TCT Europe 29.5 by TCT Magazine

3D PRINTING & ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING INTELLIGENCE

MAG EUROPE EDITION VOLUME 29 ISSUE 5 www.tctmagazine.com

THIS IS AM 2.0 Desktop Metal talks EnvisionTEC, acquisitions and additive’s next level. Auto & Rail

Sustainability

The latest AM applications in the transport sectors.

We ask the experts, how green is AM?

Consumer Products Footwear, coffee & collectables.

RAPID PROTOTYPING

VOLUME 29 ISSUE 5 ISSN 1751-0333

EDITORIAL

HEAD OF CONTENT

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from the editor

FROM THE EDITOR LAURA GRIFFITHS

The wait is over As I’m writing this Editor’s Letter, it’s around 10pm here in the UK which means the doors to a successful RAPID + TCT 2021 have just closed in Chicago. It has been strange watching this year’s event unfold from afar. I can still remember my first year at TCT, receiving a Skype message late one evening from our then Editor Jim asking me if I fancied a trip to California on short notice. Two weeks later I was in Long Beach attending my first RAPID event and I haven’t missed one since.

Rather than rushing from booth to booth, comparing step counts and cramming in coffee whenever possible, we’ve mostly taken in this year’s event via social media, living vicariously through photos posted to LinkedIn by our colleagues and friends in the U.S. of familiar, smiling faces, happy to be reconnecting again after almost two years apart. Despite a serious bout of FOMO, it has been wonderful to see. Luckily, the timing of this letter means we’re now less than two weeks away from TCT 3Sixty (perhaps you’re even reading this mag on the show floor), so we don’t have to wait too long to get in on the action ourselves. It feels like an eternity since we first decided to reimagine our UK event with a new mission to deliver a full 360-degree view of the AM industry. After two rescheduled dates, changing travel restrictions and all the usual fun stuff that comes with the territory of being an event organiser, I’m excited to see this vision finally realised. Though I

still don’t think it will feel real until the last corner of purple carpet is rolled on build day. This event will also be my first as TCT Head of Content so when we’re not hosting panels or wrapping our heads around what’s new on the show floor, our Senior Content Producer Sam Davies and I will be taking the opportunity to get your feedback on what you’d like to see more or less of (it’s okay, we can take it) from TCT Magazine. Hopefully we’ve got it right over the following pages through our conversations with Deutsche Bahn (Page 12), Wabtec (Page 15) and General Motors (Page 17) on the use of AM in rail and automotive sectors; questioning the experts on AM’s green credentials (page 21); and exploring the use of 3D printing in consumer products (Shoehorning Lara Croft into TCT may be my greatest achievement yet). Like many of you, I am so looking forward to returning to events safely and encourage you to go at your own pace. Seeing old and new faces, getting hands on with the technologies we’ve spent the last 18 months writing words about but are yet to see in-person, and finally getting to watch a keynote presentation with a real-life human in front of me instead of a laptop. And don’t forget, your free TCT 3Sixty badge will also grant you access to three neighbouring industry events; Interplas UK, Med-Tech Innovation Expo and PPMA. So, let’s get back to it!

29.5 / www.tctmagazine.com / 05

3D PRINTING & ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING INTELLIGENCE

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Evaluate, Adopt, Optimise… Analyse the opportunity Discover your application Learn from user success stories Understand capabilities and limitations Choose the right solution Optimise existing technology Consider enterprise adoption Ensure return on investment

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Co-located Shows

VOLUME 29 ISSUE 5

COVER STORY

8 11

8. THIS IS AM 2.0

Desktop Metal details the significance of its multiple acquisitions as it looks to facilitate its AM 2.0 vision.

Sustainability 21. HOW GREEN IS AM?

Laura asks a number of industry experts for their thoughts on how sustainable additive manufacturing really is.

27. MINDFUL MANUFACTURING

Auto & rail

11. THE FUNDAMENTALS

Kevin Baughey, Segment Leader, Transportation and Motorsports at 3D Systems, on "advancing the science" in automotive.

12. THE INSIDE TRACK

Stefanie Brickwede of Deutsche Bahn & Mobility goes Additive discusses 3D printing’s place in the rail industry.

15. BIG BRAKE

Head of Content Laura Griffiths talks to Wabtec about the additive manufacture of a brake panel.

17. TOOLING UP

Senior Content Producer Sam Davies speaks to GM’s Malini Dusey about the automotive firm’s application of AM.

Stratasys’ Rosa Coblens discusses her new role as the company’s VP of Sustainability.

THROUGH THE DOORS

43. BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

EOS takes us behind the scenes at its Maisach assembly facility.

29. SOLUTIONS BY DESIGN

Hyperganic CEO Lin Kayser reinforces his belief that the key to addressing climate change lies in design innovation.

EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

PROFESSIONAL 31 AM

6K Additive President Frank Roberts discusses materials, sustainability and production in our latest exec Q&A.

31. SMALL-FORMAT, BIG POTENTIAL

Sam talks to the vendors and users of small-format SLS to understand the opportunities and limitations of the technology.

CONSUMER PRODUCTS

35. REINVENTING CASUAL

Voxel8 & Hush Puppies discuss their 3D printed footwear product efforts.

38. CRAFTING LARA CROFT

Laura talks to a special effects and prop company behind the latest Lara Croft collectable that leans on 3D printing.

41. THE NEXE WORLD

Sam talks to a tech firm who has used 3D printing to develop compostable coffee pod products.

47. NEW METAL

Expert Column

50. REMEMBER THE MAGIC AND YOUR MEASUREMENTS

ARKE Ltd consultant Robin Dallen explains why they still feel the magic of AM after more than a decade in the industry.

THIS IS AM W

hen Desktop Metal was featured on the cover of this very magazine last year and declared “bases loaded”, not even a global pandemic could curb the additive manufacturing (AM) company’s ambition.

First came the installations of its newly introduced Shop System, then a public listing on the New York Stock Exchange in a deal with Trine Acquisition Corp, and shortly after, the first of a series of acquisitions. In January, Desktop Metal brought EnvisionTEC into the fold in a milestone $300 million acquisition, and with it, nearly 20 years of experience in polymer AM as the originator of DLP technology. For those looking on, the foray into polymers may have seemed surprising, but if you ask Desktop Metal CEO and cofounder Ric Fulop, opportunities outside of metal have always been clear. “I've always believed there's a huge opportunity in composites and polymers,” Fulop told TCT. “We're in this segment of additive manufacturing that’s growing very fast and it's not tooling or prototyping - that's what's been done yesterday. It’s now all about mass production, competing with conventional manufacturing and changing the way people make things.” SHOWN: HEARING AIDS 3D PRINTED AT SCALE WITH ENVISIONTEC'S DLP TECHNOLOGY

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Fulop and team have labelled this new era of manufacturing “Additive Manufacturing 2.0”, the next generation in 3D printing that’s about leveraging the power of AM at scale for mass production. Shattering the belief that AM only works for specialised, low volume applications, AM 2.0 promises to innovate on product, process and materials. Al Siblani, CEO of EnvisionTEC, is very much on the same page. “This is really what AM 2.0 is all about,” Siblani shared with TCT, “the future of additive manufacturing that would allow us to disrupt traditional manufacturing.”

THE RIGHT CHEMISTRY While both CEOs confirm now is the time for AM 2.0 with polymers, Siblani might argue that EnvisionTEC has been ready for some time. Though seemingly quieter than other DLPbased companies that have emerged in more recent years, EnvisionTEC is the original pioneer of DLP and has been championing the mass production of products like custom hearing aids and eyewear, and in the dental market where the company already has over 1,000 customers using its printers and 60+ validated resins day in and day out. Last year alone, the company produced over 10 million end-use parts including millions of NP swabs for COVID-19 test kits. The catalyst, both CEOs believe, to unlocking this AM 2.0 vision is materials.

5 ABOVE:

ENVISIONTEC XTREME 8K PRINTER

SHOWN: PARTS PRINTED ON DESKTOP METAL'S BINDER JET SHOP SYSTEM

COVER STORY

2.0

Desktop Metal talks EnvisionTEC, acquisitions and additive’s next level.

“It’s now all about mass production” “We needed a new backbone chemistry,” Siblani elaborated. “We really needed chemistry that would deliver on the promise of replacing injection moulded parts. That means that we needed photopolymer chemistry based on long-chain polymer molecules because we know that long chain molecules deliver stronger and more stable parts.” These long-chain polymers have been enabled by EnvisionTEC’s patented array technology, featured in its large-format Xtreme 8K printer, which affords greater power to quickly turn liquid molecules into an isotropic solid part. Siblani also credits the influence of large material and chemical companies like BASF and Sartomer on the AM industry and points to another recent Desktop Metal acquisition, elastomer company Adaptive 3D, for opening up “amazing mechanical properties” in photopolymers. Meanwhile, Fulop says materials were also a large part of EnvisionTEC’s appeal, noting the company’s vertically integrated approach to resins and “incredible chemistry”. These materials, Desktop Metal says, are broadening the scope for killer applications for AM 2.0. In addition to scenarios where AM outruns injection moulding, such as medical devices, electronic enclosures and personalised insoles characterised by their low

volumes, complex geometries and mass customisation, opportunities are also arising in flight-certified components and Formula 1 wind tunnel testing, amongst many other areas where greater material properties have afforded greater applications. Adaptive3D’s ETR90 (Elastic ToughRubber) White resin, for example, is enabling applications in automotive interiors on EnvisionTEC’s Xtreme 8K platform, and the team is also quietly working on another emerging market, leveraging photopolymer material enhancements for the next generation of foam and cushioning products. THE NEXT FRONTIER Reflecting on EnvisionTEC’s journey over the last two decades and the growth of the DLP market, Siblani concludes: “When we developed [that] technology in the 3D printing space, I remember that nobody actually thought that it would be what it is today.” He comments on the recent swell of interest in DLP-based technology from some of the industry’s major players as validation that a technology the company has spent the last 20 years perfecting, amassing 136 patents in the process, was the right one to back in the race towards mass production of end-use parts. “I believe that we're going to lead this space and our ability to deliver production-ready DLP systems that deliver on the promise, finally, of taking 3D printing from prototyping to mass production, which is really what AM 2.0 is all about.” But polymers are just one part of Desktop Metal’s growth strategy, which revolves around the three central pillars of printers, materials, and parts, and the integration of EnvisionTEC is just one of the bold moves the company has taken to support that vision. While Desktop

Metal has continued to push hard on R&D internally by bringing more tweaks and materials to its own metal and composite platforms – most recently the addition of 316L stainless steel and dental-focused chrome cobalt material on its popular binder jet Shop System and also 316L and 4140 on the Production System – the company has sought inorganic opportunities to grow with the acquisition of multi-material 3D printing firm Aerosint and the Phonograft platform enabled through Beacon Bio, the latter of which came from its Desktop Health business line that's dedicated to the dental, orthodontic and otolaryngology markets. And, shortly before this issue went to press, the company announced a definitive agreement to acquire binder jet leader ExOne and 3D printed hydraulics manufacturer Aidro, both AM pioneers in their own right. There was also the launch of its new Forust process focused on delivering sustainable 3D printing with upcycled wood waste. These expansions mean Desktop Metal now has more than 225 qualified materials across metals, composites, polymers, elastomers, ceramics, wood, sand and biocompatible materials. With this breadth of technology now under one roof, when asked how the company will remain focused, Fulop confidently states: “You could ask the same question of a company like Amazon, which has grown very fast and they're able to succeed. We keep the team small, give people high accountability and push the decision making to the edges. We bring in great people and give them all the tools they need to succeed, and then we also have good managers. That is how we are able to scale.” If last year was “bases loaded”, this year they’re hitting a grand slam.

