TCT North America 6.5 by TCT Magazine

MAG NORTH AMERICAN EDITION VOLUME 6 ISSUE 5

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INDUSTRIALIZING AM WITH PP BASF MAKES AFFORDABLE AM PRODUCTION PARTS POSSIBLE

3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing Intelligence

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VOLUME 6 ISSUE 5

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EDITORIAL

PRODUCTION ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING SOLUTIONS

HEAD OF CONTENT

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Samuel Davies e: samuel.davies@rapidnews.com t: 011 + 44 1244 952 390

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PRODUCTION

Sam Hamlyn Matt Clarke Ellie Gaskell

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VP, CONTENT, STRATEGY AND PARTNERSHIPS

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FROM THE EDITOR

FROM THE EDITOR DANIEL O'CONNOR

The New Normal As I depart TCT and the AM industry for a career in the arts (darling), I was asked by Laura and Sam if I’d like to pen some final thoughts on the industry in print, and because I have such a pompously high opinion of myself, I agreed. I’ve been part of the team editing TCT Magazine for over seven years and, as Laura pointed out in episode 46 of Additive Insight, my career in AM is as old as the Ultimaker 2. Upon reflection, that machine’s debut at TCT Show in September was a significant turning point in the industry. The Ultimaker 2 shaped the Ultimaker brand we know now; it’s hard to believe that a technology Volkswagen see as essential on their assembly floor was, in 2010, a wooden machine that looked more like something from the Flintstones than a machine creating jigs and fixtures for production lines across the globe. From 2013 onwards, the most significant changes have not come from the 3D printers themselves but the technologies that surround it. Material science, software developments and postprocessing solutions have accelerated the adoption of the technology to the point where, particularly in SLS, it can now compete with injection molding.

Adoption of the technologies throughout industry has happened. There was something of a throwaway remark by Dr David Wragg of Leonardo Helicopter at the last conference I attended pre-lockdown. During his presentation he said that he wasn’t going to show any prototyping or jigs and fixtures applications because Leonardo now just considered it ‘standard practise’. Standard practise by aerospace manufacturers, the normality of big brands like Adidas, Chanel and BMW using the tech for mass volume production, the fact that friends message me Ikea furniture spares from Thingiverse, the fact that nobody is wowed by a 3D printer anymore, it makes me feel like we’ve done our job. 3D printing is the new normal. A synonym for normal can be ‘boring’. This probably means new and interesting stories are more difficult to come by and, in the face of such challenge, my flight response beat fight and I’m leaving Laura and Sam to pick up the baton. In all seriousness though, there’s not a better team in the industry; it’s a perfect blend of innovative content creation and dogged journalism that will see TCT go from strength-to-strength.

VOL 6 ISSUE 5 / www.tctmagazine.com / 03

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TCT VOLUME 6 ISSUE 5

COVER STORY

06. INDUSTRIALIZING AM WITH PP How BASF is making functional, affordable 3D printed production parts possible.

MATERIALS

08. STEPPING ON THE GAS

Senior Content Producer Sam Davies talks to Sandvik about metal additive manufacturing powder development at its Sweden and UK sites.

11. BETTER METAL POWDER, BETTER METAL PRINTS

Equispheres VP of Strategic Partners and Alliances explains why the ‘garbage in, garbage out’ aphorism is as true of metal additive manufacturing as it is of computer software.

12. GOING GREEN WITH BLUESINT

Head of Content Laura Griffiths talks to Materialise about Bluesint technology, which enables SLS 3D printing with up to 100% re-used powder.

19. RIGHTS RESERVED

Professor Hing Kai Chan of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China discusses his patented ‘digital watermarking method for 3D printing models’ algorithm.

20. STAY SAFE

Dr Lee-Bath Nelson of LEO Lane talks to Laura about how supply chain challenges have emphasized the importance of IP protection.

23. MEASURE OF SUCCESS

Laura speaks to the suspension specialist which holds the title for “Oldest Working FaroArm in Europe.”

25. FROM SILVER SCREEN TO COVID-19

Sam speaks to the co-founder of a company using 3D scanning and 3D printing to produce life-like manikins for COVID-19 training.

15. COVESTRO BUYS OUT DSM

A look at Covestro’s acquisition of DSM as it places a focus on the circular economy.

MOLDING & TOOLING

16. A CUT ABOVE

Sam reports back from a pre-lockdown trip to Guhring’s UK facility, where the adoption of additive manufacturing has led to some innovative cutting tools.

METROLOGY & 3D SCANNING

EXECUTIVE Q&A

26. NO DISTRACTIONS

Laura speaks with 3D Systems CEO Jeff Graves about materials science, focusing on applications and the transformation of manufacturing.

29. NO SHOW GUIDE

Our alternative guide to the AM products and services you may have missed out on seeing across live show floors.

36 expert column 36. ALLOYS FOR HIGH-TEMP APPLICATIONS

Alloyed’s Will Dick-Cleland on the potential for new high-temperature AM alloys aerospace.

INDUSTRIALIZING AM WITH POLYPROPYLEN P Functional, affordable 3D printed production parts are now possible olypropylene (PP) is the most prominent thermoplastic in traditional manufacturing, boasting an excess of 70 tons of global annual demand.

SHOWN:

SLS PP WRIST CAST PROMOTES COMFORTABLE HEALING AND GIVES MUCH MORE FLEXIBILITY THAN A TRADITIONAL PLASTER CAST

The global use of this material for manufacturing creates great demand to offer PP in additive form and the demand opportunity provided a natural fit as a strategic priority for Forward AM by BASF 3D Printing Solutions.

This global start-up under the guidance of its mother company, BASF, has a charter to bring advanced materials, service solutions, and affordability through scale to enable taking additive manufacturing from simply a prototyping tool to a full production solution. “The development of Polypropylene grades for powder based additive manufacturing was our logical step towards industrial production with 3D printing, especially in the automotive industry,” commented Christian Reinhardt, Global Automotive lead for BASF Forward AM. “From now on, engineers can finally work with materials they are used to and don’t have to find workarounds for 3D printed applications.” Two PP powder bed fusion products were developed for the Forward AM toolbox to meet this market need: Ultrasint PP Nat01 for Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) platforms and HP PP Powered by Forward AM for HP’s Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) platform.

ECONOMICS AND SUSTAINABILITY

The Forward AM PP is highly recyclable in both SLS and MJF processes to support sustainability, limit waste, and keep part costs very low. BASF 3DPS is committed to enabling the industrialization of manufacture with its materials by harnessing its capabilities to manufacture powder at large scale to bring about affordability in the powder itself. This dramatically moves the needle in favor of AM for higher and higher volume runs

06 / www.tctmagazine.com / VOL 6 ISSUE 5

6 BELOW: where historically injection molding might have been chosen outside of prototyping.

THE FERRET TILE INSPECTION TOOL BODY, TRACK GUIDE AND INTERALS ARE MANUFACTURED WITH BASF PP MATERIAL

“The ability to validate Polypropylene prototypes in the same base material as production enables cost and time saving opportunities for all customers,” Aaron DeLong, Solutions Architect for HP notes. “Further, this breakthrough provides enhanced saving opportunities in bridge production, full production, and service applications.” PP can also be an effective replacement for PA12 prototyping parts to bring about savings of 25%- 50%.

PERFORMANCE

PP is chosen for its many inherent benefits and these AM PP powders are no different.

printed in powder bed fusion technologies are inherently porous, Forward AM’s PP powders, which can produce high burst pressure resistance, are not.

Durable production parts within automotive are enabled because of the chemical resistance. A range of applications can benefit from the high ductility and toughness of the PP to be able to provide damping and shock absorption. And while many materials

“In combination with Digital Printing, we see the BASF PP material as a game changer in the automotive industry to give OEMs more flexibility, leading to a greater focus on product-level features and increasing the speed of innovation,” offered David Tucker, Director of Digital

M NE

cover story

Solutions at Forecast3D. “This material improves OEM’s resource utilization by managing the geometric, financial and scheduling complexities of production.”

separate components that were later plate welded together. Typically, this part would be turned around in four weeks. With 3D printing, it took just four days.

Because PP is naturally water resistant it can also be used in outdoor applications or where water tightness is desired. Components printed with these powders exhibit a close relationship to the mechanical performance of an injection molded part which gives product designers confidence to translate their parts into AM more easily to harness the many benefits that 3D printing provides.

In addition to saving time, the PP material has also been deployed in projects that saved thousands of dollars in tooling costs. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, one customer was able to scale quickly and produce 28,000 fastener parts in three weeks. The strength and ductility of the PP ensured the part was functional, while the use of 3D printing saved round 10,000 USD in tooling. Another customer saved 15,000 USD in tooling costs when printing a grab handle in PP for a direct print-to-wrap application for a low volume premium vehicle, while PP was also used in the development, from prototype to production, of a remote-control inspection device by a BASF customer. Printing all custom parts in the SLS PP, 12 weeks of design time was saved, as well as 33,000 USD in injection molding tool costs.

