors, they
are not the only markets that benefit
motor racing. Before AM, a team had to from AM. There are a multitude of
small and medium-sized companies
design a component for the following that also use the technology, albeit in
season, and it would take around ten a more occasional, selective way.
“If there were doubts on whether
months to end up with the part. Now, AM is a technology worth investing
they can have the same part available in in, they remain in the past,” said
Antolotti. “Today, everyone seems
two to three weeks...” convinced of the advantages of
Additive Manufacturing and every
major company now appears to have
designs through the use of specialist a component for the following season, an AM expert. However, AM is utilised,
software means that there are and it would take around ten months for the most part, in an extremely
virtually no limitations for designers to end up with the part. Now, they can selective way: only for small and
when coming up with innovative have the same part available in two to special components, and only when
products. At the same time, no tools three weeks; development times are a company has the funds to invest in
or moulds are needed, saving a lot of drastically shortened.” higher-quality products. At BEAMIT
116 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | The BEAMIT story
Machines and
manufacturing
Fig. 10 View of the AM production area at BEAMIT (Courtesy BEAMIT)
To grow the recognition of Italian
industry in the global AM market is
even more relevant as 2021 begins,
with BEAMIT now showcasing one fifteen more AM machines, bringing the type of materials they can be used
of the largest AM machine instal- its total capacity to around fifty. to process. Whilst both can be used
lations in Europe. The company Today, the company offers both to produce nearly 100% fully dense
has nurtured relationships with a Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion metal components, PBF-EB is able
number of AM machine makers since (PBF-LB) and Electron Beam to process alloys such as titanium-
the technology first became avail- Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-EB) aluminides that simply cannot be
able. In 2017, the company signed Additive Manufacturing. Antolotti manufactured using laser-based AM.
multi-machine, long-term deals to explained that whilst there are The company’s operations are
purchase an increasing number of fundamental technical differences designed to be highly efficient,
state-of-the-art machines in the between PBF-LB and PBF-EB operating around the clock with
following years. Last year, BEAMIT processes, from a customer advanced process monitoring.
signed a letter of intent to purchase perspective the main relevance is Extensive post-production services
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 117
The BEAMIT story | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Fig. 11 A large format Concept Laser X Line 2000R PBF-LB machine (Courtesy BEAMIT)
and quality systems ensure that the the customer from start to finish. personnel,” he stated. “This calibra-
company manufactures products that BEAMIT’s experts work side by side tion is certified, registered and
are always flawless and faithful to the with the customer on an applica- archived, always at hand in case of
customer’s vision. tion’s design, providing ongoing need. We have to keep traceability of
It is worth stating that, as well support every step of the way to everything: from powder production
as enabling applications that offer
improved efficiency and sustainability,
Additive Manufacturing is also a clean
technology in itself. AM machines “Antolotti could not stress enough how, in
consume significantly lower levels
of electricity than conventional
order to ensure the correct functioning of
manufacturing processes. As opposed the machines and maximise the potential
to casting and other subtractive
industrial processes, AM machines of the AM process, it is fundamental to
obtain finished products not by keep every variable of the process under
removing, but by adding material,
dramatically minimising waste. control and to guide and support the
PBF-LB machines consume relatively
low amounts of electricity, around 4–5
customer from start to finish.”
kW per hour.
Antolotti could not stress enough
how, in order to ensure the correct ensure that a final product is as to laboratory tests, every process
functioning of the machines and optimised as possible, and according that happened in the last thirty years
maximise the potential of the AM to the client’s specifications. is documented. This is a necessary
process, it is fundamental to keep “Our responsibility is to make safety measure to make sure that, if
every variable of the process under sure the machines are constantly a problem arises, we can immediately
control and to guide and support calibrated by highly-specialised call the technicians and solve it. If
118 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | The BEAMIT story
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 119
The BEAMIT story | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Fig. 12 Light alloys such as aluminium are ideally suited to single-piece AM engine blocks for motorsport
(Courtesy BEAMIT)
120 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Conference
HOLISTIC INNOVATION IN ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
JUNE 1 & 2
ONLINE
nserc-hi-am.ca/2021
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 121
Trends. Perspectives. Forecasts.
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
wohlersassociates.com
122 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Women in 3D Printing
Between January 27–28, 2021, the of the content offered at some digital 3D Printing, of only 13% women, and
TIPE Women in 3D Printing confer- events has, to some extent, diminished with only 11% of businesses owned or
ence hosted 147 women speakers collective enthusiasm. managed by women, the organisers of
on its programme of over forty The TIPE conference, however, saw TIPE filled two days of high-level pres-
presentations, and was attended a renewed level of enthusiasm for entations with a 100% female speaker
by 1,600 participants. Across the all involved, speakers and attendees list. Compare this to the programmes
two-day programme, supported by alike. Why? Perhaps this can be put of the majority of industry events and
120+ participating companies, could down to the speaker list: In an industry it becomes clear where TIPE found the
be found a who’s who of AM industry made up, according to the most novelty factor to engage a somewhat
talent: from the five women appearing recent statistics held by Women in fatigued AM community.
on the ‘Being a CEO in AM’ panel on
day one (Fig. 1), to leading figures in
aerospace and automotive AM, to a
crop of high-level global researchers.
It would be fair to say that, for the
first conference held by non-profit
organisation Women in 3D Printing
(Wi3DP), the scale of success and
surrounding industry buzz was a
surprise to many.
Since the spread of coronavirus
(COVID-19) early in 2020, leading to
widespread travel bans and industry
disruption, the vast majority of
industry events have moved online,
with mixed results. While the energy Fig. 1 Screenshot from TIPE Women in 3D Printing conference panel Being a
and willingness to attend events from CEO in AM. From left to right: Moderator Debbie Holton (Managing Director,
home was high in the early months Industry Events, ASME), Melanie Lang (CEO, FormAlloy), Christina Perla
of the pandemic, twelve months on, (CEO, Makelab), Ellen Kullman (President and CEO, Carbon) and Kay Matin
‘Zoom fatigue’ and a rather jaded view (President, AlphaSTAR) (Courtesy Women in 3D Printing)
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 123
Women in 3D printing | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
124 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Women in 3D printing
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 125
Women in 3D printing | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Fig. 4 Pictures from just nine of eighty Women in 3D Printing chapters around the world (Courtesy Women in 3D Printing)
few people coming in and out to help can have at conferences, and I was a It was almost too much. “I told
us, and I had the support of the team woman.” While she was unsure which my husband I wanted to quit the
in France, but physically, it was me, of these factors was predominant in entire industry – not because of
in San Francisco, working from a making her feel unwelcome, Toure my company, I loved working for
co-working space," she explained. explained that, as a woman, “I had Sculpteo, but I didn’t know what
"Developing my personal network so a few awkward situations – really I was doing here, I had no idea it
that I could be representative of the awkward situations – which were not would be so hard, and I felt like
company and develop the business necessarily pleasant.” nobody was helping me.” Toure’s
was harder than I thought it would be; While she is quick to clarify husband’s response was simple –
being twenty-four and coming from that none of these situations were “He told me, ‘you’re not a quitter,
Europe, I thought I knew everything “particularly dramatic,” Toure recalls you’re going to find a solution, you
about the USA and would just have to the overwhelming impression she just have to think about it.’”
do everything I’d done in Europe, but I received. “You don’t feel in your Toure thought about it, stopped
had no clue.” right place. You think, ‘I’m not sure I trying to build a network in places
As she sought to build her belong here.’” A recurring trade show where she felt unwelcome, and
network, Toure attended every experience Toure recalls will be all began to build a network on her
conference she could think of, too familiar for many women reading own terms. “I started talking to the
and was surprised to find it an this article: “A number of times, I had few people I had in my network,
often-uncomfortable experience. a male intern with me and found that even in competing companies, who
“I didn’t necessarily feel welcome,” when I tried to engage with men and were feeling the same as I did and
she stated. “I believe there were a women, they would say, ‘no, it’s ok, talking about it. It hit me that we
number of reasons for this: I was a I’ll talk to the engineer over there.’ He were mostly women, who shared the
foreigner, I was young, I was a little wasn’t an engineer, he was my sales feeling of being the only woman in
bit shy and unsure of my place, I intern. This was really frustrating the meeting room, or the experience
was not an engineer and could not then, and though it happens a little of being at a trade show where
necessarily pick up on some of the less than it used to, it’s still really visitors want to talk to the male you
engineering-level conversations you frustrating now.” are attending with.”
126 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Women in 3D printing
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 127
Women in 3D printing | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
128 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Women in 3D printing
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 129
Women in 3D printing | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Fig. 9 Tali Rosman, vice president and General Manager Fig. 10 Stacey DelVecchio, a long-time champion of
of 3D Printing at Xerox (Courtesy Xerox) gender equality in STEM who began her engineering
career in 1989 (Courtesy Stacey DelVecchio)
Fig. 11 Lynda McKinney, VP of Communications at Fig. 12 Alison Wyrick Mendoza, Senior Product Manager &
Desktop Metal (Courtesy Lynda McKinney) Product Marketing at GE Additive (Courtesy GE Additive)
Tali Rosman in her time in manufacturing before environment,” she stated. “Yes,
As vice president and General taking on the role of AM Product there’s good programming, but
Manager of 3D Printing at Xerox, Tali Manager at Caterpillar Inc. from the environment of a supportive
Rosman explained, “Being involved 2014–2019. She is a former president group of like-minded women in the
with Women in 3D Printing has been of the Society of Women Engineers, same industry is where I see the
an excellent experience for me so and currently serves as a member most advantage. I have connections
far. Being exposed to the incredible of the SME Additive Manufacturing through Wi3DP that I would not have
network of women in this industry has Advisory Committee and president made previously; I feel like I have an
facilitated some important networking of her AM consultancy, StaceyD ‘in’ through our mutual engagement
that will hopefully lead to some Consulting. Her book, Women in 3D with the organisation.”