29.5 / www.tctmagazine.com / 09

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autoMOTIVE & rail

THE FUNDAMENTALS WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

he feats of additive manufacturing (AM) in the automotive industry are welldocumented. From Formula 1 parts to tooling for mass production lines, metals to polymers, track to off-track, there isn’t a pocket of the industry that isn’t using it in some way. So when AM pioneer 3D Systems set out its roadmap following the induction of CEO Jeff Graves last year, it came as no surprise that the company selected transportation and motorsports as the focus of one of its newly established industrial teams. “Transportation and motorsports has been a big piece of 3D Systems from its inception,” Kevin Baughey, Segment Leader, Transportation and Motorsports at 3D Systems, told TCT. “We talked to our Applications Engineers and I was really taken aback by the expertise that they had in sitting in with the companies and teams within the segment.”

From those initial conversations, breaking down current industry applications and challenges, two key areas emerged. One was productivity and efficiency within existing use cases. The other was around “advancing the science.” “The folks that we were looking at in those areas were really looking at the fundamental science and engineering to solve problems,” Baughey explained. “That's pretty typical in Formula One because they're on that advanced edge but we're also seeing [it] in the consumer side, [..] given the prevalence of EV and hybrid and all the advanced propulsion systems that are coming into the market.”

In metals, Baughey points to thermodynamic and fluid management applications where the design freedoms afforded by AM are allowing components like heat exchangers and hydraulic accumulators to be packaged more efficiently. There are also metal structural applications where lightweighting and conserving mass are typically the goal. But, as Baughey explains, the reasons behind that are much more complex. “When you look at the science behind it, there's static forces, dynamic forces that are being managed,” Baughey elaborated. “In many cases, the lightweighting is what you're achieving but understanding why you're achieving it is important. Sometimes it's more mass management than just pure lightweighting. Sometimes it's ‘can we lower the centre of gravity or shift the centre of gravity in certain areas and take advantage?’ Another thing is the inertia of it. A lot of additive is being applied to mass motion components that are dynamically rotating or shifting back and forth and taking out that inertia takes out all of the efficiency losses, as well as the durability. […] The key thing is looking beyond just the typical term of lightweighting and looking at the fundamental sciences that are being applied to solve problems.”

Thanks to innovations in drivetrain, autonomy and electric vehicles, the automotive industry is evolving. Because of that, Baughey says the fundamental architecture of a vehicle is now also being challenged. Rather than doing things the way they’ve always been done (“We weren't fundamentally just rolling out a blank sheet of paper very often,” Baughey recalls of his past experience working in systems engineering and vehicle programme management.), now it’s about “getting down to the math” to understand the problems the

“The key is to look at the fundamental sciences.” industry is trying to solve, and that’s applicable to not only advanced motorsport applications but is also trickling down into the consumer space. “To be quite frank, if the industry hadn't been disrupted through autonomous and EV and so on, this would probably not be advancing as fast as it is now and entering into the consumer side,” Baughey added. Recent material developments are also driving more advanced applications. In metals, a newly certified Scalmalloy high-strength aluminium alloy has been engineered for weight-efficient, load-bearing structural components including suspension brackets and energy and fluid management components, while Certified M789 is opening up possibilities for automotive parts with higher fidelity and thinner walls, like die inserts with conformal cooling, tire tread moulds, drive train parts and axle components. It’s not just metals either, the recently added Accura AMX Rigid Black SLA resin has been adopted by TOYOTA Gazoo Racing to create long-lasting polymer production parts, while Baughey also notes some less obvious opportunities leveraging 3D Systems clear resins to manufacture interior automotive parts such as complex structures to pipe lighting through the vehicle. Baughey added: “Some of the advancements in materials have really taken them from what were traditionally prototypeuse materials, really into what an automotive lifecycle is going to look like.”

SHOWN:

METAL STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS 3D PRINTED IN CERTIFIED SCALMALLOY ON A 3D SYSTEMS DMP FLEX 350

29.5 / www.tctmagazine.com / 011

THE INSIDE T S

tefanie Brickwede, Head of Additive Manufacturing at Deutsche Bahn and Managing Director of Mobility goes Additive (MGA) talks to Laura Griffiths about 3D printing in the rail industry, why sustainability needs to be taken seriously and how the pandemic pressured companies to innovate.

4 RIGHT:

HANDRAIL SIGN WITH BRAILLE (SOURCE: DEUTSCHE BAHN AG / OLIVER LANG)

6 BELOW:

STEFANIE BRICKWEDE

TCT: Last time we caught up you were on a MakerBot roundtable talking about the use of 3D printing during the pandemic. Deutsche Bahn had already been using AM for a long time, but can you give us your take on how AM adoption was ramped up during that time? SB: It's not just the pandemic. We have to cope with such interruptions of supply chains nearly every month. And what really helped during the pandemic, those companies are more minded to consider alternative ways of production. Many companies say they are much more open to additive manufacturing than before. That’s one of the reasons. Others are that they were under economic pressure, they have to move. The need to think about innovation is much bigger than two years ago. TCT: During that panel, the question was asked of whether this open mindset was really going to stick with us post-pandemic. And as you've just said, it's not just about a pandemic. What are your thoughts now? SB: So many companies have discovered that they can use the technology for parts, spare parts, whatever you can think of. You can see a lot of it in tooling. For tooling, you don't need any certification so those are the low hanging fruits. In the railway sector, also far beyond in the automotive sector, they’ve used AM for a very long time for prototyping and now more and more for tooling. They have printers on their premises, in their maintenance workshops or production halls, and the logic just to have an idea, produce it overnight and use it the next day is really great. This is something we are now experiencing also within Deutsche Bahn and other railway companies. Within the network, we have eight European railway companies. The others are thinking and considering exactly the same. What you can also experience is that you have a lot of younger and even older people who have a printer at home and bring the idea to the job. If you ask people ‘who is interested in joining in a 3D printing project or

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department?’, you will always find people who are really waiting for someone to ask them. TCT: That’s really interesting. We often hear stories of it being hard to convince people to turn to 3D printing… SB: You have people who are in the maintenance workshops. And of course, they're not the managers so they have to wait until they ask for that. But as soon as they see the chance to use their knowledge which they already gained, and to improve that, they're often very much interested. Whenever I’ve had an article in any kind of newspaper, people within our corporate contact me and say, ‘Oh, I didn't know about that, that Deutsche Bahn already prints so much. How can I help?’ Or ‘Is there any opportunity?’ I say, ‘Sure, come into our project!’ But you have to be open minded, you need some backing from management, which we definitely have. TCT: You mentioned it's not just Deutsche Bahn, there are lots of other rail companies using AM. As more companies turned to AM throughout the pandemic, did you already feel ahead of the curve? SB: In the railway sector, Deutsche Bahn and SNCF, they are leading by far. But the others are very open to that. We have

SHOWN: SECONDARY RAIL STOP (SOURCE: DEUTSCHE BAHN)

autoMOTIVE & rail

TRACK

a working group, which is called RAILiability, they're working on rail and liability and the exchange in that working group is so open. What you can also see is that, we all know that the automotive sector is really dealing with big change management projects, they have to focus on e-mobility so they really have to change the mind of the people. The suppliers also suffer from that crisis in automotive and it's really astonishing that not only one, but quite a few already considered producing AM parts for the medical sector. Three years ago, no one would have ever had the idea as an automotive supplier to produce parts for medical, that would have been too far. Now you can really experience that because they have to change, they have to be open minded, they have to focus on other markets. Medical definitely is a great market for AM and for us, it's great because within the [MGA] network, we already cover both mobility and medical. When we started with medical three years ago, I was asked by my board, ‘why do we do medical? We come from the railway.’ I said, okay, let's give it a try and if it doesn't work within the next

two years, then we'll stop it again. After the pandemic, no one would ever ask such a question again.

TCT: Does that involve a lot of redesign or is it better to repurpose current designs for AM?

TCT: For rail applications, are we talking mainly about polymers or metals?

SB: In maintaining sectors in general, you would always stick to the full fit function of the previous part. So you would not re-design or do bionic design. That is something companies can do who are really constructing and then of course you get the full potential, but if you have to stick to certification processes, you would not change that much because, of course, we are still in a phase that many authorities have to learn about AM. First they have to trust the technology and this is much easier to prove if you stick to the former designs. From month to month, it's getting more open.

SB: Metals as well. What you can see is that two thirds in the railway sector is polymers and about one third is metals. So, if it comes to tooling cases or smaller parts within the interior of trains, we are often talking about polymer parts. There we have to meet high levels concerning flame retardancy, which are even higher than aerospace. If you want to print parts to prevent the standstill of trains, we are often talking about metals. The metals are, of course, much more expensive and certification is more crucial. What I find really interesting is that we are now working on the first use cases of concrete for the stations, for instance. I am absolutely sure that there's huge potential but you can compare it to printing spare parts five years ago, the printing of concrete is quite new. They have to work on the certification but also on materials and [finding] the right use cases. We are also now working on elastomer printing and I'm not talking about prototyping elastomers. TPUs for prototyping existed for quite a long time but now we are talking about spare parts and those spare parts have to go on the trains for at least five to six years, being in contact with oil and dirt and whatever you can consider. TCT: Can you give us a sense of what Deutsche Bahn’s in-house AM capacity looks like? SB: We have a great team and we don't have that many printers because we still rely, I would say to 85%, at least, on printing service bureaus. We don't want to focus on the buying, if machines are suitable or not because we want to focus more on the solutions for use cases. And we're not a producing company. We're just a maintainer. For us, it's more important to cover a very broad variety of different materials, technologies and use cases, and to know exactly what is the matching technology for the use case and also to be very open to new technologies. […] We want to focus on not just on dealing with one or two or three machines. We now have now more than 60 desktop printers within the company. Those are mainly for training, tooling and giving people the opportunity to materialise their ideas.

TCT: One of the mission points for Mobility goes Additive is ecological sustainability. Can you touch on how AM contributes to that? SB: Most of the companies in the AM sector are either quite new startups, or small, midsize companies. So usually, we have to give them a wake up call to focus more on ecological sustainability and not just greenwashing. We have to focus more on the ecological sustainability of materials, the whole production supply chain, how we can improve that, and it's not sufficient just to say that we don't need as much material as other technologies, we also have to talk about energy consumption, we have to talk about how that material is produced. And we have to talk about great use cases. This is why we started a study within MGA in cooperation with AMPOWER to have a logic where you can bring in, this is metal focused, some data concerning your part, material technology and so on and they will give you some indication of how sustainable that is. Of course, this is not on an individualised lifecycle assessment basis, but […] this is what we really have to work on. Otherwise, the technology will lose its unique selling proposition. We all have to focus more on virtual warehouses. […] We did an analysis within Deutsche Bahn and after six years, you have to throw away all the elastomeric parts you have on stock, whether you use them or not. […] That's a brilliant case for AM.

