TCT Europe 30.3 by TCT Magazine

3D PRINTING & ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING INTELLIGENCE

MAG EUROPE EDITION VOLUME 30 ISSUE 3

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SUPPORT-FREE FUTURE SLM Solutions talks greater design freedom with Free Float

Aerospace NASA, BAE Systems & more on their work with AM

Tooling, jigs & fixtures We talk to L'Oreal & PepsiCo

TCT 3Sixty A preview of the UK's largest AM trade show

VOLUME 30 ISSUE 3 ISSN 1751-0333

EDITORIAL

HEAD OF CONTENT

Laura Griffiths e: laura.griffiths@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 389 SENIOR CONTENT PRODUCER

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FROM THE EDITOR LAURA GRIFFITHS

Show-off If you were in any doubt about additive’s ubiquity in the manufacturing world, then read on. Not to brag but this issue is crammed with AM application stories and thought-leadership insights from the likes of NASA (page 11), BAE Systems (p. 17), PepsiCo (p. 29) and L’Oreal (p. 33), further proof of 3D printing’s application potential, from the skies to your kitchen cupboard. In fact, just today I’ve already used products from two of those brands: L’Oreal cosmetics to look semi-presentable over Google Meet and a glass of Pepsi Max as I write this very letter – space exploration vehicles don’t tend to feature much in my day-to-day life, unless my dad has sent me a YouTube video. The applications discussed run the gamut: metal heat exchangers for miniature satellites to plastic tools to ensure shampoo bottles stay in place on a busy packaging line. While some of those applications are a little less obvious – we might not be drinking from 3D printed bottles but as our Senior Content Producer Sam found out, the technology plays an imperative role on the production line – the scope for AM in production means more than like for like replacement for traditionally manufactured end-use parts. There are still challenges, of course. Scaling 3D printing for production presents hurdles around repeatability, materials,

speed, automation and beyond. In our production feature, we asked a range of AM experts for their take on the biggest obstacles facing the production line today and how we might overcome them (p. 22). Elsewhere, Sam picks up on conversations had at the Additive Manufacturing Users Group conference around opportunities for direct metal deposition technologies (p. 26), and in our expert column, Dr Jia Min Lee and Dr Wai Yee Yeong from Nanyang Technological University Singapore discuss the future of 3D bioprinting (p. 42). Now as we ready ourselves for an even busier show season than usual (as this issue goes to press we'll be fresh from a trip to Detroit for RAPID + TCT), we’re sure to see more of those examples as companies get ready to showcase their latest wares alongside real-world customer applications. If you're planning on joining us at TCT 3Sixty (You should, the show floor is set to be packed with AM insights ready for you to take back to your business - and it's all completely free!) take a look at our show preview (page. 35) for a sneak peek at the technologies and talks you can expect to see at the NEC on 8-9th June. REGISTER NOW AT TCT3SIXTY.COM

30.3 / www.tctmagazine.com / 05

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VOLUME 30 ISSUE 3

REP

EAT ABI

THR

OUG

COVER STORY

8 11

08. SUPPORT-FREE FUTURE

SLM on how its Free Float technology is enabling greater design freedoms for metal AM.

AEROSPACE

11. FEELING ULTRASONIC

Head of Content Laura Griffiths talks to NASA engineers about the organisation’s application of Fabrisonic’s metal AM technology.

22. ADDITIVE’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE

We ask a range of experts about the hurdles in scaling AM for production.

METAL AM

21. KEEPING COOL

Advanced Engineering Solutions & EOS explain how AM enabled the complex design of a helicopter heat exchanger.

26. THE DED HEAT

Sam talks to multiple vendors to understand the application opportunities with Direct Energy Deposition processes.

MAT

ION

AM for Production

17. AM GOES DOWN A STORM

BAE Systems Head of AM Jenny Manning talks to TCT about 3D printing’s impact on the Hawk, Typhoon & Tempest aircraft programmes.

AUT O

HPU

Tooling, Jigs & Fixtures

29. 3D PRINTING HITS THE SPOT How PepsiCo is enhancing its bottle design operations with 3D printed moulds and inserts.

TCT 3Sixty & TCT Awards

35. A 360-DEGREE LOOK

A look at the products and presentations ahead of the UK’s leading AM event plus exhibitor Q&As.

38. TCT HALL OF FAME

Meet the 2020 inductees and 2022 nominees for the coveted TCT Hall of Fame.

EXPERT COLUMN

42. FROM MATERIALS TO LIVING ORGANS

Dr Jia Min Lee & Dr Wai Yee Yeong discuss the future of bioprinting in this issue’s expert column.

33. AM? IT’S WORTH IT

Laura speaks to Solvay’s AM Cup Challenge collaborators about transforming production lines with AM.

LITY

SUPPORT-FRE SLM Solutions talks greater design freedom with Free Float

dditive Manufacturing (AM) has opened up endless possibilities in the way we conceptualise, design and produce parts. With such a modern approach to manufacturing at our fingertips, everything seems possible. In fact, it’s often thought that for additive, such complexity also comes with total freedom of design. This isn't the case. While new designs are indeed possible, there remains a historic limitation that has been holding back such design freedoms: support structures. Since the 1990s, support structures have been an essential component of 3D printing. They are necessary to provide support for overhanging structures and play a vital role in the cooling process by absorbing and distributing excess heat away from the components. They also help to prevent part distortion. Despite this, supports are still causing complications for end-users. Supports need to be removed, resulting in increased postprocessing times while the time it takes to build supports is a significant component in the overall build time. Design freedom is limited because supports always need to be factored into the design equation. Support structures also mean increased material usage. These factors prompted metal AM leader SLM Solutions to wonder, “is a support-free future viable?” With its Free Float technology, launched last year, the company believes it is. ORIGINS & INVENTION Free Float was discovered as a by-product of a research project on a different topic. When working on complex geometries such as thinwalled components or sharp edges, it became apparent that the existing process would still give you a decent result, but the last few percent needed to obtain a perfect part was still missing: while reaching a good-looking part on the outside, the inside consisted of sub-surface porosities. In 2017, SLM Solutions made a breakthrough in its technology which provided that perfect missing part – and after years of rigorous research and development – Free Float was born. Unlike point-by-point exposure techniques commercially available today that increase net build time, SLM’s unique vector technology establishes thermal management that significantly decreases

08 / www.tctmagazine.com / 30.3

net build time while simultaneously enhancing part quality. It is especially the case in overhang areas, which can now free float, much like branches of a tree. Adding to this, Free Float technology decreases powder usage leading to greater cost-per-part savings. Now, SLM says this breakthrough technology allows users to unlock true industrial-scale support-free printing. A TOOL TO BENEFIT ALL USERS SLM’s main goal was to create a tool that makes it as easy as possible to apply all of the great benefits to everyone's part: reduced support structures, a more stable melt pool in thin-walled and sharp geometries leading to higher part quality. This led the company to engineer user-friendly profiles which simplify the user’s support-free journey and make it retrofittable. Speaking to TCT about the potential impact of Free Float, SLM Solutions’ CEO Sam O'Leary said: "This is night and day in regards to printing, it should absolutely be the default way that you think about your designs and ultimately, serial production. Because everybody wants faster builds, everybody wants more design freedom. And of course, everybody wants less post-processing. So [there are], of course, a number of benefits that this software can add to our customers." SLM’s team developed a tool that applied everything learned from that development period into a convenient and easy-to-use product: Free Float. It starts with a .slm file consisting of a ready sliced part geometry, a parameter file, and support structures where they cannot be avoided. The good news: Free Float does not interfere with the vector orientation or sorting of the sliced data, nor does

SHOWN: FREE FLOAT CAN DRASTICALLY REDUCE OR ELIMINATE SUPPORTS

COVER STORY

REE FUTURE “This just opens up an entire new world.”

SHOWN: REDUCED SUPPORTS CAN FREE UP SPACE FOR MORE PARTS

it manipulate process parameters allocated to a specific type, e.g., hatch or downskin. This file is then loaded into the software suite, where you can start assigning Free Float profiles right away. In addition to reducing supports, Free Float also allows engineers to pack more parts into a build and therefore improve productivity, use less powder and in turn, create less scrap.

SHOWN: FEWER SUPPORTS MEAN LESS POSTPROCESSING AND MATERIAL WASTE

“This just opens up an entire new world,” O’Leary concluded. “Some of the designs that are now capable in anything from rocket engines to aerospace applications and beyond - this is really something that is profoundly impressive just to have complete freedom of design. Not only that, what this technology does is it gives you that enhanced design freedom, but with very, very little impact on productivity, which is a key driver for us.”