interesting partnerships down the Printing: From Bones to Bridges
road for us.” and Everything in Between, will be Lynda McKinney
published by Springer as part of its McKinney, VP of Communications at
Stacey DelVecchio Women in Science and Engineering Desktop Metal and co-ambassador
Long-time gender equality champion series in June this year. “Personally, for Wi3DP’s Boston, Massachusetts
Stacey DelVecchio began her career Wi3DP is a place for me to stay chapter, shared her views on the
in 1989 and served in various roles connected in a safe and supportive benefits of membership in Wi3DP at
130 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Women in 3D printing
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 131
Women in 3D printing | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
researcher in March 2021, recalled: reconditioning, rejuvenating and on the topic with industry experts. My
“I came across Women in 3D Printing storage on the process development participation in this event, with plenty
online events such as happy hour and quality of metal parts. This is of networking opportunities, resulted
which were fun and inspiring; a great key for metal AM users to control in contacts and collaboration for
opportunity to meet women with the process repeatability and part future R&D projects.”
similar and relatable backgrounds reliability. In fact, understanding “In my current position at
from all over the world. Having relo- very well all the powder-process Chalmers University of Technology I
cated several times around Europe interactions helps to take decisions focus on the sustainability component
and worked in many industrial fields towards a more cost-efficient and of AM,” she continued. “Here, I
and academia, these connections sustainable process,” she noted. “In research aspects of the powder life
were very valuable. In one of the first one of the international events, I met cycle for AM processes: from powder
events, I met Valeria Tirelli and Elvira Sherry Handel, Executive Director production, to the efficiency of powder
Leon. They are truly an inspiration to at the Additive Manufacturer Green utilisation during AM, powder rheo-
me, their spirit and passion for 3D Trade Association (AMGTA). She logical characterisation, and material
printing is contagious.” was interested in my research, we recycling. The Wi3DP network
Of the members I interviewed for connected on the importance of provides great opportunities to
this article, it was, unsurprisingly, having more control on the material connect with professionals at organi-
those employed in research and life cycle. This has been positive in the sations both in Europe and worldwide
development and those new to AM later development of my projects on with an interest in improving their
who had benefitted the most from this topic.” process cost-efficiency while reducing
the knowledge-sharing facet of “In my previous job at the the ecological footprint.”
Wi3DP. As Dr Cordova explained, “The University of Twente, I worked on
connection of R&D with industry is projects with materials typically Lisa D Block
vital to maintain an innovative and used in aerospace such as Inconel Director of Global Sales and
fast-growing ecosystem. I think the 718, Ti6Al4V and Scalmalloy," she Marketing at Hybrid Manufacturing
Wi3DP network plays an important continued. "My experience in this Technologies, Lisa D Block is a
role in this. The last four years I have industry was key to my participation newcomer to Wi3DP and has found
worked with the influence of powder as a panellist at the first TIPE confer- the knowledge-sharing aspect the
handling activities such as reuse, ence; I could exchange experiences organisation’s most useful offering
132 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Women in 3D printing
Maddie Frank
An Additive Manufacturing profes-
sional and recent graduate from the
Electrical Engineering programme at
UW-Milwaukee, as well as owner of
AM consulting firm W1 Consulting,
LLC, Maddie Frank explained that
prior to becoming familiar with
Wi3DP, she hadn’t previously taken
an interest in other ‘Women in...’
organisations due to less-than
positive experiences with university-
level groups. “In my university, a lot
of ‘Women in...’ groups didn’t do a
lot, or what they did was based on Fig. 15 Lisa D Block, Director of Global Sales and Marketing at Hybrid Manu-
saying ‘these are all the horrible facturing Technologies (Courtesy Lisa D Block)
things you can expect when you get
into the workplace: men are going to
do X, Y, Z and you’re going to have no
choice but to take it,” she explained.
“For me, I’ve always been in a male-
dominated field of study in sports, so
even in work now it’s like – yeah, you
get this every once in a while, but for
me it hasn’t been fully systemic.”
However, once she began to
take an active part in Wi3DP, with
access to the network of contacts
the organisation offers, Frank quickly
saw the benefit of membership. “I
will say that [before joining Wi3DP]
I did not know very many women
in this industry. I can show you my
Rolodex up until July, and it was
pretty much just fifty-five-year-old
men – who I love, they’re absolutely
fantastic – but I pretty much only
interacted with men in this industry,
and Wi3DP, just by nature, brings
together a lot of women who work
in the industry that you might not
necessarily know about, or who
maybe you see on LinkedIn and
think, ‘who are you and what do you
do?’ So it really provides a great way
where you can speak and connect Fig. 16 Maddie Frank, Additive Manufacturing professional and recent graduate
with women.” of Electrical Engineering at UW-Milwaukee (Courtesy Maddie Frank)
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 133
Women in 3D printing | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Fig. 17 SJ Jones, Additive Manufacturing Application Engineer at Siemens Energy (Courtesy SJ Jones)
“Success isn’t linear, and I think that perspective to how she approaches
AM by getting companies competi-
‘success’ in AM is multi-faceted. Being tive in innovation with newer AM
applications.”
able to hear the stories of these women “Success isn’t linear, and I
and the different journeys that they have think that ‘success’ in AM is multi-
faceted,” she added. “Being able to
taken is inspiring.” hear the stories of these women and
the different journeys that they have
taken is inspiring. Failing is easy,
woman, but I will: I initially didn’t like connections she has made through but getting back up and finding the
women that came into my space, but the organisation have impacted her courage to try again? That’s the hard
Wi3DP has allowed me to go out there on both a personal and professional part. But hearing their stories makes
and really get to know these women, level: that hard part just a tad bit easier
see that they’re actually just really “I’ve hugely benefitted from because it’s a burden we all share.
cool people, and understand and start meeting women not only at all levels, In our group, we all want to see each
training myself against that initial but also across different industries. other succeed and there’s a stronger
knee-jerk reaction.” Christina Perla has been amazing sense of camaraderie.”
134 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Women in 3D printing
Filling the talent gap: How Doctoral degrees, by field and gender, 2016–2017
the AM industry can benefit Females per
Field Male Female
from a wider talent pool 100 males
Arts and humanities 46.8% 53.2% 113.7
As a rapidly-developing new field,
Additive Manufacturing’s growth Biological, agricultural sciences 47.4% 52.6% 111.0
and industrialisation is, to an extent, Business 51.1% 48.9% 95.7
reliant on the recruitment of new Education 31.2% 68.8% 220.5
talent into the industry, whether from Engineering 76.6% 23.4% 30.5
other fields or education. But, as SJ
Health and medical sciences 29.7% 70.3% 236.7
Jones pointed out to me, “there’s a
Mathematics and computer sciences 74.9% 25.1% 33.5
leaky pipeline in getting more women
into the talent pool. We comprise Physical and Earth sciences 65.9% 34.1% 51.7
50% of the population. As a whole Public administration 24.4% 75.6% 309.8
[taking into account all subjects], Social and behavioural sciences 38.9% 61.1% 157.1
more women are earning PhDs than Other fields 47.6% 52.4% 110.1
men – outpacing them in education
Total 47.0% 53.0% 112.8
by 137 to 100 (Table 1, [1]). This
means that there are vastly more
qualified female candidates than male Master’s degrees, by field and gender, 2016–2017
candidates, right? Unfortunately, in Females per
Field Male Female
a microscopic world like AM, you see 100 males
the industry has yet to catch up to the Arts and humanities 41.2% 58.8% 142.7
reality. I think I saw a statistic in the
Biological, agricultural sciences 43.9% 56.1% 127.8
Alexander’s Global survey last year
that stated only 11% of the industry Business 56.2% 43.8% 77.9
was female – that’s barely one in Education 23.1% 76.9% 332.9
ten” (Fig. 18). Engineering 74.6% 25.4% 34.0
To some extent, this may be Health and medical sciences 20.0% 80.0% 400.0
because AM shares the image
Mathematics and computer sciences 66.8% 33.2% 49.7
problem of most STEM fields in that
Physical and Earth sciences 57.6% 42.4% 73.6
it appears, from the outside, to be a
male-dominated field – whether this Public administration 21.8% 78.2% 358.7
is true or not. Social and behavioural sciences 37.4% 62.6% 167.4
“The image problem definitely Other fields 41.7% 58.3% 139.8
exists,” stated Nora Toure, “and Total 42.7% 57.3% 134.2
it’s the product of a representation
problem that is not just related to
gender diversity, but diversity in Total graduate school enrolment, by field and gender, Autumn/Fall 2017
general – if you don’t see someone Females per
Field Male Female
who looks like you doing something, 100 males
it’s really hard to put yourself in that Arts and humanities 43.8% 56.2% 128.3
person’s shoes, or skin. This has been Biological, agricultural sciences 45.5% 54.5% 119.8
a problem forever; it was a problem
Business 54.2% 45.8% 84.5
when I was younger and choosing my
career path, and it’s a problem now.” Education 25.0% 75.0% 300.0
I asked the women I connected Engineering 74.8% 25.2% 33.7
with to what extent they believe Health and medical sciences 22.1% 77.9% 352.5
this image might be damaging the Mathematics and computer sciences 67.9% 32.1% 47.3
industry’s ability to recruit new talent,
Physical and Earth sciences 62.3% 37.7% 60.5
why we need diversity in AM, and
Public administration 22.7% 77.3% 340.5
how far they think Wi3DP, and the
industry, have already come in terms Social and behavioural sciences 37.0% 63.0% 170.3
of addressing the image problem and Other fields 41.4% 58.6% 141.5
promoting the hiring of more women. Total 42.1% 57.9% 137.5
Highlighting a potential lack of
awareness, at an industry level, of the Table 1 Enrolment and graduation from graduate studies at US universities by
damage done by the misconception gender (Courtesy Council of Graduate Schools) [1]
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 135
Women in 3D printing | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
136 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Women in 3D printing
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 137
Women in 3D printing | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
138 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Women in 3D printing
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 139
Women in 3D printing | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
140 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Women in 3D printing
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 141
Women in 3D printing | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Fig. 24 Speakers at Wi3DP Next Gen’s Mentorship Program Kick-off Event (Courtesy Women in 3D Printing)
On whether the aims of the domains,” answered Marie Langer. Maddie Frank, who grew up in the
organisation are indicative of ‘reverse “However, the same access is not as American Midwest, is familiar with the
sexism’, she explained, “We want readily available for women, people of kind of thought process which leads
50/50 representation in the industry – colour and a myriad of other groups. people to criticise Wi3DP. “I grew up
we don’t want more than that. It’s not As such, a group like Wi3DP is in a white manufacturing town, so I
get where people are coming from.