FUNCTIONALITY & COST SAVING CAPABILITIES

An exciting aspect of the Forward AM PP is that printed parts can be welded much like their sister IM parts are. This enables the opportunity for a multitude of functional production parts like tanks and reservoirs, tubes, and piping systems. You can combine AM parts with IM parts or with custom fittings, while large parts that extend beyond a normal AM build volume can be produced by welding pieces together. PP also enables light-weighting because of its low density which is often a driver in the transportation industry for fuel economy. One example of welding parts together that were printed with BASF’s PP material was a prototype bottle application, which was printed as two

PROVIDING CHOICE

BASF strives to leave the equipment choice to the customer by providing powders that work well across powder bed technologies. The company thinks this is another step in the right direction towards the industrialization of AM. Users can process BASF’s PP powder on either HP’s MJF technology or a variety of SLS systems depending on their preference and specific needs.

“We see the BASF PP material as a game changer.” What’s more, many customers prefer to outsource their printing to service providers either in the ramp up stage or for long term manufacturing. This can be a huge benefit to limit capital expenditure, increase flexibility in manufacturing volumes, or simply to harness expertise that might not be a core competency. The network of service providers able to offer the BASF-manufactured PP powder is being built up at service providers like Peridot, Extol and Forecast3D to start. For one-stop shopping, it is also possible to access PP and many other BASF materials through the Shapeways BASF portal.

For more, go to www.forward-am.com www.shapeways.com/partnership/basf

5 ABOVE:

EXTOL PRINTED AND HOT PLATE WELDED A RESERVOIR THAT PASSED BURST TESTS

VOL 6 ISSUE 5 / www.tctmagazine.com / 07

STEPPING ON SHOWN: SECO TOOLS COOLANT CLAMP PRODUCED WITH POWDER BED FUSION TECHNOLOGY IN OSPREY 18NI300 MARAGING STEEL

hrough a recently announced, ring-fenced collaboration, Sandvik and GE Additive set out a very specific materials roadmap for the latter’s H2 Binder Jetting system. It has been driven by the demands of its partner’s end-users and designed to facilitate series industrial applications. The details, for now at least, remain behind firmly closed lips, but Sandvik’s general additive manufacturing (AM) strategy has been made very clear. For more than 15 years, the Swedish firm has been working alongside AM users to deliver metal powder solutions and, since 2013, has made sizeable investments into a wide range of AM technologies. It houses Powder Bed Fusion, Electron Beam Melting and Binder Jetting machines; boasts nine gas atomization towers to support its metal powder production; and, in the last couple of years, has slammed on the accelerator as it establishes itself as a leading metal AM powder supplier. While a smash-proof guitar made from 3D printed titanium and machined stainless steel proved an effective marketing tool last year, through materials collaborations with GE, ExOne and Renishaw; investments in the BEAMIT and Zare service bureaus; and the securing of ISO 13485:2016 and AS9100D certifications, Sandvik has been prolific in getting things done. The developments of the last 24 months all

08 / www.tctmagazine.com / VOL 6 ISSUE 5

SHOWN: TITANIUM POWDER TOWER AT SANDVIK’S SANDVIKEN AM POWDER PRODUCTION PLANT

serve to supplement its 3D printing powder production plants in Sandviken, Sweden and Neath, UK, and continue the traditions of a company founded in the 1860s. “It builds on the heritage, DNA and approach that Sandvik has had over its 158year history, driving materials evolution,” Keith Murray, VP & Head of Global Sales at Sandvik AM, tells TCT. “In that time, it has been successful through innovation and diversifying into new and different areas, continuously launching new materials. The interest in additive is driven by the same thing.”

MATERIAL DEVELOPMENTS

Having stepped up its presence in AM through an R&D center several years ago, Sandvik expanded its play in the sector gradually by plugging gaps in its product portfolio. Titanium and aluminum were the biggest of those gaps and have since been addressed by material-specific production sites set up in Sweden and the UK, respectively. With these metals

complementing its tool steels, maraging steels, stainless steels, duplex and superduplex steels, nickel-based superalloys, cobalt alloys and copper alloys, Sandvik believes it has the broadest range of metal AM powders out there. What’s more, it has control over every step of their development, from raw materials through gas atomization and all the downstream processes. The company has decades’ worth of gas atomization experience and considers it the most commonly used production method of metal additive powders for a reason. “It is inherently strong in producing spherical particles and flow is one of the fundamental characteristics that the powder has to have,” Murray explains, before detailing how the secondary steps of sizing and screening metal powders help to ensure the required particle size distribution for the desired AM processes. Underpinning this is a combination of automation and person-power: scanner systems deliver data measurement and control, robotics helps with process transfers, while parameter set-up of the sizing process and running of the machines remain manual tasks. “To build quality into the product, you have to build quality into the processes,” Murray emphasizes. “And that means setting up and understanding the atomizing process, the sizing process and having all the process controls and monitors in place to ensure that we execute and control all the critical parameters. If you control processes in a good way, then the test [phase] is just confirmatory. If you’re reliant on testing at the end to

MATERIALS

N THE GAS WORDS: sam davies

is Hastelloy X (UNS N06002), an alloy originally developed for casting applications in the 1950s that is recognized as a difficult material to process using AM technologies. Prone to cracking, Sandvik went about solving the issue and, today believes its optimized material, Osprey HX, ‘greatly reduces the propensity for that material to crack.’ An updated maraging steel powder has been another example of these efforts.

“To build quality into the product, you have to build quality into the processes.” guarantee quality, then you open yourself to the risk of material not meeting spec and then you have to repeat the loop all over again. That adds time, it adds cost. To avoid that, it’s all about building quality into the entire process.” This increased process quality has already yielded tangible returns. Not content with just filling the gaps in its materials portfolio, Sandvik has also sought to make improvements to several of its metal AM powders. One of those

“We make a lot of maraging steel, that’s something we have a very good market position on, but last year, we introduced an improved maraging steel for the AM applications where surface hardness is very important,” Murray explains. “The standard product on the market today can achieve a level of about 52 HRC on the Rockwell hardness scale. We can achieve over 60 HRC Rockwell after heat treatment. It’s a superior product that will allow our customers to expand the range of tooling applications, [for example], that they can produce additively because you get better material performance.” As Murray goes on to say, metal powders are all about the characteristics. The sphericity of the powder and distribution of particles ensure flowability, the composition of the material helps to keep the chemistry tightly controlled, and cleanliness ensures a reduced risk of residuals and contaminants defecting the resulting part. As the AM industry has spread its focus from the consistency of the printing process to the performance of the materials, Sandvik has pushed forward.

INTERNAL APPLICATION

For several years now, Sandvik AM has been sharing its developments with its sister businesses. Using a new iron-chromium-aluminum alloy, the Sandvik Group’s industrial heating brand, Kanthal, recently set up an AM offering for the development of heating elements and components. Before that, the Seco Tools division had begun supplying a coolant clamp for a milling head which was printed with Powder Bed Fusion using Sandvik’s Osprey 18Ni300 maraging steel and features curved cooling channels on the interior. While this application of AM allowed Seco Tools to design and produce a part that can’t be done any other way, Sandvik Coromant’s use of the technology has resulted in weight reductions of 80% and productivity increases up to 200%. Meanwhile, the Sandvik Coromant business has deployed AM to produce a lightweight milling

head, the CoroMill 390, using titanium instead of tool steel and implementing topological optimization to lightweight the part. This is said to have ensured the depth of the milling head’s cut is increased and done at considerably quicker speeds. The successful internal implementation of AM has been significant, but Sandvik is also serving external customers too, an effort bolstered by adding the capabilities of BEAMIT and Zare. Supplementing the progress made in the last couple of years, and with high hopes of metal binder jetting technology establishing itself as another production tool, Sandvik is now looking to facilitate the greater application of AM, then scale its capacity to meet the new demand. Pivotal to that is the expansion of its materials portfolio. It has the processes, it has plugged the gaps and improved the materials industry knows and loves, and now the company is wanting to harness its innovative and diversifying traditions to make more significant strides in the AM space. “It’s getting to the stage,” Murray finishes, “of developing alloys specific to additive technology. The history of the industry so far has all been around taking existing alloys and materials that were developed for conventional manufacturing processes – for casting, machining and forging – and transferring those into additive and demonstrating that, for example, Alloy 625 made by additive is comparable to Alloy 625 made by a cast group. “In the first 20 years of the industry, that was the focus, which is understandable. But I think we’re in a stage now where people are looking at more than that, recognizing that additive technologies have certain characteristics and, if you use those characteristics in the right way, you can produce a new family of materials that are designed, metallurgically, to take advantage of thermodynamic cycles of laser melting versus trying to convert something that was being made for 50 or 60 years using the same thing.”