29.5 / www.tctmagazine.com / 013

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autoMOTIVE & rail

Head of Content Laura Griffiths finds out how Wabtec reimagined a large locomotive component with AM.

n the cover of this magazine, we’ve featured a titanium brake caliper from Bugatti, landing gear for a private Bizjet plane, a Czinger supercar loaded with weight-saving 3D printed parts, all manufactured using SLM Solutions’ selective laser melting (SLM) technology. You might be thinking, ‘That’s great, but it’s not everyday life.’ Well, if the work the German metal AM leader is carrying out with Wabtec is anything to go by, that may not be the case for very long. Wabtec, a supplier of equipment and services to the global rail industry, recently set itself the task of redesigning a traditionally manufactured locomotive brake panel. The metal panel is a critical component made up of four different parts and a heavy one at 52 lbs. Manufactured in France with a lengthy lead time of 3-6 months for a customer in the U.S., Wabtec looked to AM to develop a more efficient alternative. “The challenge we had was to deliver some parts, very few parts, to one of our customers in North America,” Henri de Chassey, Additive Manufacturing leader for Wabtec Transit, told TCT. “The problem we have is that the normal lot to produce this kind of part is very high. We're speaking about 20 or 30 parts, and the quantity here was only three to four pieces. So it was very difficult for us to find a supplier. That's why we considered, very quickly, [an] additive manufacturing solution.” With a full team devoted to AM, and a newly opened 11,000 square-foot facility at Pittsburgh’s Neighborhood 91 AM production campus, Wabtec currently has a number of metal machines in-house covering SLM and binder jet technologies, including an SLM 280 geared to Inconel and SLM 800 dedicated to aluminium. It was the scale and speed of the latter that enabled the company to redesign the brake panel as a single component. After what Henri describes as a “complete rework of the plate”, the

panel’s weight was halved, and lead times reduced by 70%. The part was put through rigorous testing and certification processes to ensure both its safety and so that the full lifecycle of the panel, which could be at least ten years when installed on a train, would be equal, or even superior to the original part. The brake panel is just one part Wabtec has been exploring with AM. The company has also been testing

“Our SLM 800 is opening a new world for us.”

out other critical components such as heat exchangers and brake controllers as it looks to develop pilot projects with customers to demonstrate where the technology makes sense. Right now, the biggest opportunity is in part obsolescence. Today, 66% of 3D printed parts for European railway end users are due to obsolescence and many of those issues stem from original suppliers who do not exist anymore. Wabtec recently shared that it already has more than 8,000 parts on running railway equipment manufactured by additive technologies and is targeting over 25,000 parts by 2025. “When we speak about obsolescence, for example, it's really important for our customer to have the part as soon as possible as it may prevent a train from being used,” Henri said. “Our customers can face fines of €10K to €15K per day when the train is stopped for missing components so, you can imagine the pressure they have. If you're able to come and say, we have a solution that can provide you the missing parts to put your train/metro/tram back in service’, of course, it will be very well appreciated.” This new method of manufacture has also brought sustainable advantages due to reduced material and transportation emissions, bolstering Wabtec’s mission, first set out in 2017, to create greener and more future-ready products. According to SLM Solutions, the ability to sync print parameters to any SLM 800 machine around the world also makes it much easier to manufacture locally. “Our SLM 800 is opening a new world for us because we can now bring to market very large parts,” Henri concluded. “This is really interesting because we are thinking about solving issues due to obsolescence for our after-market customers […] and thankfully with this machine we’ve succeeded with some very incredible parts. We also have many other ideas and it's changing the way to design the new original equipment because people on R&D are now thinking to additive manufacturing from the first part concept development.”

SHOWN: WABTEC BRAKE PANEL 3D PRINTED ON AN SLM 800 (SOURCE: WABTEC)

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WORDS: SAM DAVIES

Senior Engineer Malini Dusey talks to TCT about GM's application of AM.

s Scott Crump’s career came to its end last year, the inventor of Fused Deposition Modelling began to reflect on many of the highlights in his 31-year stint in the additive manufacturing sector afforded him. There were the gruelling nighttime shifts in the 80s, the pursuit of investment in the 90s, partnerships with some of the biggest manufacturers in the 00s and, of course, the mainstream media attention of the 2010s. In the year before he retired, though, there was one manufacturing site visit that would stand out, that would represent the progress 3D printing technology had made and that would confirm to Crump that his efforts over the preceding three decades had been worthwhile. At a General Motors (GM) facility, he joined a group of 25 engineers in walking up and down various segments of a production line and placing post-it notes whenever they found a suitable 3D printing application. Crump expected they’d find around 20 between them. They identified 200.

“A quick success makes a great advocate.” General Motors’ use of 3D printing can be traced back to the early days. The company has long utilised processes like FDM for prototyping, but as with many other automakers, has seen the application of the technology grow in recent years. The company’s big wins have come predominantly in tooling applications, with General Motors Additive Manufacturing

Senior Engineer Malini Dusey suggesting that GM has established itself as somewhat of a leader in 3D printed automotive tools. Dusey and her colleagues at the Warren Tech Center are responsible for the additive manufacture of such components, which are then distributed to GM Assembly Plants in as little as 24 hours. “When GM is poised to put new vehicles on the road,” Dusey says, “we are looking at deploying tooling very efficiently and very rapidly, looking at what are the needs, how can we improve processes, where are the biggest challenges, where are the areas that we can actually make a difference? Lead time reduction is of utmost importance, and we are seeing that, with the use of additive manufacturing, we are able to build these tools very quickly, adapt to the process, they conform to the shape exactly what the job is on hand, and also lightweight them.” More often than not, GM exploits its healthy repertoire of FDM systems, which was bolstered in late 2019 with 17 additional Stratasys systems, including several

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3D PRINTED HAND APPLY TOOL MADE IN THE GM AIC (PHOTO BY STEVE FECHT FOR GENERAL MOTORS)

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autoMOTIVE & rail

SHOWN: GM ADDITIVE INDUSTRIALIZATION CENTER. (PHOTO BY STEVE FECHT FOR GENERAL MOTORS)

SHOWN: FDM 3D PRINTER AT THE GM AIC. (PHOTO BY STEVE FECHT FOR GENERAL MOTORS)

F900 platforms. This equipment is used to additively manufacture handheld tools, as well as larger parts that may need assembling after the print, with powder bed fusion technology also being available. FDM has been invested in for its ability to produce loadbearing applications with carbon fibre-reinforced nylon and other ‘highly engineered plastics’, while its SLS systems are more likely to be deployed for thin-walled parts. As General Motors opened its Additive Industrialization Center at the Warren Tech Center last year, the company outlined its commitment to ‘productionising 3D printing’ and revealed the Cadillac CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwing models to be the first GM production vehicles equipped with 3D printed parts. For these production parts, General Motors will take the same approach as it has with its tooling components. It’s an approach that has so far worked – in last year’s launch of full-size SUVs at the Arlington Assembly plant in Texas, GM supplied around 100 hand-apply tools which have been additively manufactured in nylon carbon fibre composite instead of aluminium, bringing the weight down in some parts from between 10-40lbs to 3lbs.

and seeing what it is that we can do to help build tools to support their needs is what they’re focused on. That allows us to identify the critical needs where additive would be a good solution.” General Motors leans on the insights of a range of personnel to identify internal applications of additive. Shop floor staff, engineers, management and suppliers have all been engaged as General Motors looks to get the most out of the technology. And as Crump fondly remembers, it’s not uncommon for the company to also tap into the design expertise of 3D printing tech suppliers in a bid to find solutions.

it – they have the most immediate need – however they will only know what’s possible if they are made aware of the capabilities of additive and even more so if they have experienced some quick successes. A quick success makes a great advocate and allows them to come up with new ideas in the future. This is relevant from the manufacturing floor all the way to management. Each team has different needs and is made up of different folks that are looking to expedite their work in a different way. The needs are varied. However, once they are made aware of what the capabilities are, it very quickly is translated to the application.”

“It’s company-wide,” Dusey finishes. “It comes all the way from the folks on the shop floor who are actually using SHOWN: MALINI DUSEY HOLDS TOOLS MADE AT THE GM ADDITIVE INDUSTRIALIZATION CENTER USING A 3D PRINTER AT THE GM TECH CENTER IN WARREN, MICHIGAN. (PHOTO BY STEVE FECHT FOR GENERAL MOTORS)

“Just because you can use additive for something, doesn’t mean that you should,” Dusey says. “As we look around again, it’s fuelled by the needs and challenges of our manufacturing plants and our folks on the floor and also our supply base, because the supply case is stretched just as thin in terms of everything moving so fast. Looking at their challenges

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HOW GREEN IS AM? TCT Head of Content Laura Griffiths asks the experts.

t was an astute and welltimed comment from Stefanie Brickwede in an interview for our rail feature (page 12) that prompted the question which headlines this very article. Brickwede, Head of Additive Manufacturing at Deutsche Bahn, suggested we need to give AM companies a wakeup call “to focus more on ecological sustainability and not just greenwashing.” Brickwede isn’t the first to use the term “greenwashing”, the idea that a product can be marketed as sustainable without having the credentials to back it up, in reference to the AM sector. The topic has increasingly found its way into conversations amongst those in the industry who want to ensure AM’s green credentials are more than just buzzwords and backed up by real data. ANALYSING THE DATA It’s easy to think of AM as sustainable. You’re adding material where needed, theoretically using less than that of a subtractive method. With the advent of distributed manufacturing, you’re hopefully producing much closer to the point of need, reducing emissions along the way, and through digital warehousing, only producing those parts when you need them. With increased freedom of design, you can reduce weight, potentially saving costs and energy over a part’s lifecycle. But it’s not so clear cut. “It's like a doubleedged sword,” Runze Huang, PhD, CEO & Co-founder at ExLattice, Inc. and author of a number of papers focusing on the energy and emissions saving potential of AM, says. “The unique advantages of AM, such as customisation,

distributed production, flexibility, and multi-material applications, are creating complexity and unique challenges in the end-of-life of AM products. It needs to be considered more and addressed better now as we still have time before AM entering the mainstream of manufacturing and causing the sustainability issues 20 years later.” Speaking on an upcoming episode of the Additive Insight podcast, AM consultant Phil Reeves echoed Huang’s thoughts and expressed the need to consider the full lifecycle of an AM part. “You have to look at full lifecycle, endto-end sustainability and I think we do have some issues,” Reeves explains, “certainly on the polymer side, our polymer chemistry which is maybe not as green as they could be; the actual additive manufacturing processes themselves are not as energy efficient as they could be – they haven’t been designed around energy efficiency. If you look at some of them, you pre-heat a significant amount of material to just below its melting temperature, you hit it with a laser – that’s an incredibly inefficient laser – you lose lots of energy in the room, you end up with a cake of material that you then cool down for 24 hours. That’s not an efficient manufacturing process.” Reeves suggests the next industry trend will need to be around “efficiency” of machines, supply chains and materials but also cautions that if we want to encourage the use of AM for production, not just prototyping, then the industry will need to keep up with environmental legislation. Reeves continues: “The worry is that we won’t and at some point, somebody will turn around in the corporate social responsibility group of a large car company and say, ‘that material you’re using in prototyping, we can’t use that anymore, we’re going to be legislated

against it,’ so I do think we have to think, as an industry, seriously about sustainability.” Pierre Forêt, Head of AM at industrial gases and engineering company Linde, agrees that we need to be talking more about efficiency. Linde has developed technologies to retain the quality of metal powder prior to printing and ensure optimum atmospheric conditions within the print chamber. Forêt says the biggest potential drawback to AM is energy usage – both in the type and volume of energy it consumes. “While no one solution can claim to make additive manufacturing more sustainable than traditional production methods, through a combination of technologies – particularly associated to the use of atmospheric gases – the process can be assured to have more reliable, repeatable quality outcomes,” Forêt says. “Once this is achieved, the advantages of additive manufacturing are, at the very least given the potential to contribute to more sustainable production methods.” MANAGING MATERIALS Materials are just one part of the value chain where the sustainability question lingers. “Material reuse within the process is still problematic,” Alex Kingsbury, AM Industry Fellow & Engagement Lead at RMIT University, offers. “There’s no doubt that the printing process, whether it’s metal or polymer, leads to a degradation of the material and limits its reusability. There are also support structures, a necessary evil in many cases, that are waste products. In this respect, metal is much better than polymer, as the metal recycling supply chain is more flexible than the polymers recycling supply chain. For example, a polymer 3D printed product does not bear the universal recyclability symbol. Even if it does, the polymer recycling supply chain is still highly problematic. Metal at the very least, can be channelled through the scrap metal trade. We are also still yet to really properly reach upstream of 3D printed products and properly assess the raw material sources,