Even my dad will say ‘Why don’t they
have a Men In 3D Printing? And to
“...in the world we live in, men are some extent I’d think, ‘yeah, it does
automatically awarded space in all public seem rather exclusionary,’ but if you
think about it, a lone woman going
and professional domains,” answered into a room with five men is just as
Marie Langer. “However, the same intimidating as one man going into
a group with five women. So, we’re
access is not as readily available for all here on the same page, if you
just think about it from the other
women, people of colour and a myriad of person’s perspective; everyone gets
other groups.” intimidated when they’re not in a
group of people that looks like them
or talks like them. You need to lower
a big ask. Ideally, we wouldn’t need merely trying to create a space where the boundaries somewhere, and
Women in 3D Printing, because every women can thrive and become more Wi3DP does that.”
panel would be, as much as possible, visible to enable women's advance- In SJ Jones’ view, the fact that
gender balanced.” ment in a professional setting. I feel some detractors still believe a
“I assume that we all understand these are positive efforts that are women’s organisation should be
and agree that in the world we live trying to help us create more diversity justified to them is indicative of the
in, men are automatically awarded and inclusion in our small and young larger societal problems faced by
space in all public and professional industry.” women, and the industry. “I think
142 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Women in 3D printing
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 143
Women in 3D printing | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
in an environment now where I am its core, asks only for 50% of the Lisa D Block
supported not only in words, but some Earth's population to be represented lisab@hybridmanutech.com
of my male counterparts actually equally as 50% of the workforce.
attended the TIPE conference with me This goal remains a long way off, but Maddie Frank
as well.” by encouraging their employees to maddiefrank1012@gmail.com
“Wi3DP is addressing institution- get involved in Wi3DP and showing
alised, unjust treatment of women the organisation their support, AM SJ Jones
in the workforce based on outdated companies can demonstrate their sj.jones@siemens-energy.com
societal norms,” agreed Melissa investment in the wellbeing and
Orme. “It is the organisation’s intent development of their staff, as well Dr Melissa Orme
to provide women with opportunities as their open-mindedness, and melissa.e.orme@boeing.com
to network with other women and encourage applications from yet more
men in all aspects of the 3D printing diverse talent. As noted by Nora Toure Alex Kingsbury
value chain and to be a resource and echoed by others throughout this alex.kingsbury@rmit.edu.au
to industry to increase diversity in article: gender is just the beginning.
the workplace. The organisation Janet Kar
welcomes male membership as well, janet@link3D.co
as men play a critical role in creating Acknowledgements
a more diverse workforce through the Meera Ravi
My thanks to the Additive Manufac-
recruitment activities sponsored by meera@viyoma.in
turing industry professionals who
Wi3DP.”
took time out of their busy schedules
to speak to me about their experi- Author
Conclusion ences and opinions as women in this
industry, and without whose time and Emily-Jo Hopson-VandenBos
So, what are the benefits of an organi- input this article would not have been Deputy Editor & Features Writer
sation like Women in 3D Printing? possible. Metal AM magazine
How do we justify the existence of emily-jo@inovar-communications.com
an organisation which, by its nature, Nora Toure
highlights one social characteristic noratoure@gmail.com
over another? References
It is clear from the experiences and Melanie Lang
statistics reported in this article that melanie.lang@formalloy.com [1] 'Women earned majority of
women remain very much a minority doctoral degrees in 2017 for 9th
group in the AM industry, and that this Marie Langer straight year and outnumber men
can have a significant impact not only marie.langer@eos.info in grad school 137 to 100', by Mark
on the career prospects and wellbeing J Perry, The American Enterprise
of individual women in AM, but on our Tali Rosman Institute, www.aei.org/carpe-diem/
industry's ability to attract the talent tali.rosman@xerox.com women-earned-majority-of-doctoral-
it so badly needs if it is to tackle the degrees-in-2017-for-9th-straight-
challenges of industrialisation and Stacey DelVecchio year-and-outnumber-men-in-grad-
truly scale AM to meet the needs of staceyd.in.3dp@gmail.com school-137-to-100-2/
large-scale manufacturing. Using
Wi3DP as a marketing tool to reach Lynda McKinney [2] Alexander Daniels Global, Additive
young women and girls at early stages lyndamckinney@desktopmetal.com Manufacturing Salary Survey 2018,
of their education, the industry stands www.alexanderdanielsglobal.com/
a far better chance of filling this talent Alison Wyrick Mendoza the-salary-survey-2018/
gap than it does in a landscape where alison.wyrick@ge.com
the group most highly represented
in higher education is the least Jennifer Killingback
represented in engineering [1]. jennifer.killingback@alexanderdan
Study after study has shown the ielsglobal.com
benefits that diversity, not just in
gender, but in all forms, brings to Dr Laura Cordova
businesses. Gender diversity, at laura.cordova@chalmers.se
144 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Strategy,
Process Polymer
Economics Chemistry
Strategy,
Decision
People &
Science &
Directed
Statistics
Energy
Materials,
Qual. & Cert.
Mechanics &
Structures, Design &
Design People
Strategy, Simulation &
Powder & Multi-Physics Powders &
Markets Modeling Process
Industrial
Methods &
Materials
Powders,
Supply Chain
Comms & Additive
Content Applications
Strategy & Design
Consulting
Training
Communications
barnesglobaladvisors.com
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd
Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 145
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
28
29
30
NEC, Birmingham, UK
SEPTEMBER 2021
Exhibit Now!
www.tct3sixty.com Co-located
Shows
146 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Equispheres: The need for speed
Metal Additive Manufacturing, freedom, weight savings, assembly used to conduct R&D activities and to
although relatively new among simplification, and economic produce prototypes and tooling.
manufacturing technologies, has batch size reduction – have been Currently, compared with the
been around for decades. The first demonstrated in some cases, but $170 billion-per-year casting
commercial metal AM machines not fully realised. industry, metal AM generates less
arrived on the market in the 1990s. Except for a handful of examples than $2 billion. If we assume the
When GE entered the market in where geometries are complex, technology adoption cycle for metal
2016 with the acquisition of Concept asset values high, and volumes low, AM is a leisurely twenty years, the
Laser, and later Arcam, there was the technology is not commonly industry should be generating closer
an expectation that the technology used for production. Instead, it is to $14 billion in revenue.
would experience rapid adoption and
usher in a period of robust competi-
tion, price reductions and a supplier Current PBF-LB part production cost breakdown
Current part production cost breakdown
ecosystem of third-party services
and products.
It has been roughly five years
since then and there are now a
Overheads
considerable number of players in
the market offering AM machines,
feedstock, part manufacturing Labour
services, post-processing equip-
ment, and software solutions, for AM
an array of production technologies. Powder machine
Although this active ecosystem and process
of suppliers has developed as
expected, metal AM technology is yet
to be widely accepted as production-
ready. The advantages metal AM
offers manufacturers – design Fig. 1 Relative contribution of business inputs to part cost for PBF-LB
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 147
Equispheres: The need for speed | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
148 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Equispheres: The need for speed
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 149
Equispheres: The need for speed | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Fig. 4 Optical micrographs with relative densities above 99.85% at (a) 40 cm3/h, (b) 80 cm3/h and (c) 120 cm3/h build
speeds
150 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Equispheres: The need for speed
Overheads Overheads
AM machine
Labour Labour and process
savings from
AM powder
Powder machine Powder
and process
AM machine
and process
These speed results are exciting. products in favour of aluminium exciting prospect and Equispheres
Productivity improvements and lower due to its high strength-to-weight is working with multiple industrial
costs can be readily achieved without ratio that enables lightweighting, partners to achieve this objective.
new capital investment or special thereby reducing greenhouse gas In that regard, Equispheres
processing. Instead, simply using emissions. continues to refine the character-
powder with the right attributes can Fortunately, the same powder istics of its powder for different
enable higher build rates at various properties that enable fast PBF-LB applications. The atomisation
power levels. Even if one assumes speeds (spherical, smooth, fine- technology used by the company
no other improvements related to free, etc) also facilitate aluminium can be tuned and powder charac-
the cost of the machine, powder, sintering. As shown in Fig. 6, dense teristics such as, but not limited
overhead or labour, the improved microstructures can be achieved to, particle size distribution can be
economics that can be achieved without compaction or the use of modified to best support objectives
from a superior feedstock range sintering aids. Bringing aluminium such as sintering, precision builds
from 25–30% with a clear potential alloys to the BJT market is an and high production rates.
for 50% part production cost reduc-
tion in PBF-LB machines (Fig. 5).
BJT
Powder characteristics also play
a role in the new high-speed BJT
machines, which produce green
parts that are then sintered to final
density. The process is quick and
inexpensive and works well with
steels and other industrial metals.
Sadly, the process struggles with
aluminium, which is difficult to
sinter due to its thick oxide layer
and low melting temperature. This
is unfortunate, as aluminium alloys
are the second most commonly
used industrial metal and are in
demand from the transportation
sector. Specifically, automotive
manufacturers are rapidly changing
the metal composition of their Fig. 6 Sintered dense microstructure without compaction or sintering aids
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 151
Equispheres: The need for speed | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
152 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
Download the
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Metal AM app
for Apple and Android devices
• No registration or payment required
• All back issues available
• Advanced keyword search facility
In recent years, more and more and is now available and, on the other of industry standards is a requisite
organisations have started to hand, a large number of relevant if this is to remain the case. Most
develop standards for Additive standards is already available. recently, Additive Manufacturing
Manufacturing. This is because the technologies have gained significance
size of the industry has now reached as production technologies. Originally,
a level where effective business is The need for standards in the only field of application for AM
only possible on the basis of a reli- Additive Manufacturing was the time-efficient production of
able and complete set of accepted prototypes – also known as Rapid
industry standards. The Additive Manufacturing industry Prototyping. During the last five to
I write this article as Chairman as a whole is rather niche and still in ten years, a significant increase in
of ISO Technical Committee (TC) its infancy. However, the market has applications for direct part production
261 ‘Additive Manufacturing’ and recorded high growth rates in recent can be observed, especially in the
Member-at-Large on the Execu- years and has, therefore, received a aerospace and medical industries, as
tive Committee of the ASTM F42 lot of attention. A comprehensive set well as in general engineering.