VOL 6 ISSUE 5 / www.tctmagazine.com / 09

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MATERIALS

BETTER METAL POWDER, BETTER METAL PRINTS

By Doug Brouse, VP of Strategic Partners and Alliances at Equispheres.

here is an old adage in computer software – garbage in, garbage out. This aphorism is true for many things, including metal additive manufacturing (AM). Two issues currently challenge the industry: reliability/consistency problems in the AM process and low speed of production. These two issues result in metal AM costs roughly 10x that of traditional manufacturing processes such as casting. Fortunately, printer manufacturers have been working towards resolving consistency issues by making lasers more precise, build environments more controlled, and hardware more robust. Similarly, they have been attempting to increase production speed by improving ingress/egress of parts and packing their systems with lasers. Commendable, but these incremental improvements can only achieve so much

– an examination and re-evaluation of acceptable feedstock is critical to achieving the gains necessary to compete with traditional manufacturing. Traditional gas atomized feedstock powder was never intended for the metal AM process. Early metal AM machine makers selected the feedstock as a means to simplify the commercial introduction of their printers. It enabled their customers to find and use a wide variety of material and allowed the manufacturers to focus on their core business of building machines. However, as the industry matured, it became clear that better powder feedstock specifically designed for AM, is necessary to meet the broader mass markets’ demanding requirements. This presents a new challenge; what ‘better feedstock’ means has not been clearly defined. The industry generally accepts that powder uniformity, particle smoothness, and narrow PSD matter but what has not been understood is how much these properties matter and translate into better performing parts. For example, metal AM produces mechanically strong parts most of the time, but it does not produce them all the time. Instead, the process produces parts with mechanical properties that are spread over a spectrum from ‘okay’ to ‘excellent.’ For demanding aerospace and automotive applications, this uncertainty forces design engineers to assume AM is only dependable enough to produce parts at the lowend of the performance spectrum, resulting in parts that are effectively over-designed and bulky. The good news is that better feedstock designed specifically for metal AM can resolve this issue. Research has shown that ‘better powder’ must have the following characteristics:

•N arrow PSD - less than a 30 μm spread between the 10 and 90th percentiles •F ew fines - powder particles with a diameter less than 15 um not exceeding 20 million particles by count per gram of material •E xcellent sphericity - greater than .93 sphericity •S mooth - specific surface area less than .05 m2 /g Powder with these features will flow two times faster, spread 30% more densely and adsorb ½ the moisture compared to traditional powder. This translates into parts that exhibit ‘very good’ to ‘excellent’ mechanical properties. This improved consistency provides design engineers the statistical confidence to raise the higher ‘a-basis’ design allowable limit by 20 to 30% and produce lightweight high-performance parts. Better powder not only improves the effective mechanical performance of the parts, but also plays a large role in reducing production costs. Powder that spreads 30% more densely can be printed in thicker layers as there are fewer voids, and the energy from the laser is more easily absorbed. By doubling the layer thickness, the speed of vertical production doubles. Additionally, the uniform laser absorption, uniform melting and solidification allow the scanning speed to increase 20%, adding an extra boost to the horizontal production speed. Because 50% of the cost of producing an AM part is related to the cost of the printer time, a two times productive gain roughly translates into a ~25% overall reduction in part cost and represents a significant step towards economic parity with casting. Metal AM can - and will - replace many traditional manufacturing techniques and offers customers better, greener, less expensive products. This starts with choosing better powder feedstock.

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GOING GREEN WITH BLUESINT WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

hen TCT spoke to Fried Vancraen on the Additive Insight podcast back in April, the Materialise CEO and founder described his pride in centring the company’s early mission statement on using 3D printing to create a better and a healthier world. He said: “We see this just as an extension of an evolution we have been in already for a long time because sustainability is now another word to define that better and healthier world." Proving this was not just another platitude on the industry’s looming issue, the Belgian additive manufacturing leader has announced the development of a selective laser sinteringbased process and material innovation called Bluesint, which makes it possible to 3D print with up to 100% re-used powder. “The story of Bluesint starts almost 7 years ago, when we experimented with a CT scan to get very detailed impressions of our SLS prints,” Jurgen Laudus, VP & General Manager, Materialise Manufacturing, told TCT. “The CT scan revealed very minor irregularities in the printed objects. Irregularities that weren’t visible to the naked eye and that we weren’t able to see before. The next step was to figure out what caused these irregularities. Slowly but surely we gained more insight about the process behind this and we learned what buttons we had to turn to impact the outcome. Once we were able to apply these insights to actually control the process, we decided to use these insights to address the issue of powder waste.” The process has been engineered to overcome the so-called “orange peel” effect, a surface texture problem often found in laser sintered parts produced with only used powder from previous print jobs. The effect is caused by shrinking which occurs when the powder cools down between two consecutive sintering processes. Currently, the answer is a mix of used and virgin powder, but Laudus notes how this option is simply not sustainable. “With laser sintering, the second most commonly used 3D printing technology, up to

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“We aim to re-use more than five tons of powder that would normally become waste.”

50% of the powder becomes waste,” Laudus explained. “The potential to recycle the used powder is limited and 3D printing with only used powder creates surface problems that make the 3D printed object unsuitable for most applications. That’s why manufacturers mix used powder with fresh powder, commonly in a 50/50 ratio. This makes the SLS print process not only more costly but it also creates a lot of waste. With our ability to better understand and control the 3D printing process, we knew this represented a great opportunity.” Bluesint works by controlling two lasers within the printer, one for sintering the powder, and a second to keep the powder above a certain temperature. This prevents it from cooling down between two layers, and as a result, eliminates the dreaded shrinking process. This

SHOWN:

PARTS PRODUCED VIA THE BLUESINT METHOD ARE SAID TO BOAST SIMILAR MECHANICAL PROPERTIES TO A STANDARD PA12

MATERIALS

3 LEFT:

BLUESINT PA12 PART PRINTED WITH 100% RE-USED POWDER

breakthrough, Materialise claims, delivers 100% recycled parts featuring similar mechanical and visual properties to those printed with fresh powder. “As we gained a better understanding and control of the various printing parameters we were able to manipulate the process,” Laudus said, elaborating on the multi-laser technique. “There are two options: applying a local pre-heating before the actual sintering pass or applying a local post-heating after the actual sintering pass. Local means that it needs to be done by the laser and locally only where material needs to be sintered. Heating means that the energy delivered is not enough to melt the material, but just to pre-heat or post-heat. “By preventing the powder to cool down, we can prevent the shrinking process that causes a deformation of the surface, the so-called orange peel effect." JUST HOW SUSTAINABLE IS AM? As we explored in the last issue of TCT, sustainability continues to stir up debate in the additive manufacturing sector as manufacturers and end-users question whether the process, long perceived as intrinsically more sustainable than

Materialise recently participated in a Lifecycle Analysis (LCA) study in partnership with BASF based on the series production of one million pairs of 3D printed midsoles to determine the environmental impact throughout the product’s life. When comparing data from three different 3D printing technologies and conventional polyurethane casting, every time additive was found to have a bigger impact on climate change and depletion of fossil fuels. While bucking the belief that AM is naturally more sustainable, Materialise recognizes additive’s other unique advantages, such as the ability to customize products or bring smaller series production closer to the point of demand, could help balance its environmental impact.

traditional manufacturing methods, is in fact as green as we think. In a recent survey presented to Chinese manufacturers by Materialise, 85% of those asked said they believe this to be the case. “This confirms a general consensus that AM is a sustainable manufacturing technology,” Laudus said of the results. “But a recent LCA indicates that for large series of identical products, 3D printing is currently not the most sustainable choice. These kinds of studies are important to avoid greenwashing and substantiate what we do.” Laudus does, however, believe we may need to cut AM some slack: “On the other hand, we need to give AM some credit: ‘young’ standard manufacturing technologies such as injection molding have been optimized for production for over 75 years. 3D printing has been used in a production context for hardly 20 years. Moving forward, the question is not whether AM is a sustainable manufacturing technology, the question becomes: “what can we do to make AM more sustainable?””

Meanwhile, exploration of Bluesint is ongoing and Materialise intends to onboard select customers to a beta program and load up several machines throughout next year with the powder to meet some serious material recycling ambitions. “In the next few months we plan to run several laser sintering machines with Bluesint PA12," Laudus said. "In this start-up phase alone we aim to re-use more than five tons of powder that would normally become waste. In addition we have created a beta program for the Bluesint PA12 service and invite selected customers with diverse applications and a focus on sustainability to participate in the market validation process of the new technology. This beta program will teach us which objects and which applications our customers choose to run with Bluesint PA12.”

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COVESTRO BUYS OUT DSM I

t was a move that took the industry by surprise, though not because the additive manufacturing (AM) space isn’t used to one material supplier taking over another. In the last few years, BASF acquired Advanc3D Materials and Setup Performances; Evonik bought out Structured Polymers; and Henkel has introduced materials based on the expertise of Loctite and Molecule.

But Covestro’s $1.61B move to integrate DSM’s Resins & Functional Materials business, and with it the company’s AM offering, into its own did raise a few eyebrows. DSM was among the first thirdparty materials suppliers to establish itself in the industry and has maintained that leadership position despite the likes of BASF and Evonik emerging alongside them. That its next step, a logical one through the lens of its business strategy per the company, was to be done in tandem with Covestro was on few people’s radar. “We believe it is positive news for the future of the additive manufacturing business,” a DSM statement read. “By combining our strong innovation capabilities, sustainable product portfolios as well as complementary technologies and customer industries, we will unlock significant value,” added Covestro CEO Dr Markus Steilmann. “It is a key step to drive innovation for the transition towards a circular economy.” The recent Formnext Connect virtual event was the first glimspe of this ambition. ‘Entirely dedicated’ to the

Circular Economy concept, Covestro's presence at the event focused on products that were made from alternative raw materials, like recycled plastics and its CO2-based cardyon brand, while also highlighting its Addigy range of filament, powder and resins based on polyurethanes, thermoplastic polyurethanes and polycarbonates. Within this portfolio, there are said to be grades with a bio-content of almost 50%, products made out of recycled materials and materials that promise a lower carbon footprint. Such is the range of mechanical properties, like flexibility, strength and rigidity, Addigy is said to have materials suitable to the automotive, footwear, healthcare and electronics sectors. In each industry, the company wants to help companies scale, while being as green as possible.