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Making Additive Manufacturing More Sustainable: Ask the Right Question Additive Manufacturing provides companies with an instrument to manufacture in a more sustainable way – both socially and environmentally. As a result, many view AM as a positive force that helps companies operate more sustainably. However, that’s simply not enough. Moving forward, the question is not whether AM is a sustainable manufacturing technology. The question becomes: what can we do to make AM more sustainable? Additive Manufacturing has established itself as a powerful and sustainable manufacturing solution. The technology empowers people locally through decentralized production, it improves people’s health and well-being through

personalized care, and it enables higher quality jobs. At the same time it supports a manufacturing process with less waste, through mass-personalization and optimized distribution. But considering Additive Manufacturing a green technology simply because of the unique benefits that are inherent to the technology is too easy. Similarly, manufacturers of electric cars can’t claim to be sustainable simply because electric cars are generally considered better for the environment than traditional gas-powered cars. That’s why a first step is for companies to organize themselves in a sustainable way, by considering the impact of their decisions on

their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. But in order to make truly significant contributions, companies need to invest in innovative technologies that help to advance their respective industries. “The AM industry can and needs to do more,” says Fried Vancraen, founder and CEO of Materialise, “by developing new and innovative ways to reduce our impact on the societies we interact with and the environments we operate in. We recognize this and proudly develop innovative technologies to reduce our impact – from reducing scrap rates and increasing the usage of recycled powder to creating the workplaces of the future.” At Materialise we believe that continued investment in innovative technologies is key to establish Additive Manufacturing as a truly sustainable manufacturing

technology. Recently, Materialise introduced Bluesint PA 12, a material innovation that makes it possible to 3D print with up to 100% re-used powder. This manufacturing breakthrough creates a path towards eliminating waste in 3D printing. And with the Materialise Process Tuner we help manufacturing companies, service bureaus and machine builders speed up the process tuning required for mass-manufacturing 3D-printed parts. This allows them to reduce the cost and waste associated with printing hundreds of test samples before finding the optimal process parameters. In both cases we didn’t rely on the general consensus that 3D printing is already more sustainable. Instead, we started by asking the right question: what can we do to make the technology more sustainable?

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for example, the metal powder that you use in your 3D printing process. Where does it come from? What is the carbon footprint of that process? Was it made using a fossil fuel energy source like coal or gas? Or was the electricity source hydropower?”

reconditioning step. The company also says that part consolidation and design benefits afforded via binder jet can on average result in 30-50% weight savings, which, in the case of the automotive industry can deliver significant reductions in energy use.

Last year Materialise introduced a solution to tackle material reusability. Bluesint PA12 makes it possible to print with 100% reused powder, versus an estimated 50% currently capable with polymer laser sintering. Following the launch of its Bluesint PA12 printing service back in June, Materialise proposes that if half of all SLS PA 12 parts were printed using Bluesint, this would reduce CO2 emissions from 3D printing by more than 2,800 tons per year.

“We have no doubt that our technology is more sustainable than traditional manufacturing methods, such as machining, which generates tons of toxic waste as coolants are applied to cutting tools shaving away sometimes as much as 95% of the stock material to create a part,” Sarah Webster, Chief Marketing Officer at ExOne, says. “While there are new innovations in green coolants, most of those in use today during machining remain petroleum based and nothing in the binder jetting process comes close to the volume or type of waste generated during traditional subtractive machining processes.”

“The AM industry can and needs to do more,” Andreas Vandyck, Sustainability Coordinator at Materialise, tells TCT. “A first step is for companies to organise themselves in a sustainable way, by considering the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. But in order to make truly significant contributions, companies need to invest in innovative technologies that help to advance their respective industries." The company recently conducted a lifecycle analysis with BASF for the production of one million pairs of midsoles. The results showed that for large-series production of identical products, AM had a bigger impact on the depletion of fossil fuels compared to conventional manufacturing. But if you consider smaller series production, the results start to tip in AM’s favour. Vandyck adds: “Across the board, “climate change”, clearly stands out as the largest contributing factor for the negative impact of AM technologies. If we look at the carbon footprint, the biggest contributors are the energy consumption of the printing process and emissions related to the production of materials. In comparison, the traditional photo-polymerisation process demands the least amount of energy.” On the metals side, Sebastian Richter, Head of Powder Metals at thyssenkrupp Materials Trading is optimistic and while he agrees greenwashing is an issue, he believes metals are in a better position. “Manufacturers are now using metal powders to build structures, which means much lower material consumption,” Richter tells TCT.

“The AM industry can & needs to do more.” “Additive also allows manufacturers to have design freedom that can lead not only to product and process improvement but also low waste. You can’t achieve this with conventional processes.” thyssenkrupp Materials UK is the UK distributor for metal powders from raw materials specialist thyssenkrupp, including sustainably sourced stainless steel, aluminium, titanium and nickel-based alloys. As a provider of services to the AM industry too, Richter suggests we must also take a closer look at AM hardware. “As metal powders are low waste and recyclable materials, potential challenges in terms of sustainability for the additive manufacturing industry may lie with the 3D printing equipment,” Richter says. “Given this is still a fairly new industry, we will probably observe further optimisations of the 3D printers in order to make them more efficient and more sustainable, for example, by improving the filter technology, which is currently complicated to recycle.”

Webster stresses that green benefits can also be found outside of end-use parts, namely in tooling (the company recently launched its X1 Tooling portfolio off the back of its acquisition of Freshmade 3D) where the ability to print tools directly can also reduce waste. For those metals that aren’t so easy to recycle, 6K Additive has developed a technology which specifically addresses the metal AM market. It’s UniMelt Plasma technology is said to turn virtually any scrap metal into 3D printable material, that includes new materials too (More on page 47). With up to 3 million pounds of titanium capable of being upcycled per year at its dedicated ISO9001 facility, Frank Roberts, President 6K Additive says you can really see the momentum building. “It really means something to the industry,” Frank Roberts, President 6K Additive, says. “Every facet of who we're dealing with is really starting to ask these key

ExOne, for example, is confident that its metal binder jet technology can be considered green, stating that more than 95% of powder can be reused directly in the process via a simple

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SUSTAINABILITY questions and so it's critical that we keep the momentum, that we develop best practices to make sure that we're upcycling all the material that we can, and if it can't be upcycled and go back into the industry, that there's a good home that it's upcycled and going into another industry as an alloy addition, for example. But this is the time where we need to make sure we keep the momentum and keep the messaging strong and really make sure we focus on proper solutions for where these byproducts are going.” GETTING SERIOUS Proof that serious attention is being paid can be seen in the hiring of new personnel dedicated to sustainability. EOS’ Head of Sustainability Björn Hannappel, for example, joined in January 2020 and sees the company’s main purpose as “leading the world into responsible manufacturing with industrial 3D printing.” “Compared to established manufacturing processes like casting or injection moulding, AM is still a rather young and niche technology and cannot currently benefit from the scale effects of local production of raw materials, such as powder, for example,” Hannappel says. “This is certainly a topic, but an area that is improving and will have a positive effect on the decentralised production of AM parts. Additionally, at present there is not a lot of data available to calculate the positive impact additive manufacturing is having. At EOS, we also believe there is a need for more research in areas such as the closed materials cycle, for example, the recyclability of AM parts.” DyeMansion has also announced its intent to hire a sustainability lead next year. The AM post-processing specialist is one of the first companies on board Europe's mission to become the first climate-neutral continent and on a recent episode of TCT’s Additive Insight podcast, Co-founder and CEO Felix

Ewald shared how it is embedding sustainability into every discussion. While Ewald admits sustainability is a complex issue, he remains optimistic about the “huge potential” the AM industry could have, particularly around rethinking global supply chains and decentralised manufacturing. “I'm afraid that sometimes in our industry, it's easy to say that 3D printing has a great potential impact in terms of sustainability,” Ewald cautions. “But then we should also take it seriously. And I think that's the big task that we have as an industry, not only talking about it but really [taking] action.” THE NEXT GENERATION While AM is by no means new, it is still a fairly young industry. Amongst those asked, there is a common belief that the industry can use this to its advantage. “As an emerging industry, we still have chances to establish the right way at the beginning,” Huang offers. “Of course, we have our own limitations in addressing the sustainability challenges and AM is not a panacea. But I feel the AM industry has potential to be set up as a good example in addressing sustainability challenges as a whole to push traditional manufacturing industries to do more. This will benefit our whole industry for more opportunities and faster growth.” New people coming into the sector are also keen to encourage the topic of sustainability, as Ewald shares: “We are still a young company and many people really want to work in start-ups, and in job interviews there is always the question coming up,

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‘What we are doing in terms of sustainability?’ It's really a topic that is pushed by our team and our employees and we take it really seriously.” They’re not the only ones. The Additive Manufacturer Green Trade Association (AMGTA) just announced its first LCA research project with the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability, which will compare the lifecycles and environmental impact of an additively manufactured and traditionally manufactured jet engine low pressure turbine (LPT) bracket. The study will include up to 18 different environmental indicators to quantify the environmental impacts of the part and is expected to be published next spring. While the task at hand becomes increasingly urgent, with AM uniquely equipped to deliver if we can get it right, Vandyck believes that urgency might actually be just what’s needed. “The climate crisis is an existential threat. It comes with a sense of urgency that forces us to skip incremental steps forward. Instead, it requires us to drastically rethink the way we develop and create products. And when we dare to think from this bigger perspective, we start to truly innovate and create room for new technologies. Such a climate of radical innovation presents opportunities for AM.”