‘Additive Manufacturing’ Committee.
These two committees have been
cooperating since 2011 to provide
the Additive Manufacturing industry
with the needed standards. In this
article I intend to outline recent Market Market
potential potential
progress and some fundamental Prototyping Tooling
aspects of standards. An overview on Market Potential
Direct Manufacturing
the organisation of ISO/ASTM joint
standard development is provided,
and the current strategic direction of
standardisation is introduced.
What readers will discover is that,
on the one hand, a powerful struc- Fig. 1 Market potential of the prototyping, tooling and Direct Manufacturing
ture for international standardisation application of Additive Manufacturing (qualitative, size indicates market
has been built up in recent years potential)
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 155
Standards for Metal AM | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
156 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
s
Category AM
essing
ds
Standards
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Standards for Metal AM
ods Specific to material
category or process
c. category
PSDO-agreement
Fig. 3 Selected worldwide standardisation activities covering selected associations, certification bodies and SDOs.
This test to go in caption!
Arrows indicate formal cooperation. TC =Technical Committee; FA & NA = German for Committee; AM = Additive Manu-
facturing; EHS = Environment, Health and Safety; PSDO = Partner Standards Developing Organization; SDO = Standards
Development Organizations
Arrows indicate (Source USA: AMSC Standardization Roadmap for Additive Manufacturing, Version 2.0, June
formal cooperation
2018, based on a graphic developed by Joerg Lenz, former chairman of ISO TC261)
TC =Technical Committee
FA & NA = German for Committee
AM = Additive Manufacturing EHS = Environment, Health and Safety PSDO = Partner Standards Developing Organization
SDO = standards development organizations Source USA: AMSC – Standardization Roadmap for Additive Manufacturing, Version
2.0, June 2018
Introducing ISO/TC261 teen ISO standards were published, The structure of ISO/TC261 is
with an additional 31 were under characterised by Working Groups
ISO, the International Organisation for development, most of which were (WGs). As of Q1 2021, five Working
Standardization, is a legal associa- joint ISO/ASTM standards. The most Groups are available (Table 1).
tion, the members of which are the current information on published Currently, there is no WG5 – this gap
National Standards Bodies (NSBs) of documents and ongoing work can be is a result of a renumbering of so
some 140 countries - organisations found at [1]. called Joint Working Groups (JWGs),
that represent a country’s social and
economic interests at the interna-
TC261
tional level. ISO is supported by a Area
Working Groups
central secretariat based in Geneva,
Switzerland. In total, 23,413 interna- WG1 Terminology
tional standards have been published
by ISO as of October 2020, covering WG2 Processes, systems and materials
almost all aspects of technology and WG3 Test methods and quality specifications
manufacturing. In 2020, 792 Technical
Committees (TC) and subcommittees WG4 Data and Design
took care of standards development. WG6 Environment, health and safety
ISO TC261 is the technical
committee within ISO on Additive TC261
Area
Manufacturing. The scope of ISO Joint Working Groups
TC261 is stated as, “Standardisation Joint ISO/TC 261 – ISO/TC 44/SC 14 WG: Additive
in the field of Additive Manufacturing JWG10
Manufacturing in aerospace applications
(AM) concerning their processes,
terms and definitions, process chains Joint ISO/TC 261 – ISO/TC 61/SC 9 WG: Additive
JWG11
(Hard- and Software), test procedures, Manufacturing for plastics
quality parameters, supply agree-
Joint ISO/TC 150 – ISO/TC 261 WG: Additive
ments and all kind of fundamentals.” TC150/JWG1
Manufacturing in surgical implant applications
As of Q1 2021, ISO TC261 had
twenty-five participating and eight Table 1 ISO/TC261 ‘Additive Manufacturing’ – Working Groups and Joint
observing members. Moreover, nine- Working Groups
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 157
Standards for Metal AM | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
158 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Standards for Metal AM
Fig. 4 The three-level approach of joint standard development between ISO/TC261 and ASTM F42
areas at the beginning. Building on • Cooperate and collaborate standards [3] and 50+ joint standards
this, the development of ‘category AM with relevant players in the AM [4] under development. For 2021,
standards’ should then begin, which industry projects will increasingly address
apply to specific material or process • Serve as a 'melting pot' for the standardisation requirements of
categories, for example. ‘Specialised international AM community. the automotive, construction and
AM standards’ can then be developed space industries, as well as other
for specific needs, building on the first As of Q1 2021, there are now sixteen sectors such as oil/gas, etc. To
two levels. It is important to highlight published joint ISO/ASTM AM meet standards demand from the
the ‘etc.’ - boxes in Fig. 4: since ISO/
TC 261 and ASTM F42 aim to serve all
industries’ current needs, the topics
mentioned in the chart are meant as
examples. The fact that technologies
Strain gauge
are developing rapidly, as the latest
research results on smart parts
shown in Fig. 5 demonstrates, means
that standardisation must also be Temperature
organised in an adaptable manner sensor
and driven by market demand.
The objectives of this collaboration
can be summarised as follows:
• Deliver ISO/ASTM-standards
needed for industry
• Consider worldwide standard Conductor path
needs
• Deliver comprehensive sets of Fig. 5 Demonstrator for a sensor-integrated smart part, built on a modified
industry-specific standards PBF-LB machine, courtesy Fraunhofer IGCV, Augsburg, Germany
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 159
Standards for Metal AM | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Directed Energy
Vat Polymerisation Powder Bed Fusion
Deposition © Fraunhofer IGCV
Fig. 6 Additive Manufacturing process categories defined by ISO/ASTM 52900:2015 (Courtesy Fraunhofer IGCV)
automotive industry, Joint ISO/TC technical exchange is possible. For included in upcoming amendments,
261 – ASTM F42 Group ‘Qualification this reason, terminology was also such as the Draft International
for AM processes in automotive addressed by the first standardisa- Standard update as of 2020.
applications’ was established in tion project in the field of Additive
late 2020. Manufacturing. In 2015, the result
Spotlight on selected
international Additive
Manufacturing standards
“When a new technology emerges, the
first topic to which technical regulations As mentioned above, currently nine-
teen standards have been published
are devoted is always terminology. This by ISO/TC261. Fig. 7 allocates
selected documents in a generic AM
is established practice, since without process chain and teasers in which
a common terminology, or language, areas the international standards
could be applied. The following is a
no in-depth technical exchange is brief introduction to the standards
possible.” published in 2020.
160 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Standards for Metal AM
Fig. 7 Selected standards put into perspective with regards to generic AM process chain
System performance and reliability specifically designed for the needs for several profiles. ISO/ASTM
ISO/ASTM 52941:2020 covers an of Additive Manufacturing processes. 52942:2020 is the first published
acceptance test for Laser Beam It is technically more suitable than international standard of a series of
Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) the quasi-standard format STL, by qualification principle standards to
machines for metallic materials for far, but has not yet gained industrial be followed in 2021. ISO/ASTM 52942
aerospace application. Therefore, significance. With the 2020-released covers requirements for machine
it eases and supports certification AMF version 1.2, described in ISO/ operators of PBF-LB machines and
procedures in the aerospace ASTM 52915:2020, this is likely to related equipment used in aerospace
industries. Though being specifi- change. applications.
cally developed for the aerospace
industry’s needs, it can also be used Qualification principles for Additive Design
in other industries, if suitable. Manufacturing ISO/ASTM TR52912:2020 is an
As Additive Manufacturing international Technical Report that
Data format technologies are increasingly used provides an overview on functionally
ISO/ASTM 52915:2020 is an interna- in production, there is a demand for graded Additive Manufacturing. As
tional standard covering a specifica- qualified staff. For that reason, six an ISO/ASTM Technical Report (TR) it
tion for the Additive Manufacturing international standards are currently is an informative and non-normative
File Format (AMF), version 1.2. AMF under development within ISO/TC document. An example multi-
is a standardised open data format 261 to provide qualification principles material part is shown in Fig. 8.
buyer’s guide
part manufacturers Alphabetical
AM Solutions - Rosler Group
www.solutions-for-am.com
11
index
Indo-MIM 87 3D Lab Sp. z o.o. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
www.indo-mim.com
3YOURMIND GmbH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
buyer’s guide
Additive Manufacturing Users Group . . . . . . . . 154
Sintavia, LLC 26
www.sintavia.com Alphastar Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Laser Beam Powder Bed and other sinter-based Centorr Vacuum Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Carbolite Gero Ltd 20
Fusion (PBF-LB) AM processes www.carbolite-gero.com CM Furnaces Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
services?