By mid-2021, when the acquisition is set to be completed, DSM’s broad offering will supplement Covestro’s goals of enabling sustainable production at scale. Through a variety of portfolios, DSM supplies more than two dozen materials to users of stereolithography, powder bed fusion and filament extrusion technologies, while also increasingly providing more options for Fused Granulate Fabrication. Joining its Arnilene AM6001 GF and Arnite AM8527 pellet materials at Formnext was the EcoPaXX AM4001. This material is 42% bio-based according to ISO 16620-1 2015(E) and is said to exhibit excellent thermal and mechanical properties with low moisture uptake, making it suitable for the automotive space, among others.

“Covestro is the right company to develop the business.” While enabling a range of applications in this industry, DSM also believes the material will help users lower their emissions and reduce their carbon footprint by enabling lighter weight products. Sustainable AM is what has brought the two companies together. Seeing AM as a ‘high growth segment’, Covestro was always going to step up its presence in the market and considered DSM’s 3D printing business to be the vehicle to help ‘drive innovation and advance sustainability’ across many industries. In a statement given to TCT, Michael Friede, the Head of Covestro’s Coatings, Adhesives, Specialties segment, said: “The partners along the value chain will profit from a merged expertise and know-how in the field of AM and the complementary product portfolio will expand solution offering for end users. In the context of innovation, DSM’s additive manufacturing will be a good strategical fit and contributor to Covestro’s vision to become fully circular.”

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A CUT ABOV Senior Content Producer Sam Davies talks to Guhring about how metal additive manufacturing is enabling significant redesigns of several cutting tools.

ander through the rows of CNC cutting and milling machinery, past the brazing set-up positioned in the corner and beyond the quality assurance apparatus arranged along the back wall, through a big blue door and sat beside a furnace is a single Markforged Metal X.

SHOWN: GUHRING CUTTING TOOLS PRODUCED WITH AM

We are inside a facility which is pioneering a new approach to Polycrystalline Diamond (PCD) cutting tool production and represents the only Guhring production center out of 72 to be applying additive manufacturing technology like this. The site is in Aston, UK, just down the road from Birmingham and, in early March, hosted a presentation and tour for dozens of engineers looking to learn from an AM user that has hit the ground running. Markforged, and its UK reseller Mark3D, are said to be very impressed with how quickly Guhring UK has managed to not only identify applications but develop and deliver them to several customers. So enthused is one Mark3D employee that he interrupts a slideshow presentation to emphasize that Guhring UK is ‘leading the way in their market’ with ‘nobody else on the planet’ using the tech in the same way. Starting with a Markforged Design system, Guhring UK was first printing composite bodies of cutting tools that they would go on to manufacture with CNC machinery to assess form and fit, so that there were no unwanted collisions after they had positioned the tips. Not long after, Mark3D introduced Guhring UK to the Metal X machine, which they quickly deployed for the manufacture of cutting tools that were sent to select customers to retrieve some feedback.

successful first implementation of additive, the company has wasted no time in moving onto the next part, and the next part. Twelve months after adopting AM, the company is unveiling its H13 tool steel milling cutter with a weight reduction of 60%, a time reduction of 66% and a tooling costs saving of 75%. It is the key draw as engineers from across the UK take their seats in the Aston facility.

“There was one application that we did for a company abroad which they wanted to turn around in a week,” Alan Pearce, PCD Production Supervisor at Guhring UK tells TCT. “What we did was print the head, raise the PCD, ground the shank and shrunk it into a holder, so it became a monoblock tool, and we sent it to the customer. It worked fine and we turned that around in just over a week, from design to shipping. From the design of the tool, it was just a few modifications to the body, like some grinding on the shank; we do a plastic version to make sure everything is okay; then we do a steel body [with the Metal X]; sinter to harden the body; and then braze and wire grind just like a normal steel body tool or carbide tool. The fact we could do it so quick, that’s a massive advantage.”

This part is most suitable for application in the automotive industry to cut aluminum pieces and can be printed, washed, sintered and sandblasted within a few days, before the PCD tips are then brazed and the tool is ground with a clocking ring. The part has 125-micron layers, is printed with modular support structures that fall away during the wash and are said to feature smooth surface finishes in the inside pockets. Guhring has also designed the cutting tool with an internal triangular webbing which, along with the thickness of the walls, contributes to that 60% weight reduction. This lighter weight is said to put less strain, stress and force on a CNC machine’s grippers and spindles, while also allowing for faster tool changes and, subsequently, a reduction in cycle times. Meanwhile, thanks to some optimized cooling channels, which work to supply coolant and flush away chips as the cutting happens, the lifespan of the tool has increased too.

The typical turnaround period for Guhring’s PCD tooling is a couple of weeks, sometimes more, but after a

“One of the things they're finding, because they can be very, very directional with the coolant holes, is the tip

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Molding & Tooling

“It's special what these guys get up to.” body,” describes Weston. “As an engineer, I love it, that's what it's all about. It's special what these guys get up to here. Now, I'm not allowed to tell you much more, but this is something that has been very, very well received.” “3D printing is the only way to do this part,” Pearce adds later. “With the coolant holes design, it would be impossible to do with manual CNC machines. You need to print this part.”

SHOWN:

GUHRING CUTTING TOOL IN ACTION

life is going up,” explains Mark3D UK Managing Director Ian Weston. “Before, the coolant is just a wash or, at best, a sparked hole somewhere in the area. Now, if you want to run it down the side of that tool, we can have letterbox shaped vents kinked straight at the cutting face. All of a sudden, the coolant is exactly where it needs to be. There's a lot of progress being made with internal geometry and that’s stuff you can’t make any other way.” The message from Weston during his presentation is the same as it was to Guhring when the company first began to apply 3D printing: “Don’t think about printing everything, just focus on the awkward stuff.” What he shows the packed room next is something once considered an awkward design to tackle, indeed it was impossible to manufacture through conventional means, but with AM they found a way. As he clicks to the next slide, ‘phenomenal,’ is Weston’s assessment, ‘really special.’ It is an ejector drill that has been designed to make sure that, as the tool cuts away, the chips come backwards out of the cutting area to significantly reduce the risk of swarf being left behind on the piece that is being cut. To direct cutting chips away from the cutting area, the coolant channels have been designed to come along the sidewalls of the tool and twist at a 90-degree angle to squirt coolant at the bottom to divert the chips away.

5 ABOVE:

MARKFORGED METAL X

“When it cuts, it forces the chips through the center of the drill. And the chips come out at the bottom around the

Print this part is what Guhring UK is doing as it continues to embrace the advantages AM brings to the company. An anecdote told on the way around Guhring UK’s facility is that of all the engineering staff in Aston, it was the intern, who has since been taken on full time, that was most sceptical of 3D printing’s ability to produce the cutting tool’s required by the likes of BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Airbus and BAE Systems. The scepticism, quite like the metal chips that fly out as Guhring’s 3D printed cutting tools get going at over 10,000 RPM, has been washed away. The introduction of AM has not only allowed Guhring to negotiate complex designs to improve performance, but it has allowed prototype parts to be produced quickly and taken in physical form to production meetings, as well enable Guhring to scrap minimum order quantities on certain parts and free up capacity on its conventional manufacturing machinery. And, as a company with more than 70 production facilities around the world, there’s surely more to come. “The more and more tooling that we're doing, the more and more we're learning,” finishes Pearce. “We're looking at more and different applications so we can use the printer to print tools, to give us a better chip flow, to give us a better coolant flow, all the time. The Guhring plants throughout the world all try to replicate each other. That’s how we first started. We were replicating a plant in Germany. If 3D printing takes off, that will be the case as well.”

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RIGHTS RESERVED I Sam Davies talks to the professor behind the industry's latest IP protection patent. believe this patent has great potential and will play an important role in stimulating the development of 3D technology,” Professor Hing Kai Chan commented in a recent press release. “Getting a patent is the first step.” It’s a step that has taken Professor Chan, and his colleagues at University of Nottingham Ningbo China, three years. The Ningbo campus is one of two overseas branches of the University of Nottingham and has faculties of business, humanities and social sciences, and science and engineering. Inside the latter, Professor Chan, while cooperating with the Law Schools of the University of Exeter, Durham University and the University of Sussex in the UK, recently filed a patent for a ‘digital watermarking method for 3D printing models’ that tracks and protects intellectual property (IP). Prior to the filing of this patent, Professor Chan believes it has been all too easy to pilfer the IP from a 3D printing model. “The main challenge is the digital nature of the source CAD files,” he told TCT. “The files can be encrypted, but not the printed objects. Therefore, it is a matter of computational time for someone who possess the files to unlock the encrypted contents and then produce the products, illegally.” While typically the anti-counterfeiting of a 3D printing model has been achieved by embedding a digital watermark into an STL file, Professor Chan, and the additive manufacturing vendors and users he interviewed during his research, had concerns over the efficacy of these watermarks and the subsequent impact on adoption and application.

The alternative invented by Professor Chan and his team is an algorithm that transforms the ‘3D spatial matrix similarity problem’ into a ‘2D image matching problem’, remaining almost invisible to the naked eye so as not to affect the appearance of the part, but unlikely to be lost during the design and additive manufacture of the part. It enables the tracing of item-level information, including the 3D printing platform used and the individual responsible for the design, to protect IP rights.