FREE FLOAT PROFILES Low: Slight improvements on part quality (smoother surface, no over melting, less porosities), reduction of few necessary supports on non-critically angled sections Medium: Better surface finish, increased support reduction, and medium improvements on part quality High: Maximum possible reduction of supports, improved surface finish, and overall part quality

30.3 / www.tctmagazine.com / 09

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AEROSPACE

FEELING ULTRASONIC

Head of Content Laura Griffiths speaks to engineers at NASA JPL about deploying Fabrisonic’s metal additive manufacturing technology for space.

ometimes, inspiration can come from the unlikeliest of sources. Take, for example, a Stradivarius that became the spark for an additive manufacturing (AM) project for engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It all started back in 2012. A.J. Mastropietro, Thermal Systems Engineer at NASA JPL in Southern California, was just coming off the Mars Curiosity Rover mission having developed a challenging thermal control system to manage heat transfer across the largest rover ever sent to the Red Planet. It was a momentous achievement but also a ‘fabrication nightmare,’ as Mastropietro candidly puts it, consisting of a maze of aluminium tubing on flat plates designed to acquire and reject heat as needed. ‘There has to be a better way,’ the engineer thought. An article in The Economist, which talked about the 3D printing of a Stradivarius, appeared to offer one. “It ignited my passion immediately,” Mastropietro told TCT. “I knew about additive manufacturing with plastics but in my field of work, that's not directly applicable and this was really focused on additive manufacturing from metallics. So, I began a deep dive on that and explored many different avenues.” While polymers were more common, Mastropietro recalls the focus on printing metal around that time being mostly in direct laser sintering, and while JPL had successfully deployed DMLS, the engineer was instead intrigued by a technology coming out of a company in Ohio which offered ‘a very different technique’ to 3D printing metals. Fabrisonic, a spinout company of EWI since 2011, with its low temperature metal deposition Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM) process, which leverages solid-state ultrasonic bonding using high-frequency vibrations to fuse together thin layers of metal with no change to metal microstructure, combined with traditional CNC milling, seemed like a good way to improve reliability of crucial metal components for spacecraft without the limitations of more established powder based AM processes.

Mastropietro reached out and quickly put together a spontaneous JPL R&D proposal to explore improvements to the manufacturing of heat exchangers and radiators. The team secured the award and went to work with Fabrisonic using the UAM process to embed cooling channels into billets of aluminium. With an initial concept in 2014, Mastropietro says they were ‘able to prove some of the basic metrics right out the gate’ and the technology was then pushed through several stages of NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and tested on more complex, flight-like parts where Mastropietro says they were encouraged by how well they tested. Also overseeing this was Scott Roberts, Materials Technologist at NAS JPL, who, by his own admission, remembers the reaction around the lab to some of those early welds, albeit successful, being

‘this will never fly.’ But they worked on it, collaborating with Fabrisonic and NASA’s SBIR office, overcoming challenges around thermal and pressure tests to get to a point where now, Roberts says, when the team have shown UAM parts to those unfamiliar with the process, they often question where additive was even used. “You can't tell the substrate from the welded material,” Roberts said. “Everyone's like, ‘why aren't we flying this like this? We should have done this ten years ago!’” “You can't tell where the additive layers transition from the initial billet material,” Mastropietro adds, pointing to a 3D printed aluminium heat exchanger while speaking over video call. “We even explored making internal features with mills and then just closing out the channels with an additive roof. It's really, whatever you can think of – and we've thought about it – then we've found a way to do it. We've had a lot of success, whichever thread we pull on, which has been fun.”

SHOWN: ULTRASONIC WELDING TECHNIQUES ELIMINATED THE NEED FOR THERMAL INTERFACES AND HARDWARE IN THIS ALUMINIUM HEAT EXCHANGER FABRISONIC MADE FOR THE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY. (CREDIT: FABRISONIC LLC)

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AEROSPACE SHOWN: 3D PRINTED RADIATOR FOR A CUBESAT COMBINING ALUMINIUM AND COPPER USING AM TECHNIQUES THAT EMPLOY ULTRASONIC WELDING. (CREDIT: FABRISONIC LLC)

One of the biggest benefits of UAM is the big part sizes it enables. Roberts describes one huge heat exchanger example produced at Fabrisonic for JPL being about the size of a desk, which, for metal additive manufacturing, historically constrained by small build sizes available on laser powder bed machines, is typically unheard of. “For additive, it's a very large part,” Roberts continued, “particularly with the fact that you can get the precision of a machine tool because they're going in and making the channels with an end mill so you can get pretty high precision parts.” Another big advantage is the ability to work with known materials. That’s not to say JPL isn’t interested in the new material possibilities that AM offers, it is – a big chunk of the work that Roberts’ team does in heat exchangers is in metal powder bed with AlSi10Mg – but the UAM option uses established materials that engineers are already comfortable with, which along with the ability to join dissimilar metals, is extremely helpful when it comes to risk mitigation around flight applications and overall acceptance of the technology. “The initial hump you have to get over for people to want to accept it is so much smaller than saying, ‘I'm taking this 40-micron powder and turning it into a solid pressure vessel,’” Roberts elaborated. “That hurdle to get people to be willing to even contemplate [UAM] has been much easier for us in a very risk averse organisation.”

But once proven, the advantages are hard to dispute. In the case of that aluminium heat exchanger (shown on P11), UAM eliminated the need for thermal interfaces and hardware, and as a result, the part now weighs almost 30% less and performs 30% better than parts made via traditional methods. There could even be potential, Mastropietro believes, to marry the capabilities of power bed and UAM to build large, complex shapes, deploying “the right tool for the right application.” “With this technology, you get rid of all the touch labour, all of the tube welding, which is actually very hard to manually do. There's not an automated process to do it with a lot of reliability. This gets rid of all of that. It's basically using an end mill to cut out a channel. It's very reliable, and then use the additive part only where you need to use it, which is attractive from the material standpoint.” For example, the Mars Rover is about the size of a small SUV and encompasses a myriad of individual components. The more parts, the more points of potential failure, which means everything has to be tight and run smoothly, particularly in the thermal department – no one wants a burst pipe in space – and that can make the pace of adoption much slower. For example, that 30% lighter aluminium heat exchanger was built as a single component with the Mars Rover Perseverance mission in mind. But

even though the part was able to be manufactured in just three weeks and pass required tests, the rover launched in 2020 with a traditionally manufactured heat exchanger on board. Launching with a new manufacturing process was still deemed too risky. “Would you rather spend a million dollars building a system? Or do you want to save $900,000 and risk everything blowing up?” Roberts said. “Every single time, that's every trade that happens. ‘Yeah, that might be a little better but could it blow up our spacecrafts?’ And if the answer is yes, usually the answer is, let's do it the old way. And that's something that every organisation that has been around a long time has to face because you have a history for success and every failure is a really big deal. Whereas when you’re a newer, more agile organisation, failures are expected. NASA was expected to blow up all of our rockets back in the 40s and 50s. […] If we blow up half our rockets today, if SLS explodes on

30.3 / www.tctmagazine.com / 013

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Cost Savings of around $50,000 vs traditional methods Total lead time for the part decreased from 6-8 weeks to less than 2 weeks by utilizing the powerful LSAM system.

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AEROSPACE

“The best application for additive manufacturing is the thermal sciences.”

the first try, it's a disaster for the organisation.” The team has yet to fly a UAM part but is now working with materials and process and mission assurance teams to put the technology through its paces; running test heat exchanger plates through the gamut, from burst testing to ensure no leaks, to putting parts through various environmental pressures including thermal cycle tests and extreme launch loads. So far, it’s looking promising. “It hits everything that we needed to for flight,” Mastropietro said. “I am not worried in the slightest that these things would pass flight. The hardest part right now is convincing materials and the stress side of it that we really understand the stress in these welds and they can model it and that takes a lot of statistical development.” To combat those doubts, Fabrisonic was awarded an America Makes project back in 2021 called ‘Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing Technical Data Package Maturation’ to create a set of data for 6061 aluminium. The aim is to meet the aerospace industry’s needs for a Technical Data Package and supply customers with the information they need to have confidence in the technology. While Roberts is keen to manage expectations – we're not going to see UAM parts on manned missions in the next year, for

BELOW: CUBESATS CAN BE USED FOR A VARIETY OF TASKS, FROM EARTH OBSERVATION TO FLYING SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS, BUT THEIR SMALL SIZE MAKES IT A CHALLENGE TO FIT ALL THE PARTS AS WELL AS THE SHIELDING NEEDED TO MANAGE THE EXTREME TEMPERATURES OF SPACE. (CREDITS: NASA)

example, though there has been interest from folks on the International Space Station who are ‘seriously considering’ UAM as part of their mission architecture – he believes once that documentation is attained, there’ll be no reason not to use it. “I think once that's there, there really is no excuse, in my opinion for JPL to not consider this at least for maybe not Class A big flagship missions, but definitely our smaller class type missions and especially CubeSats,” Roberts said. In fact, one of the latest developments the JPL team did with Fabrisonic parts was part of a five-year project with Utah State University where they’ve proved out some smaller UAM parts for CubeSats, namely the development of mini pump fluid loop architecture with a deployable UAM radiator. They’ve also demonstrated a UAM radiator for a CubeSat that combines aluminium and copper to allow heat to spread more evenly. “The best application for additive manufacturing is the thermal sciences. Hands down. Because it's so enabling and it saves in every way: mass, performance, cost, schedule,” Mastropietro said.

Like the Stradivarius, the team hopes this work will inspire applications outside of the organisation and are making their findings available to benefit others further afield. That technology transfer is already happening and ongoing. Fabrisonic is using the process to manufacture parts for commercial customers, many they can’t publicly share, from aluminium aerospace parts to well drip pipes for oil and gas. In one case, leveraging NASA specifications to create a new weld head for a smaller ultrasonic 3D printer, one customer is said to have produced over 70,000 parts using Fabrisonic’s technology. “We're just going to keep pushing,” Roberts concludes. “We'll get it to a point where everyone can see the awesome stuff that's going on at these small businesses, and how these small 10-person companies can really innovate and change the way that we design, hopefully, billion dollar plus missions. That’s just so cool. Not everything happens at these enormous organisations or giant primes.”