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he governments are debating legislation, the public are making lifestyle changes, the activists continue to protest, but what are corporations doing to address the climate emergency? Increasingly, it’s appointing people like Rosa Coblens to positions like VP of Sustainability. As one of the pioneers of 3D printing technology, Stratasys likes to consider itself a leader in the additive manufacturing space, the leader on the polymer side, and it has decided it should also demonstrate leadership on the sustainability front. In the space of two weeks earlier this summer, it joined the Additive Manufacturer Green Trade Association (AMGTA) as a founding member, and promoted Coblens from a communications role to head up its sustainability efforts. The aim, after much talk about 3D printing’s sustainability benefits, is to look deeper at the Environmental, Social and Governance and start providing the evidence to those claims.

“We’re not looking to share a message, we’re looking to do,” begins Coblens. “A lot of what we know about the value of additive manufacturing doesn’t have data behind it. We say that we know it’s less wasteful – you only use the material you need to create the part, it’s by definition more sustainable – but we don’t have the research around that, we don’t have the specific data points and we can’t improve year on year because we didn’t create the baseline.”

In her new role, Coblens will lead efforts in achieving a series of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) relating to responsible consumption and production; industry, innovation and infrastructure; climate action; and quality education. It will see Stratasys reduce waste and reuse materials; promote inclusive research and make information more accessible; reduce the company’s carbon footprint; and develop education and learning opportunities around sustainability.

As Coblens gets to work, the driving force for these initiatives has come from above, in particular CEO Dr Yoav Zeif, but in landing on these SDGs, it was the employees who directed the company’s initial focuses by responding to a series of surveys. They too, per Coblens, share the leadership’s passion for these efforts. “I think that they believe 3D printing is a solution that, in terms of climate, can really change the world,” she says. “It can bring less inventories, digital iterations before you print them, there’s so many savings in adopting and adapting this technology that I think it’s why our workforce wakes up every day, because they know what they’re developing is part of this… it’s more of an evolution than a revolution.”

This evolution will see Stratasys set up projects around its SDGs, implement key performance indicators to track progress, establish forums to foster discussion, and allocate budgets to support the endeavours. Coblens describes it as a ‘serious undertaking’ at the company and hopes the work she and her team carry out could contribute to the creation of best practices for the additive industry. Such is the nature of AM technology, there’s recognition that the processes can never be perfect, but the reality of the situation is that Stratasys and co need to do all they can. “We’re moving into manufacturing. It’s resource intensive, we’re not going to be a green company, we’re not selling a green product,” Coblens says, “but we’re making a commitment to always make improvements, to impact climate in a positive way while we do this.”

Such is the value proposition of additive manufacturing and all it can offer – from lightweight designs to digital inventories and localised production – Coblens believes that more people need to be appointed to roles like hers within the AM space. As the application of 3D printing grows to include more production parts, so too does the responsibility of those who provide the technology platforms. “Sustainability and profitability, they work together, meaning that the more that we build our business, the more impact that we can have on each of these ESG elements,” Coblens says. “The stronger the companies are, the more responsibility we have to introduce mindful manufacturing, where you’re thinking about what you’re creating before you go into the process of creating it. We’re not just trying to incrementally change manufacturing, we’re probably going to shift the face of what manufacturing looks like over the next decade, so do it with a deep thought process about the people around you in the room, in the innovation process, the communities you serve, your customers and their needs.”

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SOLUTIONS BY DESIGN WORDS: SAM DAVIES

verybody always has a tendency to exaggerate their industry in terms of importance, but frankly, I think the invention of additive manufacturing and the factoring in of algorithmic, AI-based design is at least as big as the invention of the microchip.”

Hyperganic CEO Lin Kayser is back talking about the potential he sees in burgeoning design and manufacturing technologies. We are a few months on from when he last spoke to TCT, where he referenced the ‘huge shift’ required to turn engineers onto AI-based design and where he outlined why he thought it important that such a shift take place. As each day passes, the climate crisis becomes more pertinent and so too does Kayser’s demand for design innovation. In the microchip, he sees a product type that has transformed the computing sector over the last few decades, and as it did, companies were forced to explore algorithmic design. Through Hyperganic, this is what Kayser is hoping to drive for the rest of manufacturing. What motivated him to pursue his Hyperganic venture was Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, where Kayser's eyes were opened to the fact that reducing, reusing and recycling wasn’t going to be enough to tackle the climate crisis now facing us. We are around 15 years on now and Kayser has brought a software solution to market that – he believes – will enable significant change to the way products are developed. And yet, he’s still regularly pursuing the insights from climate activists. More recently, he watched a speech given by Christiana Figueres – renowned for her invovlement in the Paris Agreement – at the 2018 DLD Conference. It was further reinforcement that technologists will be key in addressing climate change and she’s ‘stubbornly optimistic’ that they will. So is Kayser. “When you talk to young people, a lot are depressed and they’re saying, ‘Everything is going down the drain, my future is going to be less enjoyable than your past.’ And I don’t think that’s true,” he tells TCT. “I think we have the capabilities and additive plays

“The solution to climate change lies in industrial innovation.” a huge role in that to create something that is quite positive. I saw the invention of the smartphone. If you go back 10, 20, 30 years, there’s no resemblance to what it looked like before. It’s incredible how much has evolved

there. If we can move general manufacturing, design and engineering of objects to that paradigm, all bets are off how the next 10-20 years are going to look like and that’s exactly what we need.” Of course, additive manufacturing has long touted the design freedom capabilities it possesses to enact more sustainable products. Some have perhaps exaggerated that potential, or failed to mention how much energy is used and material wasted throughout the entire workflow. While efforts are now being made in the AM sector to ensure additive workflows are as sustainable as they can be, Kayser suggests more will needed to be done. “It’s not about lightweighting or making the supply chain shorter – this is a great start, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not going to be the significant part,” Kayser suggests. “The design innovation part, these rapid cycles, is what is going to help us create objects and machines that can help us solve these crises. If you create completely new products, completely new breakthroughs in engineering, that’s how you get to [carbon] zero.” AI-based design – often in conjunction with additive manufacturing – is how Kayser thinks that can be achieved. Using algorithms, he believes a new level of design complexity can be reached; design cycles can be significantly sped up; and knowledge can be more easily shared across industries. Kayser’s vision for the future of design and manufacturing is one that leans heavily on innovation and on manufacturers being prepared to change the way they do things. But, as he expects to hear at the upcoming UN Climate Conference in Glasgow, it’s imperative that they do. “I think [design innovation] is probably the decisive element,” Kayser finishes. “I can only quote Christiana Figueres. She said that the fourth industrial revolution is the one thing that can solve this, nothing else. I don’t think we should forget about all the other things, lifestyle changes etc, there’s lot of things that can help us become more sustainable. But the solution lies in industrial innovation. I think it is probably the most critical component.”

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n the summer of 2017, Formlabs announced its plans to replicate the success it had in bringing desktop Stereolithography (SLA) platforms to market with Selective Laser Sintering (SLS).

It was a significant development that would see one of the 3D printing industry’s biggest brands join the likes of Sinterit and Sintratec in supplying an SLS system in the sub-$20k price range. Four years on, the Fuse 1 – as with the multiple other ‘office-friendly’ SLS platforms – is now wellestablished on the market. So, where do the opportunities lie for the technology, what are its limitations and are the machines really suitable for the office? MACHINIST MOTIVATION Though Formlabs’ entry into smallformat SLS captured the attention in 2017, the pioneers of the ‘office-friendly SLS’ movement came from Sintratec and Sinterit two years earlier. The former brought to market the Sintratec Kit machine (and has since launched the S1 and S2 systems), while the latter launched its Lisa platform (and has since followed up with the Lisa Pro and NILS 480). Sinterit was founded by a trio of engineers – including Chief Technology Officer Michał Grzymała-Moszczyński – to address some of the problems it had identified in the design and manufacturing space. The solutions to those problems have

come in the form of the Lisa for prototyping and education and the Lisa Pro for functional prototypes and research, both of which fall under the $20k price banner, with the recently launched NILS 480 addressing industrial needs. In doing so, the company has already racked up more than 1,000 installations. “Our goal was to make Selective Laser Sintering technology available to a wide range of users,” Grzymała-Moszczyński tells TCT. “As engineers, we were trying to answer the needs of other engineers, working on commercial projects, as well as science. Soon, we discovered that SLS is a missing puzzle for other branches, from medicine to research, automotive to electronics. It was the right direction. As you can see, other companies followed us designing their own compact SLS systems.” Though it took Formlabs sometime longer to execute its SLS R&D efforts, the company has made significant strides this year, attracting the interest of Brose, Hypertherm, Partial Hand Solutions and more after the launch in January. Starting from around $18,499, the Fuse 1 is said to be designed for minimal upkeep and uses patent-pending Surface Armor technology

WORDS: SAM DAVIES

to combat the ‘orange peel’ surface texture problems often associated with SLS processes. It is also supported by a materials portfolio that includes PA 12 and PA 11, as well as the PreForm print preparation software, which Jacob Wilson at Additive-X – a Formlabs reseller – suggests is a key selling point because of industry’s familiarity with the products. Such familiarity has certainly seen Fuse 1 users put the machine to good use per the company’s Engineering Business Product Lead Kathy Bui. “The type of customers that we’ve gotten for the Fuse has been largely for end use parts,” she explains. “We have a decent amount of healthcare customers who are using this for prosthesis and orthotics and then we also have people who are making limited run production of parts. We’re seeing more and more people use SLS for actual production and not just prototyping.” ‘MORE THAN A MAYBE’ Despite the launch of the NILS 480 representing a step towards more ‘industrial’ applications, one of Sinterit’s most renowned users is Rawlplug – the company known for developing the world’s first wall plug – who has deployed the machine to meet its prototyping needs. Having previously outsourced their 3D printing jobs to third parties, the company has reduced

SHOWN: PARTS PRINTED WITH THE FORMABS FUSE 1

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Precision Parts Fast invested in the Fuse 1 because of its ability to produce complex geometries and intricate features, as well as its suitability for small-to-mid batch and high mix production runs for customers in the electronics, consumer goods, and manufacturing sectors. This, the vendors will feel, is where their machines can be of use to service providers.

SHOWN: THE FORMLABS FUSE 1 MACHINE

the lead time for its prototype parts from two weeks to two days after purchasing the LISA Pro machine. Streamlining design cycles was among the foremost aims when developing or adopting these small-format SLS machines. The driver was taking the high-quality capabilities and material options of traditional SLS and scaling them down into a smaller package that was affordable and ‘suitable for the office.’ This would allow designers to sit at the desk, model parts in CAD and rapidly prototype parts on a machine next to their workstation. 3DPRINTUK CEO Nick Allen, however, doesn’t believe that to be practical with SLS. “The term ‘office-friendly’ should really be seen as ‘workshop friendly’,” he says. “I wouldn’t want one in an office – the same goes for other non-SLS 3D printers which we’ve experienced in the past, none of them have been fun to sit next to. With SLS, the big one is dust and no matter how ‘dust friendly’ or ‘controlled with laminar air flow’ the machines are, the dust still gets everywhere.”

“Having in-house SLS 3D printers is a huge step into productivity.”