“The patented algorithm adds a watermark on printed objects, so the digital files will be altered every time a new digital file is needed,” explained Professor Chan. “The watermark can be changed for each printed object. Via a proper licensing mechanism, the designer keeps the original design and sends the “watermarked files” to the buyers accordingly. Therefore, we can trace the source of the files. Reverse engineering cannot tackle this protection scheme. In addition, this concept provides companies

who are willing to pay the licence fee with a channel to recognise IP issues.” Professor Chan was motivated to invent a new solution for IP protection within 3D printing because of the regularity within which IP is stolen and because, when it does happen, it is ‘difficult, if not impossible’ to trace the source of infringement. He believes this adds significant risk to the adoption of 3D printing which, with a background in industrial engineering, he assesses has the capability to optimise production and operation processes. “3D printing is a typical example of such innovative production process that could bring business operations to a better level” he offered. “That said, if this is compromised by IP issues, companies may not be able to gain the intended benefits brought out by the technology itself, due to poor diffusion. [And] without mass applications, the technology will not be fully utilized.” To provide a contribution to help the potential of 3D printing to be fully utilized, Professor Chan is now in the process of applying for funding to develop a licensing platform to take the patented technology into the commercial space. As with 3D printing, Professor Chan believes his invention holds a lot of potential, but he also recognizes more can be done to protect IP rights. “The 3D printing equipment designers and manufacturers play an important role in this protection,” finished Professor Chan. “For example, the patented concept can also be implemented via their printers. They are the direct actors who help convert the digital files to physical objects. If they are taking part in this, it will be easier for other researchers to develop IP protection schemes like ours.”

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WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

t’s funny how quickly a phrase can filter into your day-to-day lexicon. Before this year, ‘stay safe’ was something I’d only heard on the regular as a kid when I would rush out of the front door to go play with my friends, or even now on a pre-flight phone call to my mum when I’m traveling solo. Now, it’s in my emails everyday as people I’ve barely shared a handful of exchanges with thoughtfully wish my family and friends well during a universally difficult year. In additive manufacturing (AM), however, staying safe has become about more than just washing your hands to the sound of happy birthday two times (an insight into the UK’s COVID strategy) and staying two meters apart. The pandemic has also forced those within the industry, particularly new users, to think more urgently about how they’re protecting their 3D printable part data, as I heard in my now annual catch up with Dr Lee-Bath Nelson, Co-founder and VP Business at AM software company LEO Lane. “IP issues have always been issues and the more you use additive in production, the more of an issue it becomes,” Nelson told TCT. “I'll even say, conversely, if you do not use additive in production but you come across supply chain failures as we have in COVID, and then you

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want to use additive as an emergency stop gap, that's even worse in terms of needing IP protection.” Whether it’s a huge manufacturing organization seeking to ensure its valuable data is kept in-house or an independent designer wanting to protect their products from copycats, protection of IP is an issue that remains ever relevant to all corners of the AM industry. To address that, LEO Lane is a cloudbased software as a service company which offers solutions to help control the quality and quantity of additive parts. Founded in Israel in 2014, users large or small can securely turn their parts into LEO files - or Limited Edition Object – which control how, where and how many times said part can be produced. It’s a factor more companies have been forced to consider after supply chain hold ups caused by international lockdowns and travel restrictions during the height of

“The more you use additive in production, the more of an issue [IP] becomes.” the pandemic resulted in alternative manufacturing routes to be sought in place of traditional methods. For some, in stepped additive manufacturing, particularly in the case of crowd sourced COVID products, as a way to manufacture in-demand parts more quickly, perhaps without tooling, and closer to the point of

need; benefits the technology has long lauded. “During this COVID crisis, we've seen companies that have started to think about, what do I do in the case of failure or emergency?" explained Nelson, "and they realized that if they don't put protection in place in times of peace, then they won't have the protection in place when they need it in times of emergency, and that means that they won't have a solution.” In a conversation last year, Nelson explained to me how IP protection doesn't always have to be combative, it can be about ensuring the quality of a part so that every time it is produced, the designer or manufacturer can have confidence in knowing it will be the same each time it comes out of the machine. For COVID-related components used in healthcare scenarios with human lives at stake, this issue was all the more paramount. Nelson points to one of the most famous examples of 3D printing to come out of the crisis from a hospital in Italy. The hospital urgently needed to source valves in order to place intensive care patients on ventilators but the original manufacturer was unable to supply the crucial components in time and unwilling to release its

of failure or emergency,” Nelson said. “Anything additive in production, but especially in emergencies, you have to have security and you have to have repeatability. You can't have these emergency ventilator parts come out all wonky, that's even worse than not having them at all. So, these are things that we address at LEO Lane.”

“If you want to go to producing close to the location … the issues with IP protection and consistency become even more acute.”

With a solid foundation in delivering IP protection, consistency and repeatability enforcement for AM products, LEO Lane is now looking more closely at workflows and how to enable customers to encapsulate and securely share their knowledge. Giving an update on developments teased just 12 months prior at last year’s Formnext, Nelson says COVID, while entirely unanticipated, has made this development all the more timely. “Clearly with COVID that's even more important,” Nelson explained. “The fact that you can securely pull knowledge from different people, different experts, different places, without actually having to come together, put together some kind of partnership or agreement and doing it the legal way. That you can do it using technology is very important.”

3D part data. Instead, the hospital turned to a local makerspace which was able to reverse engineer the valve and ultimately helped to save the lives of ten people. Had the original manufacturer already put that protection in place, as a LEO file for example, they could have offered the 3D file specifically for this emergency scenario, retained ownership and served their customer better. “In “normal times”, you need to put in place the mechanisms that will allow you, even if you don't use additive on a day-to-day basis, to move over to additive in case

Very on-brand, Nelson is keeping details on this development locked, but the message right now is for manufacturers to be better prepared, not only in times of crisis but in times of normality, whatever that may look like in our post-pandemic future. “Secure knowledge sharing is going to become ever bigger because of our new normal or whatever that will be,” Nelson concluded. “I think that software will continue to be a super important part, even more so than before because of remote work, for example. […] That means that you need to be able to control remotely. That's always software. The role of software in the ecosystem has grown a lot over the last couple of years. I think it will grow even faster and bigger, in 2021.”

Listen to the interview in full on the Additive Insight podcast: mytct.co/AdditiveInsight

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METROLOGY

MEASURE OF SUCCESS WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

hen FARO went in search of the “Oldest Working FaroArm in Europe”, the 3D metrology specialist was pleasantly surprised to discover there were plenty of examples of its portable coordinate measuring machines (CMM) still going strong in the wild.

SHOWN: ÖHLINS RACING WAS PRESENTED WITH A NEW FARO 8-AXIS QUANTUMS SCANARM SYSTEM

With over 200 submissions, the oldest was found in Sweden at Öhlins Racing, a provider of advanced suspension technology to the motorsport and automotive industries. Here, a 1993-era FARO Metrecom Arm was still kicking after dozens of years being put to work primarily measuring motorcycle and mountain bike geometries to understand chassis and installation dimensions for its suspension products. With a few adaptations over the years coupled with in-house software developments to maximize its capabilities, the near 30-year-old arm has remained an important piece of kit for Öhlins’ measurement operations, even with a new state-of-the-art FARO arm now installed. “We have mounted the arm on a linear guide rail which is fixed to a vehicle lift table. It can easily be moved around the measured object, locked in a new position and zeroed against a fixed 3-point steel plate,” Tomas Andersson, Öhlins Racing elaborated. “This enables the possibility to use the original coordinate system and measure the additional points from the new arm position. These [are], of course, basic functions for modern measuring software but these improvements and adaptions have helped us a lot during the years, and with the proven quality of the arm, extended the lifetime to the present date.” The contest saw Ohlins take delivery of a new FARO 8-Axis QuantumS ScanArm System, an 8-axis rotary scanning platform which promises a reduction in scan times by up to 40%, while maintaining accuracy, even in compact spaces. “The new eight axis system is designed to be used in a wide spectrum of industries, one of the biggest benefits is its ruggedness and ability to be used in the production area,” Lars Axelsson of FARO Europe told TCT. “We can measure where the products are produced, even

while the products are still in the production machines or when visiting a supplier and measuring parts at their facility. This is a key benefit that saves time for our customers, avoids moving components around the factory and prevents bottlenecks in the measuring room.” The Ohlins team now plans on transferring much of its current measurement activity over to the new arm, believing the new 3D scanner and 8-axis functions will open up new possibilities to speed up measurement of products such as front forks. These components are currently probed to measure but this will allow the collection of more useful information, combined with probe measurement data for important mounting points like brake calipers. Anticipating high-demand for the new system, Andersson adds, confidently, “The first thing we will set up before [we] even start using the new arm is a booking system since we expect it to be used and requested a lot more than the old FARO Arm.” Commenting on the increased demand for repeatable and stable measurement processes across production lines, Axelsson concluded:

“Now there is a greater need to control the process instead of just the parts.” “By increasing the measurement capabilities, we can monitor the parts and the process to ensure we get the best end product in a repeatable way. Now there is a greater need to control the process instead of just the parts. Measurements of control parameters in different steps of the production can help industries identify and react to deviations in the process at a much earlier stage. This helps reduce stop time, costly rework and scrapping parts that hurt important environmental and financial targets for modern industry. FARO’s range of products and software suits this purpose perfectly.”