Elnik Systems 34 Elnik Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Matsuura Machinery Corporation 50 Rapidia Tech Inc 28 www.elnik.com Equispheres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
www.matsuura.co.jp www.rapidia.com
LÖMI GmbH 116 Euro PM2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. 108 The ExOne Company OBC www.loemi.com
www.mhi.com www.exone.com Exentis Group AG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
MUT Advanced Heating GmbH 97
Prima Industrie S.p.A. 22 Farsoon Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
www.mut-jena.de
www.primaadditive.com
Fehrmann GmbH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Renishaw plc 60 Cold Spray Ningbo Hiper Vacuum Tech. Co.,Ltd. 46
Discover suppliers of these and more in our new advertisers’ index and
www.hiper.cn Formetrix Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
www.renishaw.com
Impact Innovations GmbH 37 Formnext Connect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Rapidia Tech Inc 28
Shining3D 84 www.impact-innovations.com
www.rapidia.com Formnext + PM South China . . . . Inside back cover
www.shining3d.com
SECO/WARWICK, INC. 94 GF Machining Solutions Management SA . . . 15/17
Sisma SpA 63 www.secowarwick.com
www.sisma.com HP Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Directed Energy Deposition T-M Vacuum Products, Inc 109
Impact Innovations GmbH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
SLM Solutions Group AG 73
(DED) www.tmvacuum.com
210 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Autumn/Fall 2020 © 2020 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 6 No. 3 Vol. 6 No. 3 © 2020 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Autumn/Fall 2020 211
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 161
Standards for Metal AM | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Author
1 cm
Prof Dr-Ing Christian Seidel
christian.seidel@hm.edu
Fig. 8 Multi-material part, consisting of tool steel (1.2709) and a copper alloy
(Courtesy of Fraunhofer IGCV) Prof Dr-Ing Seidel is Chairman of
ISO/TC261 ‘Additive Manufacturing’,
Member-at-Large, ASTM F42
Demand for standards
‘Additive Manufacturing’ Executive
expressed to either… Committee, Professor Manufacturing
Technologies and Additive Manufac-
turing at Munich University of Applied
…ISO TC 261 …ASTM F42
(Chair / Working Group or (Chair / Sub Committee Sciences, and Head of Additive
Lead) Chair) Manufacturing at Fraunhofer IGCV
Define target deliverable as document type:
Redirected to existing published ISO/ASTM-Standard (normative)
standard or ongoing project1 ISO/ASTM Technical Report (informative)
ISO/ASTM Technical Specification References
Start of the standard development project, which gets
assigned to existing or new ISO/ASTM Joint Working [1] https://committee.iso.org/home/
Group (JG)
tc261
Access to 1,000 experts Develop document until [2] www.astm.org
from ISO and ASTM, as it is ready for public
required commenting/balloting [3] https://www.iso.org/
committee/629086.html
Ballot initiated by Ballot initiated by [4] https://committee.iso.org/home/
ISO TC 261 ASTM F42 tc261
Resolve received comments
within JG, update document
accordingly, re-ballot if
required
Publish standard
1https://committee.iso.org/home/tc261
162 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 163
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
164 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | The AM of platinum group metals
Alloys of platinum group metals PGM alloys used in this applications. It offers excellent
(PGM) show outstanding characteris- study chemical resistance, as well as
tics for jewellery and watch making: thermal and mechanical stability.
they are precious, strong and white. A selection of representative alloys
Technical users appreciate their have been used for the experimental Pt950Au
biocompatibility and unrivalled resist- work in this study. In the following, This is a universal Pt jewellery alloy,
ance to corrosive or thermal wear. At three major alloys are briefly hallmarkable by 950‰, with high
the same time, these alloys represent described: strength and extraordinary casting
the most challenging materials with performance. It is a four-component
respect to processing, refining and Pt800Ir200 alloy with 95 wt.% platinum content
high costs in capital. This is a well-established platinum and gold, indium and ruthenium used
The powder metallurgical alloy with 20 wt.% of iridium, and is as alloying elements to adjust the
processing of PGMs is a practice widely used for medical and technical desired properties, such as a high
essentially different from conventional
manufacturing. This paper gives
an insight into the processing of
platinum and palladium alloys by
Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion
(PBF-LB) Additive Manufacturing
technology.
Many indicators show that using
AM provides an opportunity to
make production more efficient,
environmentally friendly and
customer-oriented. It is clear that
the combination of AM with CNC
machining offers resource-efficient
manufacturing for high-quality
jewellery and watches, as well as for Fig. 1 Cuff link additively manufactured from Pt950Au, with an integrated clasp,
technical or medical applications. produced together in a single process
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 165
The AM of platinum group metals | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
hardness, a perfect white colour, a machining, including a recycling loop for processing metals with lower
low melting range, a fine microstruc- of scrap, if possible, and end-of-life melting temperatures, which can
ture, and high biocompatibility and refining. End-of-life refining is much process large amounts of metal at
ductility. more complex than that required low cost. Because cost-effective
for gold [10]. While the underlying graphite crucibles are not suitable
Pd500Rh500 hydrometallurgical processes are for use with PGM alloys (due to the
This is one of the most outstanding selective for gold, the refinement reaction of platinum and palladium
alloys for high-end jewellery, with a of PGMs takes place in complex alloys with carbon), costly zirconia
hardness of up to 350 HV and a tensile separation processes, with dissolving ceramic crucibles must be used [1].
strength of up to 680 MPa. The alloy, and precipitation treatments taking The cost and effort involved in
with 50 wt.% rhodium, is perfectly place afterwards for purification. The producing semi-finished products
white like rhodium-plated products effort involved is much higher, and from platinum or palladium alloys
(yellowness index of 8). Pd500Rh500 the whole recycling process requires is high, mainly due to the limitation
is difficult to process traditionally, due special equipment and knowledge, of the batch process, the resulting
to its high hardness and its liquidus intricate analytical methods and more amount of scrap from removing
temperature of 1800°C, requiring energy. In addition permission from sections with shrinkage cavities
powerful casting equipment and hot local authorities may be needed, as and from surface machining to
forming or forging. On the other hand, well as environmental emissions produce defined surface finishes.
powders of the alloy behave like any monitoring. Consequently, the material input
other Pt powder. These characteris- Additionally, the time required to factor and the amount of recycling
tics make Pd500Rh500 ideally suitable obtain pure PGM, as the outcome of is high in conventional processing of
for PM technologies like AM. the refining process, is significantly PGM alloys.
Significant quantifiable properties longer, which is also an important As a result, the manufacturing
of the alloys are listed and compared cost factor. Thus, it is highly desirable of PGM alloy parts follows one
with literature data for other common to reuse scrap and to reduce end-of- of two paths. One is investment
alloys in Table 1. life scrap to a minimum. casting to produce parts close to net
The production of semi-finished shape. This is, again, a multi-step
products is a multi-step process process, where the quality of the
Conventional processing of starting with the alloying and casting part is determined by the quality of
PGM alloys of ingots or bars. Typically, vacuum each step. Investment casting is a
induction melting furnaces are used challenging task, in particular for
Conventionally, the processing of to reach the high melting tempera- the manufacture of platinum parts.
PGM alloys includes the production of tures of PGMs. These melting units Many studies have been carried out
semi-finished products, the manufac- are fundamentally different from the in the past to control the quality
ture of products by punching and CNC continuous casting machines used and to understand the occurrence
166 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | The AM of platinum group metals
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 167
The AM of platinum group metals | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
80 Laval-nozzle 8
Coaxial
Free fall 6
60
40 4
20 2
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 (μm]
Fig. 4 Gas atomised Pt powder particles at high resolution Fig. 5 Typical particle size distributions for different
atomiser types
process reduces that value to as qualification for a PBF-LB process, throughput, i.e., low classification
little as 15 µm (Figs. 4 and 5). a PSD with a range of 9–53 µm rates. On the other hand, cuts
The consequent classification (lowest particle diameter d1% = containing larger particle sizes are
of the powders is inevitable for 9 µm to cumulative upper size limit limited by the basic principle of
further utilisation. Each method d99% = 53 µm) achieves the best drag, centrifugal forces and rotation
and application requires a specific combination, with regard to density, speeds versus the density of the
particle size distribution (PSD), surface roughness and feature size particles. Smaller cuts can be done
such as a fine range for highest of AM parts made of Pt950Au. The by air classification, while large PSD
resolution, optimised sintering yield for this PSD is about 80% of an cuts are executed by sieving.
performance or a yield-optimised atomisation batch. The typical classification rate is
range. The small particle size of The sizing process can be done 5–10 kg/h for air classification and
powders, produced by atomisation by sieving or air classification. The up to 15 kg/h for sieving. Tumbler
using the Nanoval process, already limiting factor for selecting either screening machines have even
correlates well with the desired method is not only the cut size, but higher rates, although the focus of
PSD of powders for use in AM and the density of the powder and the batch sizes and flexibility of system
MIM, resulting in a high yield after practical classification rate. Cuts changes need to be taken into
classification. containing small particle sizes are consideration.
Fig. 6 shows the typical PSD of a predestined for air classification,
Pt950Au alloy qualified for PBF-LB. because fine sieves are limited to a
According to experience in material mesh size of ≥ 25 µm and very low Additive Manufacturing
with PGM powders
168 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | The AM of platinum group metals
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 169
The AM of platinum group metals | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Fig. 8 Watch case and hollow bracelet links made of Pt950Au produced by PBF-LB and CNC machining
in terms of feasibility, size and production, injection moulding processes meet requirements with
accuracy, as well as limits imposed machines and tools, and the heat a minimum material density of
by the high quality standards of the treatment steps need to be covered. 99.9% and a very fine-grained and
target industries, the combination of Of course, it is beneficial to have highly-ordered microstructure due
AM with other technologies opens up similar designs of the same mate- to the digital process. The grain
new opportunities. rial that can be produced in one size is usually significantly lower
For instance, the combination of production line, including the extra in comparison with traditional cast
AM with CNC machining not only step of green body milling. The yield materials (examples are shown in
facilitates the serial production of offered by MIM cannot be beaten by the micrographs in Fig. 9). Grains for
parts to high accuracy, but also conventional processing techniques, as-built pieces of Pd500Rh500 are
allows the use of Additive Manufac- as MIM produces complex parts to about 50 µm and can be as small as
turing at high build rates without near-net shape, and even sprues can about 20 µm, as seen for Pt950Au
the need to spend a large amount be recycled immediately, resulting (Table 2). However, grains can grow
of time on contours and support in a minimum of end-of-life scrap much larger in the vertical direction
structures. At the same time, the needing to be refined. A proof of with sizes up to several millimetres,
hybrid manufacturing method of CNC concept with different PGM alloys as seen in cross-sections of
machining of AM near-net shape was performed in earlier studies [10]. PBF-LB parts, which are built at
products with a material allowance disadvantageously high energy
of about 0.3 mm significantly inputs (Fig. 10). The columnar grain
reduces the chipping volume, tool Material properties and shape is promoted by unfavourable
wear, time and refining efforts, influences high temperature gradients during
and, ultimately, the total cost. Just the scanning process and material
imagine the difference in volumes Property values can vary significantly purity, reminiscent of epitaxial
when compared to punching grids as a result of only slight changes in growth or the growth of single
or machining off solid semi-finished the material, such as powder shape crystals by zone melting. The
products. Manufacturing of hollow and classification, as well as AM resulting non-uniform microstruc-
applications is an extreme example processing parameters, like scan- ture can cause anisotropic material
for material and weight saving: ning strategy and heat treatment. behaviour.