SHOWN: DEPLOYMENT OF CUBESAT IN SPACE (CREDITS: NASA)

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AEROSPACE

AM GOES DOWN A STORM

JM: Today we run various materials on Stereolithography (SLA), Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and Selective Laser Melting (SLM). Manufacturing everything from prototypes, mock-ups, visualisation models, tooling and product components on varied platforms.

Sam Davies speaks to BAE Systems Head of Additive Manufacturing Jenny Manning [JM] on leading AM activity at the British aerospace leader.

enny Manning joined BAE Systems 15 years ago as an Aerospace Engineering apprentice, where, for three and a half years, she rotated around various engineering and manufacturing placements. In 2011, she qualified as a Manufacturing Engineer and went on to work on the Eurofighter Typhoon before moving into a communications role whilst studying for a Manufacturing Systems Engineering degree. After graduating with a first-class BEng Hons, Manning transitioned back into manufacturing, taking up a role as Senior Manufacturing Engineer where she led technology insertion for additive manufacturing (AM) processes. In the years since, she has worked on the Hawk and Tempest aircraft programmes, before being appointed Head of Additive Manufacturing in January 2022. As she settles into that role, TCT caught up with Manning to learn more about how BAE is applying AM technology. TCT: Can you explain your responsibilities in your new role as Head of Additive Manufacturing? JM: In my new role as Head of Additive Manufacturing, I am responsible for

We have seen significant cost and lead time savings in some of our tooling and aircraft ground equipment applications. As well as some components we have on Hawk and Typhoon [two BAE Systems’ aircraft models] – by using AM, parts were re-designed, and although still classed as a substitutional part, the AM process saved 40% in cost and 60% in lead time when compared to the conventional manufacturing methods. SHOWN: MANNING WITH A 3D PRINTED COOLING DUCT

developing and delivering effective additive manufacturing solutions to our customer base. From an agile R&D capability to establishing a robust production environment, so that additive manufacturing becomes a key solution for future platforms. I am accountable in defining our future vision for additive manufacturing and how we continue to work closely with academia, suppliers, partners and industry in developing the technology further to provide value and benefit. TCT: At what stage in your career were you introduced to 3D printing and, at that stage, how was BAE using the technology? JM: I was aware of 3D printing from the early days of my career as an apprentice, as I had seen first-hand some of the tooling and shop aids on the shop floor. However, I wasn’t formally introduced to it until 2015. By that time, the company had been using additive manufacturing for nearly 15 years, but predominately polymer processes such as SLA and FDM, making prototypes and visualisation models and some one-off tooling applications. TCT: Can you tell us about how BAE Systems’ application of 3D printing compares today? What are some application stories that really show the benefits of AM in aerospace/ defence?

Additive manufacturing, however, really adds value when you design for the process at the start. On Typhoon, the ECS cooling ducts due to a radar requirement required improved air flow. By using AM, we were able to redesign a component, that conventionally was made out of 14 items, and manufacture one singular piece with integrated cooling channels which provided a significant performance improvement. On top of this, we can nest four of them within the build chamber increasing build efficiency. TCT: And what do you see as the big opportunities for additive in this industry and within BAE Systems moving forward? JM: As part of our future manufacturing vision, you can see our approach firsthand through our ‘Factory of the Future’ in Lancashire, UK where we have projects that demonstrate the very leading edge of additive manufacturing. This is opening the door to new possibilities, including the manufacture of large-scale additive parts for military aircraft. Those developments are made possible through collaboration, in this case working with a diverse range of suppliers and academia including Siemens, Renishaw and The University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. TCT: You’ve previously held the role as the IPT leader for the Tempest aircraft programme and in July 2020 it was announced BAE was targeting using AM to produce 30% of the Tempest componentry – an increase from 1% on the Typhoon aircraft. How is this project progressing?

30.3 / www.tctmagazine.com / 017

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AEROSPACE

TCT: What would you outline as the key challenges facing BAE Systems and others in growing their application of AM?

SHOWN: STRATASYS F900 SYSTEMS INSIDE A BAE FACILITY

JM: The testing of ever bigger and more complex shapes to see which parts of the aircraft can be made through additive manufacturing is a huge stepping-stone on that journey. We are close to completing a demonstration model of the aircraft’s front fuselage using new robotic technology and increased levels of automation and additive manufacturing. We are challenging our engineers to make sure this latest application of technology can be exploited in the current Typhoon aircraft, as we recognise the benefits it can bring in cutting production time and reducing material and energy consumption. In recent trials, we reduced the production time of a large engine mount frame for a Typhoon aircraft, from 100 weeks to just 60 days. The Typhoon of today is completely different under the skin to the jet that entered operational service in 2003 and is designed to develop and

“Additive manufacturing is opening the door to new possibilities.”

deploy 21st century technologies, future-proofing Typhoon for decades to come and proving technologies, which will become central to a future combat air system. TCT: How would you assess the suitability of 3D printing for BAE Systems’ requirements? JM: Additive manufacturing lends itself to many applications. However, to ensure that you are getting the most out of the technology, you must ensure you are designing for the process at the start. Understanding the design principles to apply will result in a better product, as well as ensuring that you are getting value out of the technology. It’s also really important to know that additive manufacturing is just another tool in the toolbox, and is a complementary process to all our other conventional manufacturing methods; additive manufacturing doesn’t replace any of them, it just gives us wider capability.

JM: We recognise the critical role our programmes of today and tomorrow play in creating high value, highly skilled jobs, however we are fully aware of the skills shortages across the manufacturing and engineering sectors. As a company, we are absolutely committed to work closely with third parties and local education partnerships to create the next generation of talent and skills. One way we are developing this talent is through our apprentice and graduate programmes, where we are recruiting almost 1,700 apprentices and graduates across the UK this year. In collaboration with CREATE Education, we’re also nurturing new digital skills in Lancashire to address skills shortages and support a levelled-up recovery from the pandemic. Investing in these skills will create a pipeline of highly skilled experts that are crucial to our future as a leading manufacturing nation, helping to sustain the North West of England’s position as the UK’s home of aerospace manufacturing. TCT: Finally, how would you assess the impact 3D printing technology is having within BAE Systems? JM: Over the last five to seven years, we have seen a real increase in exploitation of additive manufacturing across all our Air programmes and wider business units; including Submarines, Maritime and Land application. Our knowledge and understanding across the company are growing day by day and we are really starting to see the benefit of utilising the technology on our products. We are also seeing a whole new technological skillset be developed, which is exciting for future skills and talent within the company. It’s exciting to be part of the next generation of manufacturing and playing a key role in moving towards Industry 4.0.

SHOWN: BAE TYPHOON AIRCRAFT

30.3 / www.tctmagazine.com / 019

3D PRINTING & ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING INTELLIGENCE

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AEROSPACE

KEEPING COOL WORDS: SAM DAVIES

hat do the wings of a butterfly, the feathers of a bird, the retinal cone cells of a tree shew, and this helicopter heat exchanger all share?

It’s the use of gyroid structures to help flight, sight and, in the case of the aluminium component printed on an EOS M 290 machine, the optimal cooling of a helicopter gearbox. At least, that’s the hope for Andreas Vlahinos, CTO of Advanced Engineering Solutions, who is currently seeing his TCT Award-nominated design go through a qualification process for use on commercial helicopters. Gyroids are a triply periodic morphology with no planes of symmetry, no embedded straight lines, and well suited to parts that need strength without too much weight. The heat exchanger developed by Vlahinos has an internal volume that is filled with gyroid structures which encourage uniform cross flow throughout the piece to cool the gearbox. Using lattice screens at the end of the internal gyroid domain has also helped to eliminate the need for support structures inside the component, while external lattice ribs minimise the shell thickness requirement. With the input of these design characteristics, the heat exchanger is said to exhibit 4x better performance than the original design, is around half the size and has an enhanced fatigue life since it is manufactured in a single component as opposed to several brazed together pieces. “The traditional design of these heat exchangers, they call it shell and tube and there is a bunch of components brazed together,” Vlahinos told TCT. “Brazing thin components is not good for fatigue life because there’s a lot of vibration in the helicopter, so you need to keep monitoring the fatigue life of the heat exchanger and it’s dangerous because fuel goes through it, and you don’t want them to mix. This one is very robust because it doesn’t have any welded parts. In the testing, the SHOWN: HELICOPTER HEAT EXCHANGER DESIGNED WITH INTERNAL GYROID LATTICE STRUCTURES

design was 300 PSI and we went to 5,000 PSI to break it, so there’s a lot of margin.”