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3D SCANNING

FROM SILVER SCREEN TO COVID-19 WORDS: SAM DAVIES

hots are fired, soldiers duck for cover, fighter jets fly overhead, the enemy retreats and Spielberg bellows to indicate the end of the take. As actors and runners ready for the next scene, the bodies strewn on the battleground remain lifeless. More than 20 years after Saving Private Ryan earned Spielberg his second ‘Best Director’ Academy Award, the company behind the lifelike models imitating the many fallen soldiers during World War Two was supplying its products for a different kind of fight; one playing out in real-time. It would deploy 3D scanning and 3D printing technology to do so.

A few weeks before the UK entered its first nation-wide lockdown, Lifecast Body Sim donated five manikins to NHS Nightingale Hospitals in England and Wales to support the health service with its COVID-19 response and training. The company had been working with the medical industry for a number of years, with a team of clinicians helping to provide manikins that are realistic enough to teach doctors, but suddenly the demand for training equipment was more urgent. Thousands were in Intensive Care Units at the peak of the first wave, thousands more potentially just weeks away from the same predicament, and Lifecast’s models were being used to practice CPR techniques to help patients breathe. “For COVID-19 training, the bodies have real pulses and lung functions that can help medical personnel practice putting patients on a ventilator, taking their pulse, and giving CPR in a lifelike way,” explains John Schoonraad, Lifecast Body Sim’s co-founder and Creative Director. “Each function of the manikins has gone through rigorous R&D. We needed to be certain that our lung volumes and pressures would replicate those of a real person when attached to a ventilator. We also made bodies with a realistic chest recoil which allowed us to teach prone CPR (face down CPR). This was vital as many COVID patients responded much better when their lungs were lower.” Schoonraad says that cosmetically, manikins used in the film and medical sectors are the same, though they have different functions. For film dummies, it is sometimes important that they can

“We’re always in R&D and thinking of new ways to help train medical professionals.” breathe and have pulses, while medical ones, which need to be durable enough to be used daily, can also be intubated, catheterised and have a collapsed lung re-inflated. The company has achieved this by combining traditional casting and molding techniques with 3D technologies. An Artec Eva 3D scanner is used to capture natural expressions and positions of the human body in a process that takes just a few minutes, the data is processed in the Artec Studio software and then 3D printed. Lifecast Body Sim then refines those prints and uses them to produce a mold with malleable clay, high in plasticity and unique in its elasticity, to add finer details, before creating the dummies with silicon. Hair, eyebrows and eyelashes are added later, while the company has also managed to create functioning ‘lungs’ with differing breathing capacities based on age. Commenting on the use of 3D technologies, Schoonraad says: “When we’re developing a new product, we need new specs. While there are lots of

development overlaps, we’ll still need to get new scans of people for the dummy. Using 3D scanning saves us loads of time, whether it be for medical or movie applications.” Since March, more than 20,000 medical professionals in the UK have been trained for COVID-19 procedures using Lifecast Body Sim’s manikins, while the company is working on creating new dummies, such as pregnant women and premature babies, to allow nurses to practice on a variety of different patients. It is all to ensure that the company is prepared for any eventuality, especially as COVID-19 cases rise through the winter. “Things are always in a state of flux, but we are prepared,” Schoonraad, finishes. “We don’t sell any COVID dummies, we donate them, and we’re ready to help as needed should the situation worsen. From a tiny human embryo to an 85-year-old woman, we’re creating new manikins to serve different purposes every day. We’re always in R&D and thinking of new ways to help train medical professionals. We’re just scratching the surface.”

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NO DISTRACT 3D Systems CEO Jeff Graves talks to TCT Head of Content Laura Griffiths about materials science, the company’s new application-focused strategy, eliminating distractions, and how digital will play a key role in the transformation of manufacturing. 3D systems specifically, I was very attracted to the history and culture of the company. As you know, we were the founder of the industry through Chuck Hull's innovation and there's a very deep culture here of innovation and leadership and in transformative type operations, which we bring to bear now for the betterment of both healthcare and industrial applications.

TCT: What was it that appealed to you about 3D Systems and the additive manufacturing industry as a whole? JG: Well, it's certainly a very exciting industry that I've followed for a long time. My attraction to the company was actually multi-fold. One of them is, I was educated in material science. That's where I got all of my degrees and it dominated the first half of my career really developing new metal systems like titanium alloys and the processing of those materials. So, I've got a deep foundation in materials science, which I dearly love. I rose up through the ranks in engineering companies like General Electric, where I expanded responsibilities and operations and then finally running businesses. This is my fourth company as CEO. My desire has always been to lead not only an engineering rich company, and one that drives value from that, but one that was heavily involved in materials science. And you really can't get any better than the additive manufacturing industry.

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TCT: 3D Systems is one of the most established names in AM with a history charting back to the invention of SLA. Coming in, where do you think 3D Systems’ strengths lie in this increasingly competitive marketplace? JG: We've got a great technical foundation in all three of the core technologies that are vital to additive and that's hardware, software and materials science. So, we have deep roots in all three legs of the stool, if you will, that are required for success and we have a heritage of focusing on key applications and converting those to additive. So that's basically our business model going forward, we're going to be very application focused, in specific, high growth markets that really benefit

from additive manufacturing. And we will grow from our roots, our core of hardware, software and materials, which I would argue we have the strongest suite of those of any company in this industry. We're going through a process now of basically eliminating all other distractions. So, everything else that the company had gotten involved with related to subtractive manufacturing and other elements that are non-core, we are de-emphasising or divesting and we're reinvesting in those three legs of the stool: hardware, software and materials with a very strong application focus.

“We're going to be very application focused.”

EXECUTIVE Q&A

TIONS

5 ABOVE:

FIGURE 4 HI-TEMP 300 AMB

3 LEFT:

JEFF GRAVES, 3D SYSTEMS CEO

6 BELOW:

FIGURE 4 PRO-BLK 10

TCT: Can you talk a little about your journey with additive manufacturing – do you remember when you were first made aware of it or recognized AM’s potential? Were any of your previous companies using AM? JG: I left school with my PhD in ’87 and my PhD thesis was actually on titanium powder metallurgy. So I remember the early days of actually consolidating powders into net shapes and right away there was the innovations associated with laser processing and building lasers that were powerful enough to sinter powder together into shapes. My experience started with metals and net shaped metal processing through a variety of applications. So I'm very familiar with how the technology has evolved over time. In my last company, MTS systems, I had the fun privilege of developing testing equipment for additive products. So as you know, some additive products are very thin walled or very specialized designs that are very difficult to test to make sure they're going to perform as intended from the designer standpoint. So, I've been exposed to additive in all of its phases throughout my career, and pretty intensely, in my last company.

What COVID has done now is superimposed on that, from a supply chain standpoint, an incredible need for flexibility. If you think about the evolution of COVID, it at first shut China down largely, and then progressed through Europe, and the United States, supply chains were highly distributed. So, it caused every company in the world to look at their supply chain and say, ‘I can't tolerate this, I have to have more flexibility in my supply chain.’ Even if there are short term cost implications, I need emergency capacity, I need flexibility to make different parts. So additive, I believe, will play a key role there to reconfiguring supply chains, and with an eye toward bringing added flexibility. As companies move to do that, I think then the designers in those organizations will say, 'Wow, now that my supply chain guys have brought this capability to the company, what else can I do with it?' So I think you'll see an ever faster adoption now of additive manufacturing. I believe we're really, as an industry, coming into a new era of more rapid adoption of the technology as we go forward.

TCT: You’ve previously stated that you believe “digital manufacturing will play a key role in the transformation of manufacturing” – can you talk about what you mean by that and what it might look like for today's manufacturers? JG: It's very interesting how COVID has changed things, I would have answered that question with fewer facets to it before COVID. I would have said that additive is an absolute breakthrough technology to allow designers to design higher performing parts with very little cost impact to doing that in the past and this goes back to the roots of additive manufacturing. Before additive, the more complex the part, generally, the more expensive the part because you had to machine it and work it into shape and there were shapes that just weren't possible to manufacture. Additive changed that entire paradigm. So, you can now make very complex parts, the part cost is relatively insensitive to the complexity of the part itself. That's a new design paradigm. And I would tell you, those paradigms change fairly slowly in industry broadly. So, we've needed a new generation of designers to grow up with additive to really adopt it.

TCT: Has it helped to change perceptions around additive as a manufacturing technology? JG: I think absolutely, it's going to change the outlook of supply chain leaders. And as they then bring that flexibility into their supply chain, their design engineers are going to say, "what can I do with this technology now that it's in house?" […] I really believe you're going to see an explosion in the designing of components to be made by additive manufacturing, because it's not only driven now by design engineers. […] Now that supply chain leaders are going to be bringing in additive, I think you're going to see design engineers jump all over the technology and really pull it much more quickly, and that'll be good for all of the companies involved in this industry.

Read the full interview at mytct.co/JeffGraves

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NO SHOW GUIDE

NO SHOW GUIDE â&#x20AC;&#x153;Products and technologies you may have missed out on seeing across live show floors.â&#x20AC;?

ith the pandemic shifting our flagship TCT 3Sixty and RAPID + TCT events to 2021, and Formnext going online for the first time, opportunities to browse the latest AM technologies and vendors have been limited. So, for this year, instead of our usual show review features, we present our alternative 10-page 'No Show Guide' to fill you in on the AM processes, materials, software, auxiliary technologies and services you may have missed out on seeing across those live show floors.