applying a hollow construction to the The development and monitoring of The mechanical properties of
strap links of a luxury watch made these key parameters is unavoidable additively manufactured specimens
of platinum saves 40% compared for the successful application of slightly exceed those of castings. An
to solid bracelets. Final finishing the technology and to fulfil quality overview of typical properties is given
achieves flawless, perfectly shiny standards. in Table 2. The hardness of AM parts
surfaces and guarantees tolerances The requirements of the jewellery is about 10% higher in comparison
of down to a few micrometers (Fig. 8). and watchmaking industries are to castings, due to the fine grain
Metal Injection Moulding comes probably the most challenging size of the ‘digital’ microstructure.
into play for the production of with regard to material defects This behaviour also applies to
larger series. Costs for feedstock and surface quality. Qualified tensile strength. Although work
170 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | The AM of platinum group metals
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 171
The AM of platinum group metals | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
defects and risks for the extremely [7] Patent DE 10044364 C1, ‘Zerstäu-
high requirements. Jochen Heinrich and Thomas Laag bungsaggregat zum Zerstäuben von
The PBF-LB process produces C.HAFNER GmbH + Co. KG Precious Schmelzen,’ ALD Vacuum Technolo-
parts with a ‘digital microstructure’ Metals + Technology gies AG, Germany.
and extraordinarily fine grains, having Maybachstr. 4, [8] Günter Beck et al., Edelmetall-
sizes down to 20 µm. These values 71299 Wimsheim Taschenbuch, 2nd ed. (Heidelberg:
are impossible for cast products. Germany Hüthig-Verlag, 1995): 172.
The homogeneous microstructure www.c-hafner.de
[9] Christina Pogliani and Alberto
produced is ideal for polishing and Albertin, ‘Case Study of Problems and
Thierry Copponnex
machining, and properties can be Their Solutions for Making Quality
C.HAFNER & HILDERBRAND SA
tailored, to a certain extent. The Jewelry Using Selective Laser Melting
Route de la Galaise 11,
mechanical properties of these parts (SLM) Technology,’ The Santa Fe
Espace Tourbillon
typically slightly exceed the properties Symposium on Jewelry Manufacturing
1228 Plan-les-Ouates
of castings. Additional age hardening Technology 2016, ed. E. Bell et al.
Genève
to strengthen the material is also (Albuquerque: Met-Chem Research,
Switzerland
possible. It needs to be emphasised, 2016).
www.hilderbrand.ch
however, that seemingly slight
[10] T Laag and J Heinrich, ‘Advan-
changes to processing parameters
tages and Challenges of Platinum
can have a significant influence on References Group Metals Powder Processing’
part quality. The highest qualities are
The Santa Fe Symposium on Jewelry
only achievable when using a three [1] G L Selman et al., ‘Carbon in Manufacturing Technology 2018
way optimisation of powder, equip- Platinum and Palladium’ Platinum ed. Eddie Bell et al. (Albuquerque:
ment and process. Metals Rev., 1970, 14-20 Met-Chem Research, 2018).
Yield, being a crucial factor for
[2] U E Klotz et al., ‘Platinum Invest-
economic success, is an advantage of
ment Casting: Material Properties,
AM over the traditional processing of
Casting Simulation and Optimum
PGM alloys. In a typical business case
Process Parameters,’ The Santa Fe
of watch parts, the yield was approxi-
Symposium on Jewelry Manufacturing
mately 10–20% for traditional casting,
Technology 2015, ed. Eddie Bell et al.
rolling, punching and machining,
(Albuquerque: Met-Chem Research,
approximately 50–60% for PBF-LB
2015).
and up to 75% for MIM. The material
input is about five times higher for [3] T Fryé et al., ‘The Effects of Hot
the traditional vs the AM route, i.e., a Isostatic Pressing of Platinum Alloy
factor of five in cost. Castings on Mechanical Properties
The material allowance for and Microstructures,’ The Santa Fe
punched parts is about three times Symposium on Jewelry Manufacturing
higher than for AM pre-products, Technology 2014, ed. Eddie Bell and J.
resulting in twice the chipping volume Haldeman (Albuquerque: Met-Chem
in subtractive CNC-finishing. The Research, 2014).
end-of-life refining scrap volume of [4] J J Maerz and T Laag, ‘Platinum
all processing steps totals a factor Alloys, Features and Benefits:
of five higher for conventional vs AM Comparing Six Platinum Alloys,’ The
processing in combination with CNC Santa Fe Symposium on Jewelry
172 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 173
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Book
Your V
irtual
Regis Exhib
tratio ition
n Ope Booth
Developing the Powder Metallurgy Future
ning M Now
ay 20
21
174
europm2021.com
Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021
© 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Obstacles to the adoption of AM
According to the data collected and – 0.004 in) in thickness. To estimate small parts due to shrinkage that
analysed for publication in Wohlers build time, one can multiply the occurs during a secondary sintering
Report 2021, the Additive Manufac- number of layers in a part by the time process. For small parts designed for
turing industry grew by 7.5% in 2020 it takes to process one layer. this process, it has the potential for
despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) Binder Jetting (BJT) is another wide acceptance due to the promise
pandemic. When examining the metal AM process receiving consider- of high processing speeds and lower
growth across the broader industry, able attention. It is used mostly for costs.
the bulk of metal AM expansion has
been by large companies. Except for
service providers, few small- and
medium-sized enterprises have
adopted metal AM. The Additive
Manufacturing industry faces
challenges that stand in the way of
broader industry adoption of metal
AM. Most of these challenges are
complex and involve multiple factors;
some obstacles have sub-challenges
that interconnect with one-another.
Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) is
currently the most popular method
of metal AM. The process involves a
laser or electron beam energy source
that scans across layers of powder
and selectively melts the material.
The scanning is a linear process in
which the laser must ‘hatch’ all mate-
rial that needs to be melted. A part is
made up of hundreds or thousands Fig. 1 384 LED headlight heatsinks produced in a single build on a PBF-LB
of layers, typically 20–100 µm (0.0008 machine (Courtesy Betatype)
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 175
Obstacles to the adoption of AM | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Speed, cost and scalability neither approach is an option, most and performance of a part by making
companies will revert to conventional it lighter and stronger, with features
The start-to-finish metal AM process methods of manufacturing. such as improved cooling.
is slow compared to most conven- Manufacturers are working hard to The first step to adopting metal
tional methods of manufacturing increase the speed of systems. This AM effectively is understanding its
metal parts. Ten hours is considered is usually achieved by adding more strengths, limitations, and when to
a short build time for a batch of powerful and/or a greater number use it. Due to the associated speed
parts using AM. This excludes the of lasers. In the past few years, the and cost, it is important to evaluate
time needed to prepare the machine, newest machine models often offer a part or assembly to determine
remove the parts after manufacturing four or more high-powered lasers. whether it is a good candidate. If
and post-process them. Build Last year, SLM Solutions introduced AM does not offer sufficient value to
times can often be 40–100 hours, a twelve-laser system. Meanwhile, overcome the higher manufacturing
sometimes stretching to hundreds of EOS is developing a polymer process costs, it is probably not a viable
hours. called LaserProFusion in which a option. Design for Additive Manufac-
Post-processing is also often a million diode lasers are used to melt turing (DfAM) can significantly impact
slow and labour-intensive process. the material. this decision-making process and
Research and development The cost of systems, materials, can make the difference in building a
programmes are underway to ancillary equipment (e.g. CNC business case on whether to use AM.
automate parts of the process. The machining and heat treatment), and One of the primary goals of DfAM
relatively slow build speed of PBF-LB experienced personnel prevents many is to reduce the time-intensive
melting of material. It is the inverse
of designing for CNC machining, in
which as little as possible is machined
“The relatively slow build speed of to minimise the required time.
PBF-LB is one of its biggest barriers This results in parts with excessive
amounts of material. With AM, more
and a primary contributor to its high material means longer manufacturing
times and higher cost per part.
cost, making it difficult to justify it for One way to reduce build time is to
anything but relatively small parts and/ consolidate two or more parts into
one, digitally, prior to manufacturing.
or limited production runs.” This is one of the most important
considerations of DfAM and a way to
justify the use of AM.
is one of its biggest barriers and a companies from investing in metal Other ways to reduce material and
primary contributor to its high cost, AM. Even so, a doubling of machine scan time are topology optimisation
making it difficult to justify it for speed could substantially expand and generative design. Both methods
anything but relatively small parts the size of the market, which is why involve the use of mathematics to
and/or limited production runs. speed is so important. Increasing optimise the strength-to-weight ratio
The scaling of production volumes build speed does not impact the costs of a part, thus using the least amount
is impacted greatly by machine speed. associated with data preparation and of material required for the applica-
Suppose it is possible to produce 100 post-processing. These steps can tion. Another method of material
parts on a machine in twenty-four represent up to 40% of the total cost, reduction is to use lattice, mesh, or
hours; if the project requires 1,000 according to our research for Wohlers cellular structures inside the walls
parts per day, the job would need the Report 2021. of a part. At its most basic, DfAM
capacity of ten machines. The average is about considering whether the
selling price of a metal AM system material serves a useful engineering
was $467,635 in 2020, according to Design practices function.