In the development of this heat exchanger, Vlahinos teamed up with the Additive Minds consultancy arm of EOS. Early on, Vlahinos utilised the lattice generation tools of PTC CREO to create the gyroid structure on the inside and the lattice structure on the outside, with the gyroid thickness increased at the cold inlet and outlet to prevent hot fluid from entering those channels. When Additive Minds was integrated, a digital twin of the process was set up to carry out simulations that would assess performance of the design and the manufacturing process, with EOS going slice by slice to identify potential trouble spots. “By creating this digital factory, there are ways to understand whether the parts will be high quality, and there is also a place to monitor the machine health to do predictive health analytics for the machine and to understand whether the machine was up

“Every square centimetre is purposefully designed for its intention.” to the qualification specification,” said Maryna Ienina, AM Academy - Product and Partnership Manager, EOS. With the help of this digital twin, the part was printed successfully first time. Vlahinos believes the design wouldn’t be possible without the tools he had at his disposal. “It will be impossible to design something like this without the simulation tools, because tribal knowledge and intuition doesn’t cut it for these complex geometries,” he said. When it came to the print, the decision was made to proceed with the EOS M 290 machine, partly because two units of the component could be additively manufactured at once, but also because Additive Minds wanted to demonstrate the capacity to print a part with such complex structures on a not ‘overly sophisticated’ machine. Vlahinos thinks the printed part could be revolutionary, and with additive’s application for heat exchangers ever increasing, there’s also a belief at the EOS end that this could have a huge impact in aviation. “To basically have almost every square centimetre or every feature be purposefully designed for its intention – you’ve heard of purposeful design? I think this demonstrates that,” offered Dave Krzeminski, Senior Additive Minds Consultant. “You can use every inch towards the end use. You can squeeze every drop, if you will, out of this application in this space.”

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ADDITIVE’S

BIGGE

Laura asks the experts what’s getting in the way of AM for production and what we can do about it.

n the 30-plus years since the introduction of the first additive manufacturing (AM) machines, 3D printers have gotten faster, materials superior, applications bigger, acceptance greater, and the ambition to deploy AM for production all the closer. From Carbon’s 3D printed adidas midsoles to Chanel’s laser sintered mascara brushes, examples of production are everywhere but so are challenges. “There are new consumer demands at play— heightened by the impact of the pandemic— and they are completely reshaping the way we design, manufacture and mass produce goods that are not only highly personalised but built with sustainability in mind,” Wayne Davey, global head of 3D Printing Solutions Go-to-Market for HP, shared with TCT. “There is a lot of opportunity for disruption not limited to any one industry in particular. Brands across automotive, health and wellness, sports, and more are seeing the benefits of making the switch from traditional manufacturing methods in favour of additive technology. And they want to do it quickly, economically, and most importantly, at a mass scale.” The effects of the pandemic on supply chain brought more attention to the advantages AM can provide. When HP, for example, surveyed a group of global digital manufacturing decision makers in late 2020, 89% said they were changing their business models. Some have already made the shift; as of December last year, the company had reportedly produced over 100 million parts with its Multi Jet Fusion technology for customers like Cobra Golf and Volkswagen, the latter of which has set itself a target of producing 100,000 additively manufactured components each year by 2025. While 100,000 parts might seem like small change compared traditional manufacturing volumes, the gears have certainly shifted. “Five to ten years ago our greatest challenge was the cost to produce parts by AM – but this has changed significantly in recent years and the cost to print parts is frequently far lower than it was previously,” says Professor Neil Hopkinson, VP of Technology at Stratasys and inventor of the productionfocused Selective Absorption Fusion (SAF)

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technology. “However, this leads to new challenges, most notably educating and informing people in industry, from design to procurement, about what AM can now bring.” SAF, now under the Stratasys portfolio following the acquisition of Xaar 3D last year, has been designed to enable costcompetitive parts at production-level throughput. The technology has already been put to work by design company DQBD GmbH to produce personalised load-bearing parts for cycling saddles that boast a higher level of comfort, and cut costs and lead times. “If we can clearly articulate how far the AM industry has come in the last 5-10 years, and where the best opportunities lie, then the technology and economics are already there to radically change how we should manufacture many parts,” Hopkinson continued. “The most compelling way to educate the manufacturing user base about the capabilities of AM is through case studies – leading by example.” One of AM’s biggest enablers is the range of materials now available. 3D Systems, for example, has introduced a variety of production grade materials for its Figure 4 platform along with technical data that validates their suitability for end-use parts. The recent launch of its fast SLA 750 stereolithography platform came paired with a post-processing station and new Accura AMX Durable Natural resin which has been tested per ASTM D4329 and ASTM G194 standards. “Material formulators are increasingly designing production-grade materials,” Brent Stucker, Chief Scientist at 3D Systems said. “Over the coming year, I expect there will be new polymer and metal materials designed for more rigorous use-case environments. I believe we’ll also see new 3D printers designed for specific applications, part sizes, or material offerings. Unlike the more generic multi-material, multi-application prototyping machines of the past, these new application-specific printers have

“There is a lot of opportunity for disruption.” the potential to enable more costeffective solutions for specific production applications.” But Ilaria Guicciardini, Head of Marketing at Roboze, which develops machines for high performance polymers and composites, says there are still limitations in matching materials and hardware capabilities to the production standards we expect today. Ilaria explained: “From our point of view, the greatest challenges of mass production with AM technology are linked to a range of materials and print sizes that are still too narrow and too limited connected to the quality standards required for the production of finished parts as well as to scalable and repeatable systems around the world.” It's why Roboze is developing materials which correlate with specific market demands such as its Helios PEEK 2005 material, a PEEK-reinforced filament which features short ceramic fibres and offers strong mechanical, thermal and surface finish characteristics for applications in motorsport, aerospace and energy. Further emphasising the onus on materials, Kristin Mulherin, General Manager, Powder Bed Solutions at Nexa3D, which offers a portfolio of ultrafast 3D printers leveraged by companies such as PepsiCo (as you’ll see on page 29), said: “Materials are cost prohibitive when looking at higher-volume production and

AUT O

AM for Production

GEST CHALLENGE there is currently limited relief even with economies of scale. If we are to reach volumes supportive of real end-use production, the costs for materials need to come down many times over.” Including materials, Mulherin argues there are a trio of factors limiting AM’s production potential: a lack of workflow automation, and a relatively low throughput compared to traditional manufacturing. “The latter two topics are deeply intertwined,” Mulherin continued. “A lack of workflow automation is just one factor affecting the relatively low throughput of current AM technologies. But, relatively high maintenance requirements also leads to an untenably low uptime of the capital equipment. Until real and reliable automation can be integrated into the end-to-end workflow, serial production with AM technologies will be limited to relatively low-volume production.” Automation comes up frequently. Additive is a complex, multi-step process with several touch points along the way from setting up process parameters to material handling to the often-manual task of

support removal. But automation comes with its own challenges.

“Currently, it is more cost-effective for brands to mix and match production of parts between a number of big and small industry players,” Davey explained. “This makes automating the entire physical and digital flow much more difficult because integration can be complex. There are many nuances, such as geometries and post-processing requirements to name a few, that must be considered." Ted Anderson, Industrialisation Leader at GE Additive, a user and provider of several metal AM technologies, agrees that more attention should be paid to the steps that happen before and after a part comes out of the build chamber. “One of the challenges is that even experienced users can get fixated on the additive manufacturing process and nothing outside of the process, particularly pre- and post-processing,” Anderson said. “It is just as important to understand what it takes to take the part out of the machine and remove powder from the part. Another challenge we still see all too regularly is that the wrong

THR

OUG

AUT O

part or technology has been chosen for serial production. A part that doesn't take advantage of the additive process can drive up cost and drive down productivity, if the part requires lots of post-processing.” DyeMansion is a company focused solely on addressing those post-printing steps, having released its next generation of automated depowdering and surface treatment technology last year with high-volume production in mind. “Reproducible quality at scale throughout the whole end-to-end process chain is the biggest challenge,” said DyeMansion CEO & Co-founder Felix Ewald. “Adapting every process to the needs of the application is already challenging but combining all process steps is where the complexity starts. Also, costs per part are in many cases far off the cost structure that other industries are used to. Costs are not the only limitation, but when we talk about scale it's the biggest accelerator.”

REP

Cost is indeed a big one. It’s one of the reasons most AM automotive examples are

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AM for Production

more likely to be found on a Bugatti than a Ford Fiesta. In a recent report published by manufacturing service provider Hubs, 24% of those surveyed saw cost as the main hurdle to using 3D printing. Yet, on the flip side, price was also cited as the second biggest factor in choosing 3D printing, suggesting that where the application suits, combined with other benefits such as lead time reduction, flexibility and part complexity, the cost of additive makes sense. “An endless commitment of everyone to focus on lowering the costs per part to finally enable economies of scale,” Ewald continued. “Having application-specific production lines where every single step is optimised to the specific application. Adoption in the different industries will only happen at scale if we as the industry solve the challenges and reduce the complexity for the customers. This will only happen if we collaborate.” Daniel Leong, Product Marketing Manager at Markforged, believes we need to integrate additional steps such as inspection into the fabrication process. The company recently acquired Teton Simulation to enable rapid validation of print parameters and part performance and provide confidence that printed parts will perform as intended. “3D printing has a unique opportunity to combine part creation and verification where other types of fabrication cannot,” Leong said. “Expanding this capability gives 3D printing another advantage over conventional manufacturing.” As we move away from prototyping, managing process variation and establishing qualifications to ensure quality and repeatability are crucial. Mohsen Seifi, Director, Global Additive Manufacturing Programs at ASTM International, which has developed and published a range of standards focused on AM, believes in order to maintain these consistencies, we all need to be speaking the same language. “A standardised procedure must be followed to maintain repeatability,