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NO SHOW GUIDE

THERMWOOD CORPORATION Company category AM Machine 904 Buffaloville Road, Dale, IN, 47523, USA www.thermwood.com sales@thermwood.com +1 1-800-533-6901 ASTM Technology Classification Material Extrusion (e.g. FDM, FFF) Thermwood is the oldest manufacturer of 3 & 5 axis highspeed machining centers (CNC routers). The company is also the technology and market leader in large scale additive manufacturing for thermoplastic composite molds, tooling, patterns & parts with its LSAM systems that print and trim on the same machine.

ADDITIVE INDUSTRIES

DCM TECH

Company category AM Machine

Achtseweg Zuid 155, Eindhoven, North Brabant, 5651 GW, The Netherlands www.additiveindustries.com team@additiveindustries.com +31402180660 ASTM Technology Classification Powder Bed Fusion (e.g. SLS, SLM, DMLS, MJF) Additive Industries is a 3D metal printer manufacturer for high quality, metal parts. It offers a system specifically aimed at high end and demanding industrial markets. With class-leading build volume, reliability as well as productivity, Additive Industries redefines the business case for aerospace, automotive, energy and high-tech equipment. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Additive Industries has demo and service centers in the USA, UK and Singapore and is a global key player in large volume Metal printing systems.

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4455 Theurer Blvd, Winona, MN, 55987, United States www.dcm-tech.com info@dcm-tech.com 1-800-533-5339 ASTM Technology Classification Material Extrusion (e.g. FDM, FFF) DCM Tech provides a full line of high precision rotary surface grinders. Adding a precision grinder to your shop allows you to resurface your build plates in house for faster turn around and long term savings. Machines can be equipped with new technology such as automatic part sensing, robotics, and more.

NO SHOW GUIDE

GERMAN REPRAP GMBH

GIZMO 3D PRINTERS PTY LTD

Company category AM Machine

Kapellenstreet 7, Munich, Bavaria, 85622, Germany www.germanreprap.com; www.liquid-additive-manufacturing.com sales.us@germanreprap.com +49 89 2488986-0 ASTM Technology Classification Material Extrusion (e.g. FDM, FFF) German RepRap is a manufacturer of 3D printing systems for Professionals. Its customers benefit from its unique technology in the area of 3D printed parts out of liquid silicone as well as of Industrial Filament Material. Furthermore, the company offers open technology platforms where customers can bring in their own knowledge and experience with materials into the printing process. With its skilled team, it aims for a long-term relationship with its customers where it contributes to their success.

31/115 Robinson Road East, Geebung, Brisbane, Queensland, 4034, Australia https://www.Gizmo3Dprinters.com.au info@gizmo3Dprinters.com.au +61 7 3129 0730 ASTM Technology Classification Vat Photopolymerisation (e.g. SLA, DLP) Gizmo 3D Printers Pty Ltd manufacture innovative prosumer and industrial resin 3D printers. Print bigger volumes of highresolution prints up to 33 times faster. Increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of your printing production with its topdown technology. An investment to creatives, engineers, health professionals and educators. Open to third-party resins.

UNIZ TECHNOLOGY LLC

HANS WEBER MASCHINENFABRIK GMBH

Company category AM Machine

9400 Activity Rd Ste L, San Diego, CA, 92126, US

Bamberger Str. 21, Kronach, Bavaria, 96317, Germany

https://www.uniz.com/us_en/

https://www.hansweber.de/en/

toufang@uniz.com

additive@hansweber.de

ASTM Technology Classification Vat Photopolymerisation (e.g. SLA, DLP) UNIZ makes some of the world's fastest 3D printers, which showcase a record printing speed of 1200 mm/h. UNIZ designs and manufactures the SLASH series stereolithography (SLA) 3D printers for desktop. UNIZ released a special limited edition 3D printer--Slash C, which uses an 8.9" 4K monochrome LCD screen specially designed for light transmittance and high resolution. UNIZ continues to utilize its unique and cutting edge technology in order to provide significant advantages to its consumers.

+49 9261 409-300 ASTM Technology Classification Material Extrusion (e.g. FDM, FFF) Think big, print fast - Weber Additive industrial systems enable a fast and cost-efficient 3D print of large-scale plastic parts. DX - CNC-controlled gantry system - 2.5 mÂł build volume DXR â&#x20AC;&#x201C; robotic system. Both equipped with a special additive pellet extruder. Weber's direct extrusion offers many advantages, like high output and print speed.

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NO SHOW GUIDE

RENA TECHNOLOGIES AUSTRIA GMBH Company category AM Machine Leobersdorferstrasse 31-33, Hirtenberg, Lower Austria, 2552, Austria www.rena.at surfaces@rena.com ASTM Technology Classification Powder Bed Fusion (e.g. SLS, SLM, DMLS, MJF), Binder Jetting, Directed Energy Deposition

RENA Technologies Austria is an E2E process provider and technical partner for innovative functional metallic surfaces. The surface of a component is typically of critical importance for its industrial application. Based on extensive research and many years of development work, it offers smart production processes for electrochemical surface finishing that go beyond the limitations of even state of the art galvanic coatings. RENA's deep understanding of the actual surface reactions provides the basis for the relevant electrochemical surface processes to get the optimum result. Fast and reliable application of new processes to customer production facilities is ensured by its knowledgebased development instead of trial and error.

â&#x201E;˘ LTD.

NOVANTA

TITAN ROBOTICS, LTD.

Company category 3D Printing & AM Hardware Manufacturer

Company category AM Machine

Parkring 57-59, Garching, Germany, 85748, Germany

702 Clark Place, Colorado Springs, CO, 80915, USA

https://www.novanta.com/photonics

www.titan3drobotics.com

scanners@cambridgetechnology.com

info@titan3drobotics.com

+49 (0) 89-31 707-0

+1 (719) 822-1113

ASTM Technology Classification Powder Bed Fusion (e.g. SLS, SLM, DMLS, MJF), Vat Photopolymerisation (e.g. SLA, DLP) Novanta develops cutting-edge components and sub-systems for laser-based diagnostic, analytical, micromachining and fine material processing applications. Powerful lasers, coupled with advanced beam steering and intelligent sub-systems incorporating software and controls, deliver extreme precision and performance, tailored to our customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; demanding applications.

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ASTM Technology Classification Material Extrusion (e.g. FDM, FFF) Titan Robotics, Ltd. is a production additive manufacturing solutions provider. Titan designs and fabricates large-format, industrial 3D printers, and provides solutions to its customers by developing processes using Titan's additive manufacturing technology. Specializing in direct pellet fed 3D printing and hybrid pellet + filament extrusion systems, Titan's Atlas 3D printers enable the use of engineering grade and affordable pellet materials. Titan provides complete additive manufacturing implementation, from 3D printing services, to consulting and material integration processes.

NO SHOW GUIDE

DASSAULT

ALTAIR

Company category Software

10 Rue Marcel Dassault, VÉLIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France, 78140, France https://make.3dexperience.3ds.com/welcome marketplace.make@3ds.com ASTM Technology Classification Material Extrusion (e.g. FDM, FFF), Powder Bed Fusion (e.g. SLS, SLM, DMLS, MJF), Material Jetting (e.g. Polyjet), Binder Jetting, Directed Energy Deposition, Vat Photopolymerisation (e.g. SLA, DLP), Sheet Lamination 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace MAKE provides on-demand manufacturing services. Get instant quotes from qualified manufacturers and receive quality parts whatever the process: 3D Printing, CNC Machining, Injection molding, Sheet Metal, and more. 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace Make is directly accessible via an Add-in from SOLIDWORKS and CATIA.

1820 E Big Beaver Rd, Troy, MI, 48083, USA www.altair.com/additive-manufacturing info@altair.com ASTM Technology Classification Material Extrusion (e.g. FDM, FFF), Powder Bed Fusion (e.g. SLS, SLM, DMLS, MJF), Material Jetting (e.g. Polyjet), Binder Jetting, Directed Energy Deposition, Vat Photopolymerisation (e.g. SLA, DLP), Sheet Lamination Cut product development and AM costs with Altair, a global technology company providing solutions in data analytics, simulation, and HPC. Altair delivers software that goes beyond the creation of 3D-printed prototypes with a robust simulation toolchain for production AM design, reducing material usage, print times, and post-processing.

CADS ADDITIVE GMBH

DSM

Company category Software

Company category Materials

Technologiepark 17, Perg, Austria, 4320, Austria www.cads-additive.com office@cads-additive.com +49 3641 9283126 ASTM Technology Classification Material Extrusion (e.g. FDM, FFF), Powder Bed Fusion (e.g. SLS, SLM, DMLS, MJF), Vat Photopolymerisation (e.g. SLA, DLP) CADS Additive GmbH develops highly-specialized software components for the additive manufacturing process. The components are modularly-structured and offer support along the entire process chain – from the product idea to the supplying of the finished product. They can be integrated into the existing software platforms (e.g. CAD providers) or delivered as a stand-alone software suite.