Having expanded 3DPRINTUK’s fleet of SLS systems to nine last year, Allen has been keeping a close eye on the release of smaller-format machines from the likes of Formlabs, Sinterit, Sintratec and Wematter. He’s not yet felt compelled to invest in the technology for his service bureau. But Colorado-based Precision Parts Fast has. “We did extensive research on various [smaller SLS] platforms, and we liked the Fuse 1 and user interface the most,” offers Precision Parts Fast President & COO Brian Korbelik. “First, it is properly priced for the value you receive, and it is easy to operate. Secondly, it has a fairly fast print time. Although the lasers are not especially powerful or quick, we are able to stack parts in the chamber to save our customers time and cost. Also, the build chamber is fairly large for a smaller format printer.” “They do not have the capacity/ speed that the industrial machines have,” Allen explains of his stance. “Some fag packet maths on the Fuse 1 vs an EOS P110 got me a build time of 100 hours printing on a Fuse 1 to match 24 hours of build for a P110, so pound for pound the P110 is the better option if you are doing high volumes. That’s not to say that the Fuse 1 is not a good machine, it’s more to say that if you’re a bureau, it’s not the right choice.”

“I think that it is beneficial for service bureau to look into some of the smaller options because of capex upfront, first of all, and then second, for a lot of service bureau, you want to think about incremental scalability and capacity,” Bui says. “If you buy an industrial printer, but it’s uptime is only 5%, a lot of capacity is going to waste. If you buy a printer like the Fuse 1, you can scale incrementally as your demand increases over time.” The same applies for design and manufacturing brands, where the vendors of small-format SLS believe there is now greater potential to bring 3D printing in-house, whether it be for prototyping or more. Being able to process nylon materials, per Bui, is among the main reasons why users have been able to ‘jump directly to end-use parts’ with the Fuse 1, while she has also seen Brose demonstrate the ability to produce jigs and fixtures ‘just in time’ by bringing small-format SLS under its roof. Allen, meanwhile, suggests that companies spending more than £25k a year on SLS parts - £50 if they require finishing – should be exploring the potential of insourcing the technology, while Wilson notes the cost and timesaving benefits of using the same machine to prototype and produce parts can be significant. Sinterit suggest that users can achieve a return on investment within 40 days with their newest machine and claim that ‘most of the world’s car producers’ have a Lisa or Lisa Pro system in their labs already. As such, they can’t comprehend a future whereby manufacturers aren’t utilising small-format SLS. “Having in-house SLS 3D printers is a huge step into productivity,” says Grzymała-Moszczyński. “It saves money, time and sometimes it is crucial if you don’t want to share your project with third-party companies. It is more than a considerable option. I cannot imagine that, in a few years, a serious design or manufacturing company would not have a well-implemented SLS technology in-house and retain any competitiveness on the market.”

SHOWN: PARTS PRINTED WITH THE SINTERIT LISA

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REINVENTING CASUAL WORDS: SAM DAVIES

wed to its origins in serving the US military, its claims of ‘inventing casual’ back in the 1950s and its ability to attract the custom of David Bowie, Tom Hanks and Sharon Stone, durability, comfort and style have always been the focus for Hush Puppies. And despite the global footwear brand’s VP/GM Kate Pinkham recently hinting at a fresh approach to ‘reinvent casual’ over the coming decades, those requirements remain top of mind for the company. Pinkham made the remark about reinventing casual when commenting on the company’s excitement to collaborate with Voxel8, the Massachusetts-based 3D printing firm recently acquired by Kornit Digital, whose high-speed industrial inkjet technology is used to develop products in the apparel and textiles industries.

By the time Voxel8 was acquired by Kornit Digital, its work with Hush Puppies was already well underway. As with other partnerships between footwear brands and 3D printing providers, the Hush Puppies collaboration is exploiting Voxel8’s ability to print lattice structures.

“3D printing is rapidly evolving as a viable footwear technology,” Louk Schulten, Product Development Director at Hush Puppies, told TCT. “Voxel8 developed, patented and owns the printer-heads that make it possible to print our 3D lattice. It is unique to them and now to Hush Puppies to be able to create and produce these lattices. No other company in the world can produce these.”

FINE TUNING In particular, the focus is on midsole inserts, with the lattices being ‘precisely tuned’ to ensure enhanced shock absorption. Using Voxel8-printed latticed midsole inserts, there is no deviation in shock absorption and four times less thickness change after 100,000 cycles when compared to traditional foams. This means that Hush Puppies shoes fitted with these 3D printed midsole inserts can match the comfort of existing footwear products with a significant increase in longevity. “For a consumer, when they buy a pair of Hush Puppies, they would like to make sure that the comfort they feel on day one is the comfort they feel a year later,” Friedrich von Gottberg, VP Additive Manufacturing Textiles at Kornit Digital (formerly Voxel8

CEO), said. “And the problem with traditional foams is they essentially collapse and bottom out over a period of time. So, they may feel comfortable in the store, but give yourself a few months, they don’t feel so comfortable.” “The Voxel8 lattice provides a cushioning platform with an infinite number of options to customise underfoot cushioning and rebound/ energy return that Air, Gel and Boost [other footwear cushioning types] cannot provide,” explained Pete Dillon, Senior Product Developer at Hush Puppies. Voxel8’s approach to addressing these issues has been to take advantage of the latticing capabilities and materials portfolio of its ActiveLab 3D printing offering. The company’s technology leans on the ActiveMix printhead which enables ‘on the fly formulation of high-performance elastomers’, whereby the material properties of the printed structures can be changed by ‘multiple orders of magnitude.’ ActiveMix supports both extrusion and spray deposition and is capable of controlling the precision dosing of elastomeric raw materials to generate the aforementioned material property changes across a single print with one material set.

“Sustainability goes hand in hand with customisation and personalisation.”

SHOWN: FOOTWEAR PRODUCT DEVELOPED WITH VOXEL8 TECHNOLOGY

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CONSUMER PRODUCTS The company works with highperformance materials, such as polyurethane elastomers, and uses its ActiveMix printhead to adjust the properties of the polymer in accordance with the demands of the application. In terms of hardness, for example, Voxel8 prototyped a series of latticed midsole inserts for Hush Puppies ranging from a softer 50 Shore A hardness to a stiffer 85 Shore A hardness, before assessing each iteration in compression and rebound tests. This ability to alter the material properties via the ActiveMix printhead is compounded by Voxel8’s ability to also tweak the lattice structure to impact on performance characteristics like comfort and longevity. “You start off with having the best materials,” von Gottberg explained, “but then, more importantly, you can change the chemical composition of the lattice structure as you’re printing it, so the bottom of the lattice can be different from the top, the left, the right, the middle, etc. Hence, you’ve got another handle to vary properties and, as a result, you can tune or customise what you’re looking for from the lattice you create. This ability to tune and change chemical composition while you’re printing is really unique.” SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY While demonstrating these capabilities through its work with Hush Puppies, Voxel8 has been developing prototypes locally within days and hours, allowing the footwear brand to review the designs, test them, generate feedback and start the next cycle of iterations much more efficiently than it typically would. In the past, Hush Puppies, like many other fashion brands, has prototyped and manufactured products exclusively in Asia, leading to design and production cycles of up to 18 months. With Voxel8 proving out the logic of prototyping locally, the idea for Hush Puppies to onshore at some point in the future is certainly on the agenda. For the latticed midsole inserts, production will ramp up at Voxel8’s Somerville, MA facility before expanding to Asia for volume manufacturing. But Voxel8 believes there is huge potential for brands like Hush Puppies to begin manufacturing products locally again.

SHOWN: THE VOXEL8 ACTIVEMIX PRINTHEAD IN ACTION

“Sustainability goes hand in hand with customisation and personalisation,” von Gottberg said. “A lot of times, when you make apparel, about 30% of it is thrown away, because it never actually meets the demand of the consumer: fashion trends change, etc. But, if you’re making something for a particular individual, guess what? You’re making it for a person who is going to use it and hence you’re reducing a lot of waste, so they’re all intertwined. And if you do it locally, you can deliver within days or hours, which is the holy grail. That’s actually [another] important element, because as they onshore, customisation and personalisation become real. It’s no use personalising something and having to wait six weeks. If you want to personalise it, you need to do it quickly. The brands are going to drive it and it will take time, but eventually they’re going to get to this personalisation element.” This was a driving factor when Kornit Digital began to consider acquiring Voxel8. Over the last few years, the company has identified a series of societal trends – accelerated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic – that point towards a need for the on-demand manufacture of customised or personalised goods in a more sustainable way. Kornit Digital CTO Kobi Mann explained that the company needed a complimentary technology to its existing inkjet solutions in order to facilitate that and become the ‘on-demand operation system for sustainable manufacturing.’

accuracy’ that ‘create less waste and give each piece a specific function and purpose.’ The company is also now relying less on tier 2 suppliers, further exploring customised footwear products, and believes it can compete with the biggest footwear brands around. “Voxel8 gives Hush Puppies the ability to address needs and customise footwear on and under the foot without moulds, cutting dies and MOQs [minimum order quantities],” noted Dillon, “allowing for things like different under foot cushioning for men’s and women’s or per size; multi density cushioning with no adhesives; and upper designs that reduce the number of materials used, saving the ecosystem while providing unlimited options in colour and physical properties.” “[3D printing] gives Hush Puppies a competitive edge and the ability to propel the brand forward to the forefront of practical and applicable shoe component development,” Schulten added. “In a matter of fact, it puts Hush Puppies at par or ahead of brands like Adidas, Nike and New Balance who all have shown interest in the same 3D printed shoe components.”

In Hush Puppies, it has a partner that is already seeing the fruits of this ambition. By aligning with Voxel8, it is enjoying the ability to print parts with a ‘high degree of SHOWN: VOXEL8'S LATTICING CAPABILITIES

Through the work Voxel8 and Kornit Digital do in the apparel industries, they are aware that while most brands will continue to manufacture out in Asia, there is an interest in onshoring. Though it will take time to transfer supply chains from one continent to another, Voxel8 and Kornit Digital believe it will help to significantly reduce the 18-month design and production cycles, open the door for customised products and result in a more sustainable way of manufacturing.

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CRAFTING LA When this (slightly) Lara Croftobsessed editor got wind of a new collectable being developed to celebrate Tomb Raider’s 25th anniversary, the second most immediate thought after ‘I’ve got to have one of those’ was ‘Surely, they used 3D printing somewhere?’

ure enough, in a short video from renowned special effects and prop company Wētā Workshop showing the development of the ¼ scale statue titled ‘Lara Croft The Lost Valley’, Senior 3D Printer Operator David Duke explained how the technology was used to bring this dynamic model of the iconic video game adventurer to life. Speaking to TCT, Duke shared how his role within Wētā Workshop collectibles segment functions as a “translator from digital to physical”, working with in-house sculptors, modelmaking and moulding/ casting teams to figure out how a digital 3D asset can be broken down into pieces for manufacturing and assembly, layout the build platforms to get the best print results and deliver precise representations of the artists' original sculpture. Here, Duke talks us through the development process, the tools used and where 3D printing makes sense. TCT: Can you talk about how long Wētā Workshop has been using 3D printing for model making and what machines you’re currently using? Is there any 3D scanning involved? DD: We have been utilising 3D printing since before I arrived at Wētā Workshop back in 2009 but it's only been an integral part of our pipeline since about 2013. That’s when we got our first reliable in-house machine. Before that we were using a lot more hand-crafted and subtractive manufacturing techniques and only outsourcing parts for 3D printing if it was necessary. But once we got our in-house machine, which was a Stratasys Eden 350V - it changed our manufacturing pipeline completely. Now we run a large range of 3D printers - mostly SLA and FDM. For our Masters Collection editions, we use pretty much exclusively Formlabs printers of which we have Form 2s, Form 3s and Form 3Ls for different purposes. We have scanning available and use it when we need to capture an element off a sculpture or a hero prop. But mostly, if the collectible is being sculpted digitally, we'll be using digital assets that we produce or are given to us by the client.