“There are many nuances that must be considered.” consistency, and quality, which are critical attributes for serial production,” Seifi said, citing standards such as ISO/ASTM 52920 which specifies the requirements for industrial AM processes and production sites. "Whether you operate an AM facility in sectors like aerospace, energy, transportation, or even a hospital, one can map out different elements in the AM value chain with relevant standards to develop an internal quality framework to deploy AM for serial production successfully.” While technological advancements are all well and good, the challenge to get AM accepted as a production process could also be of the industry’s own making. While AM has undoubtedly benefitted from the ‘cool’ factor thanks to 3D printed trinkets and buzzwords that were common back when the CES stands were still big and the Yoda busts still novel, Jeremy Pullin, Head of Additive Manufacturing at biopharmaceutical industry solutions specialist Sartorius thinks we need to be careful with weighty statements around ‘paradigm shifts in manufacturing.’ “Once you have stopped all these things refocus your head and your approach by remembering the following ‘AM technologies are just a series of manufacturing processes’,” Pullin said. “They are not magical, they are not more advanced, better

or cooler than so called conventional manufacturing. Once your head is in that space you need to benchmark each part objectively against alternative technologies. AM offers many potential advantages such as distributed manufacturing, flexible batch quantitates etc. If none of those add value to the particular part that you are looking at however then forget about them.” Thankfully, AM vendors are taking note of this pragmatic approach, as Haim Levi, XJet VP Strategic Marketing, Europe, noted: “In my view AM will not replace mass production, even in the future. Even for ‘less massive’ production, AM still needs to overcome several obstacles. […] The industry still needs to look at improving manufacturing speeds, reducing postprocessing times and labour, reducing both equipment and material costs, automating processes and integrating AM onto the manufacturing floor if it is to seriously compete with true mass production.” For those considering making the jump, Pullin offers the following: “In all, yes, AM as a technology is capable of making stuff but series production results from an entire system where the ability to make stuff is only one part. Don’t get too excited about the possibilities, don’t be too frustrated by the hurdles and be prepared to do an awful lot of convincing people who have worked long and hard to build a career based on the status quo.”

30.3 / www.tctmagazine.com / 025

THE DED HE A

t the recent AMUG Conference in Chicago, Paul Gradl – a Senior Propulsion Engineer at NASA – outlined how NASA is looking to Direct Energy Deposition (DED) for large scale nozzle development, for the additive manufacture (AM) of larger parts than is possible with current powder bed fusion platforms, and to explore the bimetallic 3D printing of heat exchangers. Later in the week, there were other conference sessions to highlight DED, such as Meltio’s Metal AM trends discussion and a panel session that brought Gradl together with Formalloy CEO Melanie Lang. Formalloy and Meltio are just two of a whole range of players to offer DED technology. Optomec has been in operation for more than 20 years and has sold 250+ DED platforms and refurbished more than 10 million turbine blades with its technology. And then there’s Trumpf, DMG Mori, Norsk Titanium, GEFERTEC, Prodways, Mitsubishi and more.

And the reason there are so many suppliers of DED – which is defined as a process that adds material, whether it be metal powder or wire, alongside the heat input, whether it be from a laser or an electron beam or a plasma arc, simultaneously – is because there are so many opportunities. “DED continues to gain ground in its sweet spots: repair, multi-material builds and large-format part production,” Optomec VP of Marketing & Product Management Mike Dean told TCT. One of those opportunities, as referenced by Dean, is to pick up the applications that powder bed fusion can’t feasibly facilitate. In his AMUG presentation, Gradl noted that parts with dimensions that exceeded 1m x 1m – such as a large nozzle that measured 2.4m in diameter and 3m in height – would be additively manufactured with DED rather than PBF. “For some aerospace components, they don’t fit well into most powder bed systems,” Formalloy CEO Melanie Lang said. “And some [applications] have been fairly well-defined using powder bed processes, but now they either want to

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go to higher throughput or larger build volume size, and those are the good uses cases for now.”

SHOWN: 12.1KG NAVAL PROPELLER PRINTED WITH THE MELTIO ENGINE ROBOT INTEGRATION IN 316L AT A COST OF 189.71 EUR

“Just this ability to freeform fabricate components removes a lot of the restrictions you have in a powder bed fusion process,” Meltio CTO Brian Matthews added. “So really, there’s no size constraint. The other appealing thing, for me, is the fact that, especially in a wire-based process, all of the material ends up in the part, so nothing beats that on an economical basis.” Increasingly, DED suppliers are tweaking their products to allow customers to benefit from modularity and flexibility as they work on larger parts or look to scale their operations. Formalloy has productised its AX Metal Deposition Head, PG Powder Feeder and ADF Alloy Development Feeder to allow users of other DED processes to integrate the componentry without re-investing in another DED technology. Meltio’s modular offering comprises the Engine CNC integration to create a hybrid manufacturing solution that enables part repairs and post-processing to be done at once, while its robot integration has been offered to facilitate large, complex shapes to be printed. Optomec’s LENS

“DED continues to gain ground in its sweet spots: repair, multi-material builds & largeformat part production.”

SHOWN: PARTS PRINTED WITH MELTIO’S DED TECHNOLOGY

METAL AM

HEAT WORDS: SAM DAVIES

“In the past, the metal was added back with hand TIG welding,” Dean explained of the typical turbine blade component repair process. “There are problems with TIG welding, however. It adds excess heat to the blade, often degrading its metallurgy; the hand process is inherently not repeatable, resulting in a high scrap rate; [and] the TIG process results in excess added weld material that is costly to remove later. The DED process, on the other hand, is automated, very precise, adds far less heat to the base metal and results in much less overbuild. By adopting DED, the overhauler sees immediate reductions in cost and scrap while improving the quality of the repair.” Meanwhile, at AMUG, Meltio had a range of printed parts that exhibited its DED technology’s capacity to produce parts in multi-material, including one component that utilised stainless steel, mild steel, Inconel 718 and copper rods, with each material changeover completed in seconds with no cost penalty.

SHOWN: 5KG ENGINE MANIFOLD PRINTED WITH THE MELTIO ENGINE ROBOT INTEGRATION IN 316L AT A COST OF 95.86 EUR

This, DED vendors believe, could open the doors to an increase in design creativity and enhancements in part performance. “For example, you could print a cylindrical object with a corrosionresistant alloy on the inside and a high thermal conduction alloy on the outside, or an object that has a high hardness in one area and high strength in another area and so on,” Dean exampled. “This capability is a relatively new concept for mechanical designers who were used to thinking that each part had to be made out of single material, but we’re now seeing new multi-material designs emerging, particularly in the aerospace industry.”

Print Engine, meanwhile, features modular components such as deposition heads, powder feeders, process controls, a motion controller and tool path software. This offering, like Meltio’s, is put forward for hybrid manufacturing, reworks and repairs. Part repairs and reworks are where Optomec has had much of its success with DED thus far. In the last two years, the company has not only recorded its 10 millionth turbine blade refurbishment with DED but also been awarded a 1m USD contract with the US Air Force, a 500,000 USD contract with the Air Force Sustainment Center and delivered a 1m USD metal 3D printing system to an existing aerospace customer, all for the same kind of application.

“My gut feeling is that multi-material is the thing that going to get people excited,” Matthews said. “Because it’s not even a consideration; when you design a part, you don’t think about some transition where you change the material. When people start thinking in that way, that’s going to really put fuel on the fire.” “I think many of the engineers who are still designing parts today, and people in leadership roles, they didn’t have the ability to think about how do we make this heat exchanger with multi-material to control the thermals and the strength? That wasn’t a tool in the toolbox,” added Lang. “Now, that tool is in the toolbox.”

Standing in the way of, or at least slowing down, DED’s potential is a few things. In the early days, a lack of standards stymied adoption, but ASTM published its standards in 2016, with SAE and some DOD groups following in the last 24 months. Some vendors suggest they have also been waiting for software technologies to catch up, while trust in the process and technology readiness are both cited as challenges still to be fully overcome. With DED set to have a big play in sectors like aerospace, defence, oil & gas, at AMUG Gradl also highlighted a consideration he is having to make around the printing of witness specimens and tensile bars when using DED: “Do I build specimens before and after [the build of the part]? Or do I build some excess stock on my part that I sample as well?” Lang suggests that these are possible approaches, though Formalloy would also recommend DED users harness its DEDSmart software platform – which can collect parameter and sensor data from a build and correlate properties and quality – to ‘ascertain the quality of a part to complement, and in the future even replace, the need for witness samples. Along the same lines, Dean says that the approach to controlling the output of the process is to control all inputs – calibrating things like powder flow and laser powder according to preset intervals. Otherwise, samples are to be printed on the same build plate; before or after if there are space constraints; and in the case of repairs, their preferred approach is to use non-destructive testing on a portion of the repairs and destructive testing on other portions. And with that guidance on offer to all those who adopt their technology, the vendors believe DED belongs in the hands of manufacturers, whether they be in aerospace and defence, or automotive and jewellery. There are large parts, complex parts and multi-material parts that need to be produced, and some which, in time, will need repairing. In many of those cases, Optomec, Formalloy, Meltio and others believe their technology to be capable. “Getting the technology in the hands of the makers, that’s what we want to do,” Matthews finished. “And not to say that R&D and technology centres and what they do is not important, it’s incredibly important, but if that doesn’t filter down to all the industrial sectors, then that would be a tragedy, so we’re trying to accelerate that migration from the few to the many. Our goal is to sell thousands of machines – not because we have done a financial analysis, it’s because that would tell us that we’re making the kind of impact that we want to make.”