Urmonderbaan 22, Gate 2, Building 170, Geleen, Limburg 6167 RD, Netherlands www.dsm.com/additive-manufacturing/ additive.manufacturing@dsm.com ASTM Technology Classification Material Extrusion (e.g. FDM, FFF), Powder Bed Fusion (e.g. SLS, SLM, DMLS, MJF), Vat Photopolymerisation (e.g. SLA, DLP) DSM has one clear goal: to unlock the full potential of additive manufacturing, enabling sustainable production and improving people’s living. Drawing on decades of experience in 3D printing technologies, performance materials and deep application expertise, DSM helps manufacturers change the way they design and manufacture products.

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NO SHOW GUIDE

BASF FORWARD AM Company category Materials 1609 Biddle Avenue, Wyandotte, MI, 48192, USA www.forward-am.com sales@basf-3dps.com +49 6221 67417 900 ASTM Technology Classification Material Extrusion (e.g. FDM, FFF), Powder Bed Fusion (e.g. SLS, SLM, DMLS, MJF), Material Jetting (e.g. Polyjet), Binder Jetting, Vat Photopolymerisation (e.g. SLA, DLP) With access to the full spectrum of BASF's material know-how and extensive portfolio, Forward AM provides superior materials and services to meet customers' highest requirements while helping to drive the industrialization of additive manufacturing.

ARMSTRONG RAPID MANUFACTURING

AGILE MANUFACTURING LTD DBA PIVOT AM SERVICE

Company category AM Service Provider

6920 Manlius Center Road, East Syracuse, NY, 13057, USA

920 W 10th Street, Pella, Iowa, 50219, United States of America

armstrongrm.com

www.pivotam.com

sales@armstrongrm.com

info@pivotam.com

315-437-1517

(1) 641-780-5686

ASTM Technology Classification Vat Photopolymerisation (e.g. SLA, DLP)

Armstrong RM is a premium supplier of Machined Aluminum & Zinc Castings and RIM Molded Polyurethane Parts, specializing in quick turn prototyping and short run production services, generally in quantities of 1- 1000 per year.

Pivot provides comprehensive service and support, remotely and onsite, on industrial 3D printers, focusing on SLA printers by 3D Systems and Fortus FDM printers by Stratasys. Pivot also sells refurbished 3D printers, perform appraisals, and perform relocation services. Pivot developed the ACE wash tank for SLA post-processing. Other offerings include: 3D printing supplies, filament, resin, and repair parts.

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NO SHOW GUIDE

VERDER SCIENTIFIC INC ASTM Technology Classification Powder Bed Fusion (e.g. SLS, SLM, DMLS, MJF), Binder Jetting

Company category Hardware and Materials 11 Penns Trail, Suite 300, Newtown, PA, 18940, USA www.verder-scientific.com info-us@verder-scientific.com 1+267-757-0351

Verder Scientific sets standards in high-tech equipment for quality control, research and development of solid matter. Particle Size and Shape Analysis, Elemental Analysis, Heat Treatment, Microstructural Analysis and Hardness Testing – Verder Scientific offers high-quality solutions combined with expert advice and support worldwide for your additive manufacturing & powder injection moulding process.

MICROTRAC MRB, PART OF VERDER SCIENTIFIC

ELTRA ELEMENTAL ANALYZERS, PART OF VERDER SCIENTIFIC

RETSCH, PART OF VERDER SCIENTIFIC

Company category Hardware and Materials

215 Keystone Drive, Montgomeryville, PA, 18936, USA

11 Penns Trail, Suite 300, Newtown, PA, 18940, USA

www.microtrac.com

www.eltra.com

www.retsch.com

marketing@microtrac.com

info-us@verder-scientific.com

1+215-619-9920

1+267-757-0351

ASTM Technology Classification Powder Bed Fusion (e.g. SLS, SLM, DMLS, MJF), Binder Jetting

Microtrac MRB is an industry leader providing innovative solutions in Particle Characterisation. The combination of Laser Diffraction and Image Analysis offers additive manufacturing users a unique insight into the size and morphology of their powders.

Eltra is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of combustion analyzers for precise and sensitive CSONH determination in powdered metals. Whether measuring the carbon content in steel, or analyzing oxygen & hydrogen during the sintering process, its elemental analyzers provide tailor made solutions for quality control in powder metallurgical processes.

RETSCH is the world leader in sample preparation for solid materials. For powder metallurgy, Retsch instruments contribute to the particle size analysis of feedstock and recycling of materials. From Sieve Shakers to Jaw Crushers, Retsch offers industry leading instrumentation, expert advice, and support for your QC and R&D laboratory requirements.

CARBOLITE GERO, PART OF VERDER SCIENTIFIC Company category Hardware and Materials 11 Penns Trail, Suite 300, Newtown, PA, 18940, USA www.carbolite-gero.com info-us@verder-scientific.com

STM Technology Classification Powder Bed Fusion (e.g. SLS, SLM, DMLS, MJF), Binder Jetting Carbolite Gero is a leading manufacturer of furnaces & ovens from 30°C - 3000°C, and has extensive experience in heat treatment of MIM parts. As a well known furnace supplier for additive manufacturing in powder metallurgy and MIM applications, Carbolite Gero supplies furnaces to debind & sinter the formed part.

1+267-757-0351

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EXPERT COLUMN

ALLOYS FOR HIGHTEMP APPLICATIONS WORDS: Will Dick-Cleland, Process Technology Team, Alloyed

t is fair to say that, to date, metal AM processes have not performed well with the highest temperature materials â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that is to say, materials for components that operate at the top of the temperature range within jet turbines. In the aerospace sector such applications would include, but are not limited to the critical areas of a turbine engine such as the back-end of the compressor, the combustor, the high and low pressure turbine areas, and the exhaust. All parts in these areas of the engine are exposed to high temperatures and higher levels of oxidation.

For such high temperature applications, the aerospace sector typically uses nickel (Ni) alloys such as IN738, IN713 and MarM247. However, these alloys are incompatible with welding techniques due to their chemistry, as they do not respond well to rapid thermal gradient changes and it is virtually impossible to control the amount of cracking during the weld process. This is the conundrum facing users of metal AM within the aerospace sector looking to capitalize on the advantages that the process has to offer for high temperature applications. This has driven further exploration of alternative materials that could replace traditional high temperature alloys without compromising structural integrity while at the same time being compatible with AM. The advantages of AMcompatible alloys for high temperature applications derive from the fact that the components assembled in hot sections of engines are usually some of the most expensive, and due to the harsh environment in which they work have short life-cycles. Using the L-PBF process with high temperature alloys offers manufacturers the opportunity to benefit from better inventory management, reducing late penalties due to tooling delays, and creating more intricate shapes, often allowing the integration of several components in a sub-assembly into one.

ABD-900AM

To address this, Alloyed worked with leading aerospace OEM Honeywell to test a new high temperature nickel alloy ABD-900AM with the L-PBF process, to determine if it could serve as a replacement for existing high temperature casting alloys. Today, Honeywell AM operations incorporate tensile, LCF, and creep testing equipment, powder characterisation equipment, and a vacuum furnace for stress relief and heat treatment. In 2020, more L-PBF machines were added to its Arizona lab, which is fully equipped to manage

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end-to-end powder and mechanical characterisation, pre-production builds, and a full range of R&D activities. After an initial introduction to Alloyed by a third party, Honeywell recognized the potential of the Alloys By Design (ABD) system brand which stimulated further interest in the ABD-900AM material and its potential for high temperature aerospace applications as it was not prone to cracking. The result of this initial collaboration was a dedicated project that would see Honeywell build a limited number of test specimens in its AM laboratory located in Bangalore, India. Honeywell would build and test the material to determine if the results merited continued investment and development. ABD-900AM is an age-hardenable, nickel-based superalloy designed for use as feedstock in the L-PBF process. It is optimized for environmental resistance and high-temperature tensile strength, with a working temperature range up to 900Â°C (1652Â°F) in its age-hardened state. ABD-900AM not only offers a higher operating temperature but also significant long term stability. Exhibiting excellent creep strength, ABD-900AM has also demonstrated superior resistance to cracking during manufacture and heat treatment, enabling complex part design. It is designed to be free of solidification, liquidation and strain-age cracks, and showcases exceptional printability for a 40% y'-phase strengthened alloy. The alloy also shows high as-printed part density of >99.9%. Results from Alloyed and Honeywell show that ABD-900AM is an alloy that demonstrates great potential for high temperature applications. The material welds and fuses extremely well, particularly when compared with other high temperature nickel alloys. While ABD-900AM is not a replacement for CM Mar-247 in most cases due to the oxidation capabilities, it does exhibit very good mechanical properties at high temperatures when compared with Mar 247 or IN792 or IN713 or IN738.

Happy Holidays to our additive manufacturing family! We can’t wait to bring the community back together next year at North America’s most important additive manufacturing event. VISIT RAPID3DEVENT.COM TO LEARN MORE

ARNITEÂŽ T AM1210 (P)

Our material scientists cracked the production code for PBT powder with robust printing characteristics to serve engineering applications.

Extremely easy to print Improved dimensional stability due to lower moisture uptake Less waste due to >60% reuse rate Recyclable: non-reusable material can be brought back to the powder bed process

Find out more at www.dsm.com/additive-manufacturing/

The first PBT powder commercially available for selective laser sintering, ArniteÂŽ T AM1210 (P), brings manufacturers a material widely-known in the industrial sector, for 3D printing small series production of end use parts. Ideally suited for industrial applications:

For parts requiring excellent dielectric properties For parts performing under high temperatures Automotive Electronics Lighting