038 / www.tctmagazine.com / 29.5

TCT: Can you talk about the inspiration behind the Lara Croft The Lost Valley design? How did you move from initial sketches to 3D?

DD: The initial concept sketches came from our senior designer, Gus Hunter, who experimented with a variety of poses and compositions. From there Yorke Yu, one of our sculptors, created rough 3D sketches of the strongest pose options. These were then workshopped by our lead sculptor - Gary Hunt, Richard Taylor (Creative Lead and Co-Owner of Wētā Workshop), and the team to work out the best overall composition. From there, Gary started on what would become the final high-resolution collectible, working out finer details like the muscle definition and fabric folds. TCT: Can you talk us through how 3D printing was used in the development process? DD: Generally, if we're starting off with digital assets it makes the most sense to continue to sculpt that collectible digitally. And if we're sculpting it digitally, then we know from the beginning that the result will be printed. Both 3D sculpting and hand sculpting have their advantages. And I guess on the 3D side those advantages would be having more control over really fine details and the ability to make quick changes. Many times, characters will have specific texture that is applied to their costume and in a digital pipeline, you can dial those textures up and down as necessary just with a slider. While sculpting is taking place, we usually print texture tests of different parts to make sure the texture is reading properly in the final print. And from an engineering standpoint, working with a 3D model allows us to figure out things like where the armature will sit inside the sculpture, make changes to it quickly if any issues come up, and have it be made at the same time the collectible is being printed. There's also an advantage to being able to see inside the sculpture and having control over how much it will be hollowed out to save on weight - something that is important when you have a character leaping in the air. TCT: It’s a large statue with a lot of detail – were there any challenges in engineering the design to ensure it worked? DD: The whole piece was a big challenge! Not just because of the scale and amount of detail but also because of the gravity-defying nature of the pose. Suspending one character off another character with minimal points of contact is only possible with some clever engineering. Luckily, we have many minds to figure out these kinds of things. It was a big collaboration across sculpting, printing, modelmaking and moulding/casting to ensure we not only captured the dynamism of the sculpture, but that it was also structural and easy to assemble.

CONSUMER PRODUCTS

ARA CROFT WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

SHOWN: LARA CROFT THE LOST VALLEY TOOK AROUND 2,800 HOURS TO DEVELOP

“Our in-house 3D printer changed our manufacturing pipeline completely.”

SHOWN: SENIOR 3D PRINTER OPERATOR DAVID DUKE REMOVES A 3D PRINTED PROTOTYPE FROM A FORM 3L

SHOWN: THE 3D MODEL IS BROKEN DOWN INTO PIECES FOR MANUFACTURING AND ASSEMBLY

We used lots of big block keys for supporting the characters - basically as big as possible without being noticeable. The piece is 1/4 scale and at the time we didn't have our large format Form 3L printers, so it was a major challenge to cut the model into pieces that were small enough to fit on our printers. In total there ended up being 65 different parts that had to be printed and assembled in modelmaking with the joins and seamlines for each of those parts needing to be figured out and hidden away. TCT: How long was the overall development process for this piece? DD: From concept to final painted prototypes, around 2,800 hours - over a 10-month period. TCT: Can you share how 3D technologies are being leveraged alongside more traditional processes? Where do more traditional methods make sense? DD: There are a variety of factors which determine whether a collectible is handsculpted or created with 3D modelling; time constraints, asset availability, and the artist's schedule are just a few. 3D modelling has a much more involved pipeline with more intermediate steps - for instance, once a collectible is approved a common misconception is that it goes right to the printer. In reality, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to prepare that model to exist in reality - all the interactions of its parts need to be assessed and subtracted from one another, those parts need to be hollowed and keyed so they will re-assemble correctly once they are off the printer. There is a lot that goes in before you hit print, not to mention the work that goes into cleaning up those prints to a standard acceptable for moulding and casting once

they are off the printer. Traditional sculpting bypasses many of those steps - once the sculpture is approved it goes directly to moulding and casting. However, if a lastminute scale change is asked for - that's a lot harder to do that in a physical sculpture than in 3D, so there are trade-offs with each. If we're starting with 3D assets then it makes the most sense in terms of time to incorporate those assets into a 3D model. It also means we have a higher chance of getting talent approval if we have used scan data of the actual person or model. But a lot of times we'll use an amalgamation of both methods. It's more about using the strengths of each method rather than choosing one over another. TCT: Given the low volumes of such collectables – 950 in this case – is Wētā Workshop exploring 3D printing for final products or is it primarily a prototyping tool? DD: We primarily use it as a tool for prototyping. Even at low volumes of production runs, 3D printing isn't really viable yet for output of final product for a variety of reasons. The durability of the 3D printed resins still doesn't match that of castable resins, plus it's much more expensive. But probably the biggest point of difference is the speed of production. It's much faster to create a mould for an object and cast out of it over and over (and a lot more reliable too) than it is to wait hours or sometimes days for just one part to be printed. Until printing gets much faster and more reliable, I don't see it being used to replace moulding/casting for final manufacture.

29.5 / www.tctmagazine.com / 039

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CONSUMER PRODUCTS

THE NEXE WORLD WORDS: SAM DAVIES

How 3D printing is helping to develop more sustainable coffee pods.

ixty 3D printed parts rest on a pegboard on a wall inside a Greater Vancouver office. It is the visual representation of how far NEXE Innovations has come in five years as it strived to commercialise its flagship coffee pod product. From one part to the next, there’s an almost unnoticeable difference, and then every so often, ‘eureka’. NEXE was founded by Darren Footz, previously of Granville Island Coffee Company, to bring to market a plant-based, fully compostable coffee pod to combat the amount of such products we pour into landfill every year. While it moved through its design validation phase, in 3D printing the company saw a prototyping method that, through the use of PLA material, would align with these values. With every wall thickness tweak, the previous prototype was naturally recycled, while the alternative might have seen them dispose of tonnes worth of injection moulds as it moved through the 60 iterations. “Every time we need a new half tonne block of steel [for example] – if we want to do that 60 times, and then just throw them in the trash because the prototype didn’t work, that’s very wasteful,” NEXE Chief Science Officer Zac Hudson told TCT. “Whereas with the printing process, the only waste is the compostable parts that you can then throw on the compost.”

in April 2021 and a smaller Nespresso pod three months later. While Hudson doubts the technology will ever be used for production by NEXE because of the volumes it will be working at – 10-20 million pods per year currently and 220 million per year by 2023 – he does describe 3D printing as a ‘fantastic prototyping technology.’ The 30-minute turnaround time for a single prototype is ‘quite exceptional’ and NEXE struggles to isolate any real pain points. In going from the prototype parts to the end-use pods, Hudson says the biggest

“With the printing process, the only waste is the compostable parts.”

The more typically revered benefits of 3D printed prototypes – time and money savings – haven’t gone unnoticed at NEXE either. Instead of ordering a new stainless-steel mould every time a new design iteration is needed, NEXE simply adjusted the CAD design and was able to print a new part inside 30 minutes. This, Hudson projects, would save the company weeks at a time, and over the course of the five years, sped the product development process up by a factor of five. It has become a tried and trusted technique for NEXE, who commercialised the NEXE pod

difference is the mechanical properties because the PLA material used generates a ‘rock hard plastic’, and the specifically formulated resin that is used in the injection moulding of the final product provides the flexibility required to be used by the consumer. “The one thing [3D printing] doesn’t let us test that well is punturability,” Hudson elaborated. “In a brewer, there’s a needle that pierces the pod and for our commercial coffee pod, they puncture very well, whereas if you just print with PLA it shatters. It lets us test the fit and the seal and some of the filling and dosing procedures, but to test the piercing we really need an actual formulation. The ability to use bespoke resins in a 3D printer would be pretty advantageous… It would allow you to prototype more closely to your finished product.” But until that’s possible, NEXE is progressing well. 3D printing is allowing the company to explore ‘advanced pod designs’ that may have ‘a functional ingredient or an ingredient that mixes differently with what’s inside’ and expand the types of beverages able to be made with a brewing machine. The technology will also allow it to continue pushing forward with its coffee pods. NEXE currently operates a fleet of around half a dozen Fused Deposition Modelling 3D printers to prototype its products, with its manufacturing processes also recently being reshored to further enhance the company’s workflow efficiency and sustainability. In this market, it’s needed. If all the coffee pods the world consumer every year were lined up in a row, it would wrap around the Earth 15 times. And it is believed that between 40-60 billion plastic coffee pods are disposed of every year. “It’s about 100,000 pods a minute,” Hudson said. “It’s a terrifying amount of plastic.” A terrifying amount of plastic NEXE is looking to reduce. How quickly it succeeds will, in large part, be down to 3D printing.

SHOWN: THE NEXE POD BREAKS DOWN IN AS LITTLE AS 35 DAYS

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through the doors

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE WORDS: SAM DAVIES

the customers’ requirements. It is not uncommon for EOS’ biggest clients to insist on checking every machine as part of their order.

SHOWN: EOS' MAISACH FACILITY

During the FAT, customer applications will be printed on the machine to allow them to assess whether the printed product meets their requirements before the machine is allowed to be shipped. EOS would typically see around 50 customer visits for the FAT per year but set up a live stream for customers during the pandemic to ensure such quality control could continue. Thankfully for Birner, there are rarely any disputes once they have got to this stage and the machines can be sent out the door to their clients without issue.

arkus Birner takes 45 minutes out of his Monday shift to talk to TCT. He is the Head of EOS' Maisach facility, where the German 3D printing company completes the final assembly of its metal and polymer additive manufacturing systems. Owed to EOS’ lofty ambitions, Birner and his team are hard at work. He stands on the factory floor where the vast array of EOS 3D printing equipment is put together, tested and sent out to customers. Here, there are 4,000 square metres dedicated to the production and training areas, 2,000 for the warehouse and additional space for measuring rooms, powder rooms and workshops. Currently, there are 40 pitches where EOS staff work to assemble the final elements of the machines, adding the lasers and scanners, installing the software and calibrating the system. The EOS team at Maisach currently work standard shifts from Monday to Friday, amounting to a total of 40 hours per week. For smaller machines, like the P1 or M1, the assembly can be completed within six working days, while larger platforms like the M4 need as many as 20 working days to be assembled. With EOS outlining its intention to build 1,000 3D printing systems per year – to add to the 3,000+ it already has out in the field – Birner and his team are set

Those clients include the likes of Audi, Airbus and Siemens, and with the demand for EOS 3D printing systems showing no signs of slowing down, neither can the team at Maisach.