30.3 / www.tctmagazine.com / 027

The way of big. Big parts, thick walls, high density. Premiere at ceramitec, booth #234

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Tooling, jigs & fixtures

3D PRINTING HITS THE SPOT WORDS: SAM DAVIES

n one of PepsiCo’s more renowned dalliances with 3D printing, a series of complex masks that fitted onto themed soda cans helped to generate more than 10 million social media impressions to promote the movie premiere of Marvel’s Black Panther.

While the company’s latest application of the technology has so far had less reach and revere, it is having no less impact. Max Rodriguez, Sr. Manager of Global Packaging R&D, and Thangthip Tekanil, R&D Packaging Engineer, are part of a team that covers performance simulation, advanced rapid prototyping and advanced system capabilities at PepsiCo. In these endeavours, they serve a team of 120 R&D engineers with the ‘right tools and capabilities,’ so they can deliver projects ‘with excellence.’ Among those tools and capabilities is PepsiCo’s patented Modular Mold Set, which is compatible with most standard blow moulders and comprises an aluminium shell, dental stone, and 3D printed inserts for various bottle designs from 100ml to 3L. “The Modular Mold Set is a means for us to be able to very rapidly and quickly generate a customised mould that we can then utilise in our lab-scale or Pilot Plant scale stretch blow moulding equipment,” Rodriguez told TCT. Previously, to get functional mould samples, PepsiCo would contract an external service provider who would leverage a subtractive manufacturing technique – CNC or EDM, depending on the complexity – and return the tool within two-to-four weeks at a typical cost of up to 10,000 USD. SHOWN: MOULD INSERT 3D PRINTED ON CARBON’S M2 MACHINE WITH CE

“What we wanted to do was find a way that we can very quickly and rapidly do it internally at a fraction of the cost,” Rodriguez continued. “We developed the Modular Mold concept by looking at what is it that we really need? What we need is the capability of being able to print the features of the tool that are unique. If we try to print the entire mould, it will take forever, and we will use a significant amount of material. We decided to take the external dimensions of a conventional mould and utilise that as a shell, and then only print the parts that are unique and customised for the application, which is essentially the cavity of the bottle, which we call the inserts and the base.” The Modular Mold Set application is 3D printer agnostic, but PepsiCo generally opts for Digital Light Processing technologies ahead of FDM and PolyJet, for example, for their faster print speeds. PepsiCo started its development on this project with Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesis technology, utilising the Cyanate Ester (CE) material – which boasts a heat deflection temperature of

230°C according to Carbon's datasheet – on the M2 platform. But it has since moved forward with the NXE400 system and xPEEK 147 material from Nexa3D, citing a larger build volume, preferences over the Nexa business model, and a slight edge in terms of heat deflection temperature – 238°C and tested against ASTM D648 according to Nexa’s datasheet. “We’re able to print two mould halves and a base within eight hours and then curing would take an additional four hours, so technically in 12 hours, we can get a complete mould from start to finish,” Tekanil explained. “We wanted something that was faster and more durable during printing. I’d say the CE was [also] a little more prone to warpage during the curing process because the curing cycle was 12 hours in a thermal oven. The PEEK material only requires three hours in the oven, so we experience minimal warpage, but we do have to account for shrinkage and make sure that the tolerancing is correct for when we’re assembling the mould.” For PepsiCo’s 3D printed Modular Mold Set applications, the engineers have to account for deviations within plus or minus 0.5mm in the dimensions versus 0.1mm with subtractive manufacturing. While Rodriguez suggests this is reasonable for the kind of parts PepsiCo is producing with 3D printing, he and Tekanil still yearn for the warpage issues during curing to be addressed, while they also noted the brittleness of DLP materials can also be a pain point. There are more pros than cons to its Modular Mold Set, however, as PepsiCo has projected cost savings up to 90%, a lead time reduction from several weeks to just a few days, and worked out it can produce thousands of bottles with one printed mould insert.

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“3D printing accelerates our development cycle by weeks and possibly even months.” “We’re able to blow 10,000 bottles with this tool, which are the quantities that we need for us to be able to validate a new design because when we bring it into our manufacturing environment, we’re running 600 bottles a minute, 800 bottles a minute,” Rodriguez said. “A couple of hundred bottles are not going to do us any good. We need thousands of bottles to be able to do what we need to do. With this technology, we’re able to demonstrate that we can get comparable performance as we would with a metal mould, and we can produce thousands of bottles for us to evaluate downstream.” When PepsiCo first began to explore utilising 3D printing for this type of application, the company could only achieve 100 samples per mould set with Stratasys’ PolyJet technology and Digital ABS material, which exhibits a heat deflection temperature of 58-68°C. The company still runs this technology in-house – with FDM solutions in other facilities – and is prepared to harness PolyJet when pairing up with a lab-scale blow moulder for small volumes of samples, but when volumes between 5-10,000 are required, they will likely opt for a DLP system. It has been a Carbon M2 previously, is currently a Nexa3D NXE400, but with tabs kept on cost, machine performance and material capabilities, could easily be a solution from another provider in the future. “We’ve been able to streamline the workflow between the different printers, found the appropriate scaling factors for each printer, and because the mould is pretty much standard, the modular mould is printer agnostic,” Tekanil said. “Once we get a scaling factor in place, outside of that everything else is the same because we have the plugin from SolidWorks that automated the mould generation for the files. In that plugin,

we also have an option to modify the shrinkage, the scaling, so we can just plug in the numbers that we need and then it’ll generate a file that’s appropriate for this type of printer. We’ll use that file, and we print it. We can go from CAD to 3D print files within five minutes utilising our mould generator plug-in.” This process is said to return accurate parts 95% of the time, with tooling fabricated within 48 hours and functional product samples returned within a week. A proof-ofconcept exercise saw the Modular Mold Set produce up to 10,000 coldfilled, single-serve bottle products, while PepsiCo is now also exploring the application of metal 3D printing to integrate conformal cooling channels for heat-set applications, as well as injection mould tooling with its polymer technology. PepsiCo has previous when it comes to beverage packaging innovation, becoming the first soft drinks company to introduce the two-litre bottle in 1976 and regularly redesigning its soda cans throughout its 123-year history. With 3D printing, it believes it will have a future too. “It's having a huge impact,” Rodriguez assessed. “And it's going to continue to as we make it more prevalent, because [of] the ability for us to be able to go from a 3D CAD file to a physical prototype that is comparable to what you will get out of the production environment. It facilitates decision making with our marketing folks and business folks. It facilitates the evaluation of impact on our manufacturing operations with our supply chain and operations folks. It facilitates the same concept in consumer acceptance with our consumer insights folks. So, across

SHOWN: MOULD INSERT 3D PRINTED ON NEXA3D’S NXE400 MACHINE WITH XPEEK MATERIAL

the board, it facilitates us being able to evaluate how it is going to perform on our lines, how's it going to perform in our bending machines and so on. It accelerates our development cycle by weeks and possibly even months.” “We're also looking into using polymer printing systems for injection moulding tooling as well,” added Tekanil. “So, we're in the process of acquiring a lab-scale injection moulder and similar to what we're doing with the stretch blow moulding technology and the Modular Mold Set, it's something that we're also looking to shift over for injection moulded applications such as caps, closures [for example]. Those are things that we would be looking at rapid tooling for.”

VISIT NEXA3D AT TCT 3SIXTY STAND G22

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The Next Revolution in Stereolithography Is Here

Introducing the first-of-its-kind stereolithography (SLA) solution, the SLA 750, anchored by the SLA 750 and SLA 750 Dual 3D printers—the world’s first synchronous, dual-laser stereolithography system—delivering cost-efficient, high quality production manufacturing at up to 2X speed and 3X throughput. This solution includes a wide range of prototyping and production-grade materials, including the newly released Accura® AMX™ Durable Natural, the industry’s toughest production-grade SLA material, and 3D Systems’ new PostCure™ 1050 system for high-volume post-processing, as well as factory-level integration through the power of the Oqton Manufacturing Operating System (MOS).

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AM? IT'S WORTH IT.

n 2018, I hopped on a plane to Atlanta, Georgia to judge a competition that would see university teams put forward unique solutions for 3D printing in one of the industry’s most challenging materials. Founded and hosted by chemical and materials specialist Solvay, the Additive Manufacturing (AM) Cup demonstrates how open-source AM innovation can lead to new solutions. For 2021, that meant teaming up with cosmetics giant L’Oreal and Ultimaker. Sixty international teams were tasked with putting forward an application that could transform production line agility using Solvay’s Solef PVDF AM filament, a highly non-reactive thermoplastic fluoropolymer that’s inherently flame retardant. It’s not the most glamorous of applications for a company specialising in beauty products but the benefits of 3D printing along manufacturing lines cannot be understated. Miguel Calvo, CTO at Ultimaker, said of the company’s role in the competition: “Put simply, it's leveraging the expertise around the ecosystem, bringing them into the platform so that we can deliver a greater, wider spread of applications to our users. This challenge perfectly highlights that.” 3D Fab from the University of Lyon, France took home first prize with a versatile monobloc design that could be used on a packaging line to hold

WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

unstable products in place. The design is based on a reversible deformable puck that can be printed quickly and applied to everything from mascara tubes to tall shampoo bottles.