Wohlers Report 2021, so the job would Post-processing is a major
require in the range of $4.7 million in Many companies approach metal AM obstacle of metal AM, which requires
equipment. Another approach might as a direct replacement for conven- sacrificial support material. These
be to design the parts so they can tional manufacturing, but in most supports, also referred to as anchors,
be stacked vertically to fit more into cases, this is not an effective use of serve as a heatsink to the build plate.
the build volume (Fig. 1). This is not AM. It is vital that good approaches to They are used to help secure the part
an option for many designs because design are applied when preparing to and prevent it from distorting due
the parts are attached (i.e. welded) produce parts by metal AM. This not to stress caused by heat while it is
to one another, making post- only improves build speed and cost, built. Downward facing surfaces will
processing difficult or impossible. If but it often improves the functionality have a rougher surface finish than
176 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Obstacles to the adoption of AM
Fig. 2 A hydraulic manifold with 65% weight reduction and minimal use of support material
upwards facing or vertical faces. If AM. As this field grows, it will become are the best option. Many times,
not designed correctly, a part may part of mainstream design and engi- these decisions are based on what
require substantial post-processing neering education. We will continue to has been done in the past. Engineers
to achieve the required engineering see a more skilled workforce emerge and managers tend to be risk
tolerances or cosmetic surface finish. which, in turn, will help increase the averse: if something has worked well
An approach that works for acceptance of metal AM. previously, they will continue using
some parts is to design a part so that process and material, even if the
the support structures become design and its performance can be
permanent features, which reduces We have always done it improved with AM. Changes inher-
the time and expense of removing this way ently cause hesitation.
what would otherwise be support AM supports the notion of
material. With experience, it is Product design decisions, including designing products in entirely new
not difficult to achieve, although the design of materials and features, ways, such as features that reduce
determining whether it is an option are not always chosen because they weight or improve the transfer of
must be done on a case-by-case
basis. The hydraulic manifold shown
in Fig. 2 provides an example of what
is possible. It also reduced weight
“As this field grows, it will become part
by 65%, compared to the machined of mainstream design and engineering
version.
Over the past few years, DfAM has education. We will continue to see
risen in importance, with hands-on
courses on the subject being
a more skilled workforce emerge
conducted around the world. These which, in turn, will help increase the
courses help to educate and train
professionals on how to design for
acceptance of metal AM.”
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 177
Obstacles to the adoption of AM | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
heat. If a part is designed for AM, Questions associated with the substantial value to their product
it may use substantially less of a health and safety of metal AM, offerings. Manufacturers continue to
more specialised material, such as particularly with the handling of improve the speed of their machines.
titanium, compared to a conventional powders, are valid. Fine powders, This, coupled with DfAM and automa-
design. This may improve the such as titanium and aluminium, are tion, will help increase the acceptance
strength, reduce material and weight, explosive. Preventing accidents is a of metal AM as a viable mainstream
and/or increase performance without matter of following well-established method of production.
increasing its cost. safety protocols. Most manufac-
turers have documented guidelines
for working with their systems and Authors
Qualification, certification for handling and storing metal
and health and safety powders, as well as for disposing of Olaf Diegel, Noah Mostow and
used materials. Terry Wohlers
Qualification and certification Wohlers Associates, Inc.
are also obstacles to adoption. Fort Collins
However, the actions involved are not Conclusions Colorado 80525
entirely different from conventional USA
manufacturing: if a part must include Innovation often comes from looking www.wohlersassociates.com
specific characteristics, they apply at things differently. For effective
irrespective of how it is made. applications of metal AM, one
Unquestionably, the exact procedures must consider new approaches to
of certifying metal AM parts differ a design. This new way of thinking
from those made conventionally. Once can also improve our approach to
these steps have been established, conventional design and manufac-
it is a process of rigorously following turing.
them. Many organisations in the AM Companies worldwide face
industry have worked hard to create challenges related to the adoption
repeatable processes that help to of metal AM. The potential it offers
ensure quality. to companies of all sizes can add
178 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
180 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | AM of aluminium parts by DED
Additive Manufacturing of
aluminium parts by Directed
Energy Deposition: Possibilities
and challenges
SAMOA, a European Union funded EIT RawMaterials project on
'Sustainable Aluminium Additive Manufacturing for High Performance
Applications', investigated the processing of aluminium powders
by Directed Energy Deposition. In this report, Himani Naesstroem,
Joerg Volpp, Stefan Polenz, and Frank Brueckner review the effects
of processing parameters and feedstock material age, as well as
presenting an industrial case study.
Aluminium and its alloys have been the latter of which can use powder (Fig. 1). Since aluminium material
utilised in numerous industries for or wire as a feedstock. Typically, DED forms a natural oxide layer, the
many decades, as its properties – a offers higher deposition rates, as well powder particles carry oxides into
high strength to weight ratio, malle- as lower costs per unit volume, when the processing zone, which means
ability, electrical conductivity, and compared to PBF-LB. that, in the processing of aluminium,
corrosion resistance – make it invalu- During the DED process, feedstock there is a risk of oxide inclusions in
able in the aerospace, automotive, material is fed into a laser-generated the deposited clads. In addition, the
biomedical and electrical industries. meltpool. For most three-dimensional risk of degassing elements and the
To date, conventional manufacturing applications, a ring-slit or multi-jet formation of porosity and cracks is
processes such as casting, sheet coaxial nozzle is used to feed powder high [4].
metal forming, and some subtractive
processes like machining, are the
most commonly-used production
technologies for aluminium alloys.
z
During the last few years, however,
scientific studies regarding various AM y Illumination
x laser
technologies, as well as developments Coaxial powder
towards their industrial applications, feeding nozzle
have made the news. High-speed
When compared to materials like imaging camera
steel or titanium, the processing
of aluminium using a laser beam Powder grains
has some challenges. Aluminium Laser beam
has a high reflectivity towards the Deposited
Melt pool
typical fibre laser wavelength [1], clad
high thermal conductivity [2] and vclad
a low melting point [3]. Among the Substrate
laser-based AM processes, the two
most-used processes are Laser Beam
Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) and Fig. 1 Schematic illustration of the DED process along with process observation
Directed Energy Deposition (DED), through high-speed imaging
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 181
AM of aluminium parts by DED | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
2 mm 2 mm 2 mm
Laser beam
Solidified track
Melt pool
Substrate 2 mm
6 kW, 1 m/min, 2.75 g/min 4 kW, 2 m/min, 2.75 g/min 4 kW, 1 m/min, 5.5 g/min
2 mm 2 mm 2 mm
Fig. 2 Frames from high-speed imaging of the DED of AlSi10Mg for increasing laser powers, travel speeds and deposi-
tion rates
During the DED of AlSi10Mg change in laser power, travel speed The main difference in the AM of
powder using a fibre laser (with a and deposition rate, can be seen in aluminium compared to many other
Gaussian distribution and a 3 mm Fig. 2. In all shown scenarios, the metals is that aluminium forms a
spot) on EN-AW 6082 substrates, the deposited track demonstrated good natural oxide layer; in most cases,
main possibilities and challenges of attachment to the substrate. In the the meltpool is almost entirely
aluminium powder can be visualised: lowest power scenario shown (2 kW covered with a thin, solid skin. This
the process characteristics, effects of laser power), the clad track deposited phenomenon is unique to aluminium,
the dominant processing parameters showed a lumpy appearance and unobserved during processing of
and ageing of the powder.
182 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | AM of aluminium parts by DED
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 183
AM of aluminium parts by DED | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
184 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | AM of aluminium parts by DED
Summary
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 185
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
PM CHINA 2021
The 14th Shanghai International Powder Metallurgy Exhibition & Conference
Convergence of
Cutting-edge Technology & Products
Organizer
The Master Sintering Curve function of the logarithmic sintering contributing transport mechanisms)
work ϴ(t, T), which incorporates the by minimising the perpendicular
and its application on 316L
whole sintering profile T(t). In most distance (error) to the average
steel produced by Binder
cases, the sintering profile T(t) is too residual squares R by varying of the
Jetting complex for an analytical integration, apparent activation energy QMSC. A
because the corresponding simple estimation for the activation
This paper was presented by Markus antiderivative cannot be found. Only energy for self-diffusion/sintering
Schneider, Philipp Gabriel, Simon for isothermal conditions, T(t)=const, Qs is based on the Engel-Brewer
Hoeges and Christopher Schaak (GKN can the integral be solved. However, theory, in which the activation energy
Sinter Metals Engineering GmbH, the integral can be solved numerically is related to the crystal type and the
Germany) and addressed the benefits by the summation of the sintering absolute melting temperature Tm.
of using the Master Sintering Curve work increments if the sintering In the study, gas (argon) atomised
(MSC) approach in optimising the profile T(t) is partitioned into time austenitic 316L stainless steel powder
sintering of 316L stainless steel in increments of width Δt. was used for all tests. Typical values
Binder Jetting [1]. The main hurdles Several applications of the of the skewed powder particle size
in BJT are the achievement of the MSC approach are focused on the distribution Q3(d) were in the range
required final sintered density ρs and estimation of the apparent activation of d10=4.85 µm, d50=12.74 µm and
a proper control over the sintering energy QMSC (an average of all d90=24.24 µm.
process. The Master Sintering
Curve approach is a helpful tool to
understand the sintering kinetics and
to predict the resulting final sintered “The Master Sintering Curve approach
density ρs from simple dilatometry
experiments. In the reported study,
is a helpful tool to understand the
different industrial sintering profiles sintering kinetics and to predict the
T(t) were numerically integrated to
obtain the MSC.
resulting final sintered density ρs from
The MSC approach assumes simple dilatometry experiments.”
a sigmoidal evolution of the
densification parameter Ψ as a
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 187
Process control in Binder Jetting | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
188 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Process control in Binder Jetting
Sintering profile ρg (g/cm³) ρs (g/cm³) ψ (1) θ(t, T) (s/K) log θ (log (s/K)) ln θ (ln (s/K))
1 (#1 run) 4.42 7.49 0.872 6.51579E-08 -7.186 -16.546
1 (#2 run) 4.40 6.45 0.573 6.51579E-08 -7.186 -16.546
2 (#1 run) 4.56 7.17 0.780 3.53937E-08 -7.451 -17.157
2 (#2 run) 4.46 6.40 0.556 3.53937E-08 -7.451 -17.157
3 4.35 6.96 0.718 2.54723E-08 -7.594 -17.486
4 4.40 6.21 0.504 2.39614E-08 -7.620 -17.547
5 4.47 6.94 0.715 2.39304E-08 -7.621 -17.548
6 4.47 4.36 -0.032 1.27693E-19 -18.894 -43.505
7 (#1 run) 4.47 5.09 0.180 2.41029E-10 -9.618 -22.146
7 (#2 run) 4.49 5.16 0.201 2.41029E-10 -9.618 -22.146
8 (#1 run) 4.52 7.19 0.787 4.37732E-08 -7.359 -16.944
8 (#2 run) 4.53 6.87 0.695 4.37732E-08 -7.359 -16.944
9 4.65 7.59 0.902 6.3616E-08 -7.196 -16.570
Table 1 Initial green densities ρg, final sintered densities ρs, densification parameters Ψ and corresponding sintering
work ϴ(t, T) values generated with the given sintering profiles T(t) from Fig. 1 on BJ 316L samples [1]
sintering dwell time of t=3600 s (1 h) MIM 316L d10=1.62 μm, d50=2.97 μm, d90=4.85 μm, QMSC=223 kJ/mol (taken from Park et al)
MIM 316L d10=2.10 μm, d50=4.16 μm, d90=7.64 μm, QMSC=352 kJ/mol (taken from Park et al)
at T=1653K (1380°C) with the same MIM 316L d10=3.10 μm, d50=8.04 μm, d90=19.94 μm, QMSC=395 kJ/mol (taken from Park et al)
three heating rates. The cooling rate BJ 316L d10=4.85 μm, d50=12.74 μm, d90=24.24 μm, Qs≈264 kJ/mol (that study)
ΔT/Δt was not defined (free cooling).