SHOWN: EOS' M 400-4 MACHINE

to be increasingly busy moving forward. “We are prepared,” he tells TCT. “We have enough space, we have not enough employees, but that’s okay. When we want to [increase the number of staff], that’s very simple.” EOS has a forecast for Birner and his team to monitor the demand for machines over six-month periods, allowing them to remain flexible as they manage their workload. While EOS’ smaller format 3D printing systems are assembled and stored in inventory, the larger platforms are assembled on-demand and must undergo Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT) before being shipped to the customer. The Factory Acceptance Test is a significant part of what Birner and his team do. Once the core components of the machine – lasers, scanners, software installation, etc – have been added to the machine – and the machine’s parameters have been optimised to produce the customer’s product – products like the M4 are put through the FAT process to make sure the platform will meet

“We have 40 pitches for the machines and now we have 30 commissioning,” says Birner. “The first step is that we hire more employees, and the next step is to get a second shift. [With the M4, for example,] we have 20 days, so four weeks. You can reduce it to two weeks when you have two shifts.” The Maisach facility isn’t just a centre for EOS to assemble and manufacture its polymer and metal 3D printing systems, it’s also where the company is developing its AM Cell automated production workflow. AM Cell is EOS’ vision for the future of additive manufacturing, where equipment is connected to ensure IP is protected and workflows are traceable, and production is carried out locally. Within EOS’ AM Cell concept, installation qualification, operational qualification and performance qualification are all features, with the information generated being used to set up a digital twin of the production workflow. The user has complete control over the data moving through this workflow

29.5 / www.tctmagazine.com / 043

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through the doors

“With more processes, with more simulations, it’s getting better and better.” SHOWN: MAISACH PRODUCTION FACILITY

and EOS believes it will allow manufacturers to get more usage out of their additive machines. “Automatization, shared modules or other components gives you the better ability of higher productivity of your machine and the software that you need,” Dr Marius Lakomiec, EOS’ Team Manager of Digital AM Solutions, says. “Like you have it with Oqton, Siemens, EOSCONNECT or other pieces of software, bring them together and then you have got a nice solution that brings higher productivity, better overall equipment efficiency and lower costs with a higher range of quality.”

EOS, then, has a lot of work to be getting on with. As it continues to prove its AM Cell concept, the demand for machines is likely to increase. As more machines are launched, assembled and shipped, those buying the printers will want to hear more about how an automated production cell can help maximise their application of the technology. “We are still learning, still growing with each project,” Lakomiec finishes. “It’s not that this is perfect, but this is the beauty of it: with more processes, with more simulations, it’s getting better and better. This is [just] the starting point.”

During the virtual tour, Lakomiec uses a ‘best case simulation’ to demonstrate the proficiencies of its automated AM Cell. On one side, a manual deployment of 3x M400-4 machines operated by one employee in 5x eight-hour shifts a week would see a 46% utilisation rate, equating to 4000h/machine for the year. On the other, the AM Cell operating the same number of M400-4 machines in the same shifts would see a 79% utilisation, equating to 6900h/machine. With the manual set-up, 465 jobs could be carried out per year at a machine cost of €325/ part, yielding a payback period of 2.65 years. With the automated set-up, 800 jobs could be carried out per year at a machine cost of €200/part, yielding a payback period of 1.89 years. Lakomiec concedes that not every customer will require an automated workflow, and EOS’ biggest challenge is to understand what software and hardware technologies its customers are using to schedule and manage their production processes. While many still use simple Excel files to run their workflows, he expects production setups to become increasingly more complex, which can be better handled with concepts like the AM Cell. “In my 12 years being part of additive,” Lakomiec said, “I did hundreds of calculations, but I never had the chance to have these kinds of sophisticated calculations as my team is doing now with our digital twins. I was not even aware that these possibilities would be out there to have these tonnes of data, terabytes of data, crunch them and then get these findings.” It is still early days for EOS’ AM Cell concept. That said, and despite the pandemic, EOS worked on more than a dozen AM Cell projects with 11 customers in the EMEA region and six in North America in 2020. Eight projects used polymer technology, nine used metal, and they were deployed in a range of industries, including aerospace (3), automotive (3), consumer goods (5) and medical (1). The EOS M400 platform in a shared modules set-up is the most requested machine, followed by the EOS P770.

Stand

H28 29.5 / www.tctmagazine.com / 045

EPP_202105_AZ_TCT-European_192x136_3DP-Infinam-ST_RZ_ZW.indd 1

05.05.21 10:02

EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

NEW

6K Additive President Frank Roberts on giving scrap metal a new home in AM, new materials and sustainability.

“6K Additive was founded to focus on production.” SHOWN: NON-ERODING THROAT INSERT FOR A SOLID ROCKET MOTOR NOZZLE MADE WITH 6K SPHERICAL TUNGSTEN-RHENIUM FOR QUADRUS CORPORATION

TCT: Last year, we had 6K on the cover of TCT talking about scrapping the belief that AM is inherently sustainable. Why is that such a common misconception? FR: I think it's a misconception because it really pertains specifically when you start to look at some of the unique alloys like titanium, for example, where you've got an alloy that wants to pick up oxygen, it's going to pick up oxygen every time it goes through the printer. Eventually, and in some cases without very many cycles on the powder, it becomes out of spec. The industry typically looks as that material as if it's scrap and there's really no home for that material, it will fall out of the cycle for the printer and essentially it really can't be remelted back into titanium. What we're doing with our technology, and we've proven this to be very effective, is we're able to take that used titanium and we're able to put it through our process, we're able to pull the oxygen back down to within spec, re-spheroidize it in the UniMelt and ultimately get back to prime premium product. The whole premise here is recycling metals that maybe otherwise didn't have a home and not only are we able to get them back in spec, but it's actually a better product than it started out to be.

TCT: One of the key benefits of 6K’s technology is the ability to produce new AM materials. Can you give us any examples of the kinds of opportunities this opens up? FR: We talked a lot in the last year about our capabilities with high entropy alloys, because we have a very unique process and we're able to mechanically alloy particles together, and spheroidize. And because of the technology and how we deploy it, we're able to spheroidize much beyond the capability of traditional melt. So there's a lot of high entropy alloy work that we're starting to embark on with specific customers for aerospace applications. There are some medical applications, the titanium nitride is a great example of a product that otherwise couldn't be made traditionally. TCT: And are there any new materials that you might be working on that you can share with us? FR One of the ones that that's been very successful for us is the tungsten, the refractory materials. In working with a couple of key partnerships […] we're focusing on tungsten, tungsten rhenium type alloys, some tantalum but really focusing on spearheading and changing how people think about materials because things that they couldn't otherwise get through to traditional manufacturing, we're really starting to open up the designs based on unique materials. There’s really two that are kind of the next phase. The refractories

are one subset, tungsten primarily to start but others we'll be working on, and coppers are starting to really gain momentum in our design space. TCT: There’s a sense that there’s some green washing in 3D printing. What’s the reality? FR I would say it depends. When you talk about stainless and nickel, for example, I think it's not terrible, I think the yields are much better than they have been. When you get into things like titanium and aluminium, I think then you start to expose some weakness in the system. And really, that's our primary focus, how do we eliminate that? The other [facet] is what is termed as condensate in the machines. That's collected separately and then typically just disposed of, and we're very aggressively working with a couple of key customers to develop a solve for that product in particular. […] Our goal is to approach customers, the large print shops, small print shops, with a more holistic view of how they're handling everything. TCT: Much of the conversation around AM is focused on production. Where does 6K fit into that? FR: 6K Additive was really founded to focus primarily on production. We have two systems that have been fully commissioned now in our Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania facility. Ultimately, they'll have roughly 100 metric tonnes of capacity each. We have two additional systems that are being built right now and ideally, will be coming on here late in Q4. And we're just starting an expansion of the facility to add six more reactor bays. We've got more systems scheduled for throughout 2022. It's really all about production and scale.

Listen to the full interview on the Additive Insight podcast: mytct.co/6KPodcast 29.5 / www.tctmagazine.com / 047

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Expert Column

REMEMBER THE MAGIC … AND YOUR MEASUREMENTS Words: Robin Dallen, Consultant at Arke Ltd

ne of my favourite things about working in additive manufacturing (AM) is the look on someone’s face when they see a machine in action for the first time. That look of wonder as an image appears in a layer of powder or the nose pressed up against the glass as a nozzle lays down layer after layer and an object appears. That goes double if the part is something they’ve designed themselves there’s a reason why the first job we gave interns in my previous role was to design a name badge and print it themselves on a very knackered old UPrint. You never forget what it feels like to hold a part in your hand and know that before this moment, that part existed only on a screen and you put it there. It was this feeling that largely ignited my passion for AM and the secret to my continued enthusiasm for this industry is that I have never lost touch with the joy (dare I say, magic) that I experienced when I held my first part. In 2008, I was a mechanical engineering undergraduate on placement in Munich, Germany. I was working on a project to redesign an orthotic brace for a partially paraplegic cyclist. It was to be manufactured using laser sintering. I had no concept of manufacturing something straight from a CAD design so when my boss came into the office one day with some trial parts that I had designed not two days before, I was astonished. Firstly, at the speed, secondly at the flawlessness of the parts, and thirdly at the size. My parts were about the size of a 2€ coin. They’d looked so big on the screen! I checked my measurements - sure enough, I’d made the test pieces about 30mm square and completely failed to notice that this would be really small. The first lesson I learned about AM, and I’ve had cause to pass onto others since, is always check your measurements.

050 / www.tctmagazine.com / 29.5

“Joy turns the ordinary into an adventure.” The following month, we went to visit the manufacturer of our orthotic. This was the first time I’d ever seen a laser sintering machine and I was in awe. It was far and away the most amazing thing ever. I got to remove our parts from the powder cake and I simply

could not get over the fact that the parts were just there, exactly as we designed them. My childlike wonder was a source of amusement to my colleagues. “The novelty wears off after a while,” one of them said, “it just becomes part of the job.” At the close of the project, the cyclist took our AM orthotic to the Paralympic Games in Beijing and won a silver and a gold medal. I never tire of talking about the small part that I got to play in that success. Over a decade later, I can safely say, I am still waiting for the novelty to wear off. My career has taken a turn for the more mundane, some might say, but AM has never lost its sparkle. I’m that person who calls AM tooling “sexy.” I still stand in front of any kind of AM machine and call it witchcraft, even though I know exactly how and why it works. I’m excited to think that there’s still more that AM can do. The reason I say this is that enthusiasm makes things happen. Joy turns the ordinary into an adventure. Amazing things occur when someone gets excited and says, “what if we tried this?” So the next time you’re looking at an AM machine or holding a part, remember how you felt the very first time. Remember why you found AM exciting in the first place and ask yourself if you’re missing something extraordinary by thinking of AM as mundane. Recapture your joy and see where it could take you. And always remember to check your measurements. Catch Robin’s “What’s Standing Between You and Your AM Utopia?” talk on 28th September at the TCT 3Sixty Conference, NEC Birmingham.

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TCT Europe 29.5

Articles inside

REMEMBER THE MAGIC AND YOUR MEASUREMENTS

CRAFTING LARA CROFT

NEW METAL

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

THE NEXE WORLD

REINVENTING CASUAL

TOOLING UP

MINDFUL MANUFACTURING

SMALL-FORMAT, BIG POTENTIAL

SOLUTIONS BY DESIGN

HOW GREEN IS AM?

THE FUNDAMENTALS

BIG BRAKE

THE INSIDE TRACK