The winners were taken on a guided tour of two L’Oreal sites where they were able to put their pucks on the line. While L’Oreal’s facilities have been equipped with FDM 3D printing for the last four years, in some cases just metres away from the production line, the collaborators have been impressed by the ideas put forward.

“They have invented a solution that can basically work for all the bottles,” Andrea Gasperini, Business Development Manager at Ultimaker, explained.“There's a lot of noise because we have 400 pucks moving around and touching each other all the time but here, the bottle was really firm. The bottle is not allowed to move at all because every movement outside of the pack would imply a spill or a defected product that needs to be removed somehow before it gets packed.” Matthew Forrester, Head of Material Transformation & Recycling Science at L’Oréal, an engineer by trade, knows first-hand what is expected from this kind of application from considerations around environmental impacts at every stage of the supply chain to consumers who want their products quicker than ever before. “As soon as you click on the Amazon button, you want the part to be at your door, which obviously means that we need to have the industrial tools which are capable of replying as quickly as this,” Forrester said. “So being able to quickly change between products, ramp up production, slow down production, move production between countries […] these are the kinds of challenges that engineers are having, and this is exactly what we wanted to share with the participants by opening up a window into our industrial processes.”

Forrester said. “They're not plug and play solutions. We can’t just throw it straight onto the production line but what they have come up with is different solutions which can inspire our teams, and we can integrate some of their ideas and ways of thinking as well which is just as important as the finished product.” Brian Alexander, AM Global Product & Application Manager at Solvay, remarked how the winning parts were able to “virtually match the performance and quality” of their conventional injection moulded equivalent, affirming not only the success of the winning team but the value of accessible 3D printing technologies in industry. Calvo added: “It was nice to see people outside of the 3D printing industry really leveraging the abilities of this technology to unlock their design, innovation and design freedom.”

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VISIT ULTIMAKER AT TCT 3SIXTY

30.3 / www.tctmagazine.com / 033

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tct 3sixty PREVIEW

A 360-DEGREE LOOK AT TCT 3SIXTY

A snapshot of the technologies, talks and more headed to the UK’s leading AM showcase.

ith barely a minute to unpack our suitcases after RAPID + TCT, it’s already time to zip them back up again as Team TCT heads back out on the road to the NEC Birmingham for this year’s TCT 3Sixty, the UK’S leading showcase for 3D printing and additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. More than 150 exhibitors and 60 speakers are set to bring their latest products and insights to the floor on 8-9th June, highlighting the entire AM value chain from design to manufacturing to post-processing and 3D scanning. With our Evaluation, Adoption and Optimisation framework, the event has been designed to suit each stage of the AM adoption curve whether you’re looking to take that first

step, discover a new application or maximise your existing 3D printing workflows. A good place to start will be the North Stage where Dr Mark Prince, Director of Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Programmes at Aston University will be discussing the rapidly evolving landscape of AM technologies and materials, and how to exploit their capabilities through additive design principles and economics. For those already further alone the adoption curve, on the South Stage, Thomas Krüger and Wilderich Heising at Boston Consulting Group will be digging two of AM’s hottest

topics with a talk on how AM can enable more resilient and greener supply chains. The theme of supply chain will continue throughout the conference with talks from Pantea Khanshaghaghi, Project Lead at Equinor and Jennifer Johns, Reader in International Business at University of Bristol on transforming supply chains with distributed manufacturing and virtual inventories. If you’re joining us for the TCT Awards (you should, it’s going to be a fancy affair: www.tctawards.com), be sure to make your way to the North stage at 10am on day two for a special fireside chat with Women in 3D Printing President Kristin Mulherin and this year's Wi3DP Innovator Award winner. You’ll also

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find industry specific talks on automotive from Oliver Smith at Rethink Additive and micro trends in materials from Sona Dadhania at IDTechEx along with solutions to challenges such as IP from Aidan Skoyles at Finnegan, and quality assurance from panelists at Materialise (E50), Authentise and ASTM International (H70). For attendees looking for a more in-depth look at the latter, ASTM will also be hosting a short course on June 8th in collaboration with The MTC on the fundamentals for AM quality assurance (book your place at: mytct.co/TCT_ASTM). To hear about the latest product developments, the TCT Introducing Stage will be your one stop shop with presentations from Wayland (E90), Xerox (E17), Meltio (H10, H20), Covestro, Nano Dimension (E35), Massivit 3D (C70), Ultimaker (F10, D30, H20, H10, A40, H50) and many more covering everything from micro AM to functional materials. The show floor guarantees a wealth of expertise whether you’re looking for materials (4DBiomaterials (A50), AM Polymers (G40), AP&C (G42)), metal systems (Additive Industries (J1), Desktop Metal (C30), TRUMPF (G10), WAAM (B70), Xact Metal (G45)), polymers (Stratasys (D20, H45, C40), ETEC (C30), BCN3D (H20, H10, F10, H50), composites (Roboze (D60), Markforged (D30)), desktop machines (Prusa (G60, G62), E3D (G32), Formlabs (C45, D30)), a bit of everything (3D Systems (G5), CDG (L70, L86, L80, L88), EOS (J40), HP (E70), Laser Lines (H45) Matsuura (C30)), post-processing (AMT (D30), DyeMansion (C30), RENA (G50), Quill Vogue (D47), Solukon (G15)), 3D scanning (Central Scanning (G30), Manchester Metrology (F55), T3DMC (B35)), software (Altair (E55), AMFG (F5), Cadspec (F20)), or services (3DPRINTUK (B65), Complete Fabrication (A45), LPE (C52)). Registration is completely free and you can start making the most of your TCT 3Sixty experience even before the doors to Hall 9 are flung open by visiting the TCT Event Hub and making connections with exhibitors, setting up those all-important in-person meetings, and building your schedule.

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UK Q&A CONSTRUCT3D VISIT ON STAND E12 Construct3D is launching at TCT 3Sixty – can you tell us about the technology you are bringing to market? We wanted to make a machine that the community would love, and didn’t need you to worry about upgrades or tweaks to get better performance. So, we built our own FDM printer from the ground up, analysing every choice and part to see if it improves the printing experience. Turns out, the machine we made punches well above its class. Our printer really showed off its calibre when it was able to outperform the other machines by printing at speeds up to 320mm/s with accelerations over 17,000+. In addition, with E3D’s full copper volcano block and nozzle, we are able to truly give printing freedom without the limitation of flowrate. It is only through our voluntary work helping with the PPE shortage that we realised how fast our printer actually was. For every one unit printed on competitor printers, ours printed four. What are the key capabilities of the Construct 1 and Construct 1 Mini machines? Our printers are capable of incredibly fast speeds with impressive accelerations. This is only possible because of how rigid our frame is and our focus on using high quality parts. The printer is ready for action straight out of the box. There’s no need to upgrade anything as we’ve used the leading class main board and a highly reputable supplier for our extruder.

Everything about our machines was tuned for excellence and accuracy to make the 3D printing experience enjoyable as well as time efficient. In FDM 3D printing, Construct3D is stepping into a very competitive market – what do you think separates you from other players in this space? Our machine is able to print extremely fast, but also has the rigidity, reliability and quality to support the impressively fast accelerations required to actually see rapid printing. It also turns out that when you focus on quality and reliability, you can push the limits of what people consider viable. We have been able to create a machine that outperforms machines 10x its price. Lastly, our overarching philosophy of quality above all extends to the user experience, where we have classleading suppliers and components, which allows for a multitude of smart calibration and user features that makes the printing process completely controllable and pain free. Tell us what TCT 3Sixty visitors will be able to see at the Construct3D booth? They will be able to see three prototypes with a plethora of example prints with full print information and comparisons to competitors. There will also be two machines running demos so people can experience high flow printing with fast accelerations, while maintaining exceptional quality and dimensional accuracy.

tct 3sixty PREVIEW

UK Q&A WITH ASTON UNIVERSITY | VISIT ON STAND A25 Can you provide some insight into the work carried out at Aston University’s Advanced Prototyping Facility? We are helping companies with the development of new products – including producing prototype parts for Energym, Sonic Games and Rotospa. Why has the university placed this focus on 3D printing technology? Aston is always looking to the future and additive manufacture is now moving very quickly out of Scifi and into mainstream manufacturing, but this comes with new design techniques, rules, process and materials. This means we need to teach these techniques to the next generation of engineers but at the same time offer courses and help to engineers looking to use additive manufacture.

With access to such a range of 3D printing processes, what is your assessment of the capabilities of the technologies? We have a wide range technology at our disposal, including FDM systems from Ultimaker, 3DGence and Zortrax, as well as a PolyJet J835 from Stratasys, a Form 2 from Formlabs and a Metal X from Markforged. Plus, we have full time design engineers working with the manufactures of 3D printing as well as on designing for manufacture. At TCT 3Sixty, Dr Mark Prince will be presenting a talk entitled ‘Bringing additive manufacturing to work’ – what will be the key themes of this presentation? 3D printing can have significant impacts for businesses working across a diverse range of industries through saving development time,

tooling production, bespoke parts and complex geometry production. This session will help you to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies and materials, and discover how to exploit the capabilities of AM through additive design principles and economics. Introducing the Advanced Prototyping Facility based at Aston University and the expert advice and services available to help you to unlock new business opportunities and realise exciting innovations. Whether you’re new to AM and looking how to get started, or to find out how you could better exploit the advantages and avoid the pitfalls of embedding AM in your processes then this may be a very good use of your precious time.