For the correction of the thermal 1.2
expansion, a constant coefficient of
thermal expansion of α=18*10-6 K-1 1.0
was assumed for the binder jetted ψ=1 (ρs=ρ0)
316L. Small cylindrical specimens 0.8
were additively manufactured with
a layer thickness of x=70 µm to a 0.6
ψ (1)
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 189
Process control in Binder Jetting | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
190 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Process control in Binder Jetting
Table 3 Chemical composition and PSD of the 17-4PH stainless steel powder supplied by Atomising Systems Limited [2]
Table 4 Powder density, Hausner ratio and Carr’s index for the 17-4PH powder [2]
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 191
Process control in Binder Jetting | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Fig. 5 Dimensional deviations from STL file of binder jet additively manufactured green parts with different BSLs in the
three directions a) X, b) Y and c) Z [2]
BSL (%) 70 60 50
BSL (%) 70 60 50
Average green density
Average green density (%) 57.257.2 59.9
59.9 59.0
59.0
(%)
Std(%) 0.48 0.71 0.56
Std (%) 0.48 0.71 0.56
Fig. 6 Green density distribution along the powder bed in Binder Jetting as a function of binder saturation level [2]
The cohesive index and repose angle the green mass with a high precision the thirty-six printed and tested
also rank the powder as ‘passable’. balance. The experimental study was samples, while the error bars
Moreover, the cohesive and repose attempted in two different stages. In correspond to the standard devia-
angle response to a variation of the first stage, the Binder Saturation tion. These results clearly show a
rotation speed will keep the powder’s Level (BSL) effect on the green part reduction in the deviations from the
flow properties stable for different dimensional deviation and green STL file with the reduction of the
dynamic conditions, thus meaning density was studied. In the second BSL. Moreover, the reduction of the
that the powder behaviour may stage, the effect of the deposited BSL also reduces the deviation of
be suitable for a wider processing powder amount and part location the samples from the same printing
parameter window. along the Z-axis was evaluated. This process. Despite the fact that the
An ExOne Innovent BJT machine second stage was performed using reduction of BSL can improve the
was used for green part build. a L4 fractional factorial Design of part dimensional homogeneity, it
Thirty-six small cubic samples Experiments (DoE) arrangement, in should be noted that an excessive
were uniformly distributed on the order to detect possible parameter reduction will lead to significantly
printing layout in order to study the effects and interactions. decreased green part strength and
dimensional and density differ- Fig. 5 shows the dimensional surface quality.
ences along the powder bed. The deviations from STL nominal values As could also be observed, the
dimensions of the green parts were as a function of the BSL. Each effect of the deviation dispersion
measured with a digital calliper and point represents the average of reduction is less significant in the
192 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Process control in Binder Jetting
11.14
S/N ratio
59.50 59.29 11.12
90.67% 1.02%
11.10
59.00
59.00 11.08
11.06
58.50 11.04
11.02
Low High Bottom Top
58.00
Bottom layer Top layer Deposition ratio Layer
Fig. 7 a) Green density values of the stage 2 experimental trial showing the differences between part location and the
amount of material used for powder layer generation; b) parameter effects in green density improvement [2]
Y-direction, which is parallel to the in front of the roller thus increases, with low powder feeding settings
print head motion and drop deposi- influencing the powder packing was 59.14% with an std of 0.66%,
tion direction. The asymmetric drop behaviour and, therefore, the green while, for the high powder feeding
deposition, along with the different part properties. ratio, 60.06% with an std of 0.63%.
kind of powder bed alterations The influence of the amount No significant difference in green
driven by the dynamic interaction of deposited material for powder part density was observed as a
behaviour between the droplet and layer creation and the effect of part function of part location in the
the powder bed, explains the slight location along the Z-axis on green Z-direction. Additionally, the
increase of the part dimensional part densities are shown in Fig. 7, measured dimensional deviations
dispersion in the Y-direction. together with the parameter effect from STL values has remained
Fig. 6 shows the green density influence obtained from ANOVA essentially unchanged between
distribution of the powder bed and analysis. As can be observed, there the different printings. Therefore,
the mean values as a function of the
BSL. As can be observed, the highest
average green density achieved
corresponded to the 60% saturation “As can be observed, the highest average
printing, although this printing green density achieved corresponded
parameter also showed the highest
density deviations. The green density to the 60% saturation printing, although
dispersion along the powder bed
does not seem to follow a common
this printing parameter also showed the
pattern between the different highest density deviations.”
printings. On the one hand, the error
propagation in the geometric green
density measurement could hinder
the appreciation of slight patterns is a correlation between the green there has not been observed any
or differences in the powder bed. On density and the amount of deposited detrimental effect in the dimensional
the other hand, there are multiple powder. According to these results, accuracy from the rise in powder
process parameter interaction where the higher S/N ratios indicate feeding ratio.
effects that can dramatically affect a green density increment, the Parts built with a high material
the green part density and the higher the amount of powder used deposition ratio and 50% BSL were
green part dimensions and, thus, for layer generation, the higher the selected for sintering, as they
these effects may change the green obtained green density. The amount showed the best green properties,
density distribution along the powder of deposited material also has a 90% with reference to green density
bed. The roller spreads the powder effect on the green density variation, and dimensional deviations. A
from the right to the left side of the meaning it is an influencing factor. relative density of 98.62% was
powder bed in the X-direction. The The average green density for parts obtained, similar to MIM values,
size of the powder wave generated binder jet additively manufactured with a standard deviation of 0.58%.
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 193
Process control in Binder Jetting | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
www.pm-review.com INOVAR
C O M M U N I C A T I O N S
194 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
INOVAR
C O M M U N I C A T I O N S
DOWNLOAD ALL
BACK ISSUES OF
METAL AM
MAGAZINE FOR FREE
www.metal-am.com
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 195
Events guide | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Industry events
2021
Hannover Messe AM Summit 2021
Home of Industrial Pioneers [ONLINE EVENT] June 15, Copenhagen, Denmark
April 12–16 www.amsummit.dk
www.hannovermesse.de
196 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Events guide
Metal AM magazine is dedicated to driving awareness and development of metal Additive Manufacturing
and its related technologies. Key to this aim is our support of a range of international partner
conferences. View our complete events listing on www.metal-am.com
ICAM 2021
ASTM International Conference on AM
November 1–5, Anaheim, CA, USA
www.amcoe.org/icam2021
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 197
Advertisers’ index / buyer’s guide | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Advertisers’ index
& buyer’s guide
Our advertisers’ index serves as a convenient guide to suppliers of AM machines,
materials, part manufacturing services, software and associated production equip-
ment. In the digital edition of Metal AM magazine, available at www.metal-am.com, or
via the Metal Additive Manufacturing app, simply click on a company name to view its
advert, or on the weblink to go directly to its website.
Hybrid AM machines
Matsuura Machinery Ltd 51
www.matsuura.de
198 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Advertisers’ index / buyer’s guide
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 199
Advertisers’ index / buyer’s guide | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Materials Solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Parmatech Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
200 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
| contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter | Advertisers’ index / buyer’s guide
Part manufacturers /
Pressure Technology, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
service bureaux
Process Sensing Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
AM Solutions - Rösler Group 11
RENA Technologies Austria GmbH . . . . . . . . . . . 47
www.solutions-for-am.com
Renishaw plc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside back cover
GKN Sinter Metals Engineering GmbH 43
www.gknpm.com Sandvik Osprey Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
toolcraft AG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
VBN Components AB 107
www.vbncomponents.se Ultra Fine Specialty Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
VDM Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Vol. 7 No. 1 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 201
Advertisers’ index / buyer’s guide | contents | news | events | advertisers | website | e-newsletter |
Metalpine GmbH 23
www.metalpine.at
Laser technology and
Mimete s.r.l. 73 calibration
www.mimete.com
202 Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2021 © 2021 Inovar Communications Ltd Vol. 7 No. 1
DESIGN | BUILD | MACHINE | INSPECT
The total AM
process chain
Can your partner for additive manufacturing (AM)
provide end-to-end expertise and support?
Only one company in the 3D printing industry offers
the technologies and expertise that provide both highly
productive metal 3D printing AND control of all finishing
and downstream processes.
For end-to-end process control of AM parts, speak to
Renishaw now.
www.renishaw.com/am
Renishaw plc, New Mills, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, UK, GL12 8JR +44 (0)1453 524524 uk@renishaw.com
© 2021 Renishaw plc. All rights reserved.
LEARN MORE
exone.com/metaldesignlab
Pictured left to right: InnoventPro™, X1 25Pro®, X1 160Pro™ and X1D1 automated guided vehicle.