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AWARDS

TCT HALL O

TCT HALL OF FAME 2020

The TCT Hall of Fame was founded to recognise the pioneers and innovators within the additive manufacturing (AM) industry. Nominated for their research, development, innovation, and promotional efforts within the industry, inductees are decided by the TCT Expert Advisory Board – a group of leading additive manufacturing industry experts. This year’s celebrations, which will take place during the TCT Awards ceremony on June 8th in Birmingham, UK, will kick off with a belated induction for our 2020 Hall of Famers Phill Dickens and Terry Wohlers following the postponement of 2020 ceremony. PHILL DICKENS has been working within AM for more than three decades, first as the founder of a world-leading research group and later as a professor at Loughborough University and the University of Nottingham. In these roles, he carried out research into 3D printing processes and introduced the technologies to a generation of young engineers. More recently, he co-founded Added Scientific, a company providing technical development expertise in AM, and has served on the UK AM Strategy board. TERRY WOHLERS, meanwhile, is the Principal Consultant and President of Wohlers Associates, Inc., an independent consulting firm he founded 33 years ago. Over the years, he has provided assistance to more than 275 organisations in 27 countries, as well as to 180 companies in the investment community. He has authored 425 books, articles and technical papers; is a renowned speaker on the industry’s conference circuit; and is the principal author of the Wohlers Report, which has provided insights on the AM industry for 25 years.

TCT HALL OF FAME 2022 Joining Dickens and Wohlers, one inductee for 2022 will be announced during the TCT Awards ceremony. This year’s nominees are:

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DIANA KALISZ Process pioneer and material specialist

ELAINE HUNT Early AM pioneer, researcher and industry advocate

Diana Kalisz has been part of 3D Systems for over 30 years and has been instrumental in the development of the technology, materials and its applications. Joining the company in 1989 after beginning her career in aerospace, Diana has worked in a variety of capacities including managing printer, software and materials programmes as well as leading the company’s overall engineering organisation. Under her leadership, 3D Systems has commercialised dozens of products to facilitate the maturation of rapid prototyping as well as true production applications. In her current role as Vice President, Materials, Diana is focused on materials development for the company’s Figure 4 platform, specifically for production applications. Diana is a member of P.E.O., a women’s Philanthropic Educational Organisation that supports higher education for women through scholarships, grants, awards, loans, and stewardship of Cottey College. This small organisation has raised and given hundreds of millions of dollars to support women’s education.

Now retired from the industry, Elaine was an early pioneer in AM, developing her passion for the technologies through running one of the first ‘rapid prototyping’ laboratories at Clemson University in the US back in 1989. As the potential of this new technology was being revealed, in 1994 Elaine went on to become the Director of the Laboratory to Advance Industrial Prototyping (LAIP) which provided industrial support in what was then known as Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing. Elaine became a huge advocate for education around AM, and was a vocal proponent on a national and international level. Elaine served on the Board of Advisors to SME for 2 years, as well as holding all major offices in the North American Stereolithography User Group – now known as AMUG.

TCT AWARDS

OF FAME JEAN-PIERRE KRUTH Am researcher and process pioneer Professor Jean-Pierre Kruth has been a researcher and process pioneer in the AM industry for over 30 years. As Professor in Production Engineering and Manufacturing at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium) Jean-Pierre began his long career in AM in 1990 where his research on stereolithography led to him co-founding the AM company Materialise. He continued his research activities into other areas of AM such as selective laser sintering and direct metal 3D printing, and has authored over 770 scientific papers. As well as Materialise, Jean-Pierre set up other spinoff companies such as Metris in 1995 (now Nikon Metrology) and LayerWise N.V. in 2008 (now 3D Systems – LayerWise). Jean-Pierre is a fellow of CIRP and SME and has received numerous awards for his work in AM.

Meet the additive manufacturing engineers, researchers and business leaders nominated for induction into the TCT Hall of Fame.

MELISSA ORME AM researcher and application specialist

NORA TOURE AM diversity pioneer and business leader

Melissa Orme began her career in AM over three decades ago as Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Irvine in the US. Here she developed a research programme centred on AM that drew international recognition, and resulted in 15 US patents. Melissa went on to hold senior leadership roles at start-up AM companies, including Chief Scientist and Chief Technology Officer, before becoming Vice President of Boeing Additive Manufacturing for The Boeing Company. Here she sets the AM strategy for the entire business and oversees all AM activities including flight hardware, production aids and research models to increase efficiency in the factories and to accelerate new product development. As an author and technical advisor, Melissa serves on several advisory and professional committees for additive manufacturing and aerospace.

Nora Toure is an experienced business leader in the field of AM, having been instrumental in the business development of AM companies such as Sculpteo, Ivaldi Group and Fast Radius. But it is in her work through the non-profit Women in 3D Printing (Wi3DP) that her impact has been felt the greatest. Nora founded Wi3DP in 2014 as a blog to share stories of women making their way in this male-dominated industry. With overwhelming response, the community quickly grew to a network of over 30 ambassadors and 30,000 members worldwide and established an online magazine, local Wi3DP events as well as the International TIPE conference to promote women leaders in the additive manufacturing industry. After seven years building the community, Nora is now acting as the Chairwoman of the Board, and serves as the Director of Enterprise Sales at Materialise.

WILHELM MEINERS Inventor of the Laser Powder Bed Fusion process

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In 1994 Wilhelm Meiners began what would become a long and prosperous career at Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology, Aachen, Germany. As a PHD student Wilhelm invented one of the most important metal additive manufacturing technologies – the Laser-Powder-Bed Fusion(L-PBF) process (also known as SLM, DMLS, Laser Cusing and others). Over the next 20+ years he continued to develop the process, its applications and machine technology. In many of these pioneering developments the basis of today’s most relevant applications were established. The fundamentals of this work made a significant contribution to the change from Rapid Prototyping to Additive Manufacturing. In 2018 Wilhelm left the world of academia to work in industry as an AM Expert at Trumpf Laser and Systemtechnik GmbH.

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27.1 / www.tctmagazine.com / 049

expert column

FROM MATERIALS TO LIVING ORGANS: THE FUTURE OF BIOPRINTING 3 Words: Dr Jia Min LEE, Dr Wai Yee YEONG

D Bioprinting is a computer-assisted technology to support engineering of biological parts through layer-by-layer precise positioning of biological materials, living cells, enabled by precise placement of these functional components by design. Several technology demonstrators have been reported including 3D bioprinting of pigmented skin, retina, cardiac and lung tissue models. Functional components in 3D bioprinting mainly refer to the bioink used in bioprinting, which is a formulation made up of cells with or without cellencapsulating biomaterials such as hydrogel. Just like 3D printing, 3D Bioprinting can deposit materials in a mechanised, organised, and optimised manner. With an added element of biological cells during the printing process, 3D bioprinting poses another level of challenges and considerations in developing design principles and strategies for functional 3D bioprinting. It is important to device a holistic fabrication strategy to ensure that cells survive the bioprinting process while maintaining its functionality post-printing for long-term culture. The cell-material remodelling interaction that occurs during the tissue maturation process after printing adds an

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extra dimension to the fabrication paradigm. As such, this computeraided tissue engineering involves interplay of various technologies and disciplines such developmental biology, stem cell, computing sciences, and material sciences.

The current bioprinting technologies, namely material extrusion, material jetting, vat polymerisation, free-form spatial printing, can deposit materials with micron level precision. The digital organ blueprint in Bioprinting recapitulates the hierarchical microenvironment of native tissue in the engineered bioartificial tissue. Functionally gradient composition with heterogeneous extracellular matrix material density can be recreated through orchestrating the material deposition process at different length scales or by combining additional biomolecules. In addition, the bioprinting process can be utilised innovatively to generate functional design of tissues. By applying extrusionbased bioprinting, we have shown that shear stress can be captured in a creative manner to achieve macroscopic cellular alignment in the tissues printed. Large format cell alignment is critical for cardiac and

“Bioprinting can be utilised innovatively to generate functional design of tissue.”

musculoskeletal applications. We also investigate the use of nanodroplets for depositing cells using specialised inkjet printer such as HP D300e digital dispenser. There remains an innovation gap in new material development for bioprinting and developing unique printing strategies that would support and enhance the fidelity of the organ constructs. Another focus area with high potential the introduction of hybrid functional components in bioprinting such as electronics and sensors into the tissues. One such possibility is to utilise electrically conductive hydrogel that interface with cells in the bioprinted construct in providing biochemical and biophysical stimulation cues. Regulating cell behavior through synergistic stimulation would enhance the functionality of engineered tissues which hold promises in next generation of smart bionic tissue models for applications such as biological studies, drug screening application and even implants. In summary, achieving precise control of shape and resolution in 3D bioprinting requires systems engineering and design thinking that span across multiple disciplines. Incorporating new digital technology and advanced sensors to bioprinting will be a critical future trend for development of biomimetic organs. Aligning 3D bioprinting with the inevitability of industry 4.0 will drive innovations for the future of healthcare creating new therapies from medical device to engineered tissue and organs.

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Where ideas take shape.

TCT Europe 30.3

Articles inside

FEELING ULTRASONIC

KEEPING COOL

FROM MATERIALS TO LIVING ORGANS

A 360-DEGREE LOOK

AM? IT’S WORTH IT

THE DED HEAT

TCT HALL OF FAME

3D PRINTING HITS THE SPOT