TCT Europe 26.5 by TCT Magazine

EUROPE EDITION VOLUME 26 ISSUE 5 www.tctmagazine.com

MAG

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tesy of Invent Medical

1:42 AM

VOLUME 26 ISSUE 5 ISSN 1751-0333

EDITORIAL

PRODUCTION

HEAD OF CONTENT

Sam Hamlyn Matt Clarke

DEPUTY GROUP EDITOR

MANAGEMENT

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Duncan Wood

Daniel O’Connor e: daniel.oconnor@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 398 Laura Griffiths e: laura.griffiths@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 389 Samuel Davies e: samuel.davies@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 390 NEWSDESK

C.E.O.

VP, CONTENT, STRATEGY AND PARTNERSHIPS

James Woodcock

+44 (0) 1244 680222 REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS

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Daniel Bradshaw e: daniel.bradshaw@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 520 The TCT Magazine is published bi-monthly by Rapid News Publications Ltd Carlton House, Sandpiper Way, Chester Business Park, Chester CH4 9QE, UK.

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8 7:31 AM

FROM THE EDITOR

Yes! My time machine finally worked! … What’s that you say? … It’s still 2018? … We’re just back to talking about 3D printed guns again? Do a quick Google search on “3D printing” right now and the top results will likely centre around that of the 3D printed gun, or “downloadable death” as one spokesperson subtly put it, after the Trump administration agreed to allow printable files to be released online, a decision which has since been blocked. Don’t get me wrong, there are very real reasons to be concerned about plastic 3D printed guns. Save for a small metal component to serve as a firing pin, they can go undetected at security points, and the omission of a serial number renders them untraceable. Not to mention, the quality of low-cost desktop printed components means they’re highly unreliable and a risk to the user. However, when I inevitably fall down the Twitter rabbit hole to find comments from those who are feared of not just common plastic printers but metal machines getting into the wrong hands, it’s clear that public knowledge of 3D printing hasn’t moved on as much as we would have liked. More education is needed to understand firstly, the reality and capability of the technology, and second, that it’s very unlikely Jonny hobbyist has got a powder-bed metal machine tucked away in their garage, never mind the appropriate knowledge or infrastructure to deploy it successfully.

The problem is, when the conversation resurfaces, it can displace all the good that is being done with this technology elsewhere in the world. Personalised medical implants, reduced energy consumption in aeroplanes, humanitarian support in disaster areas, the list goes on, but I can guarantee none of the above ranked as highly as this divisive piece of plastic. The mass media loves a technology devil. If it’s not children being brainwashed by video games, it’s the negative effects of social media or robots taking over your job. So, if you find yourself fraught with the 3D printing albatross that continues to cling on, use this issue as your antidote, an alternative guide to the news you should be talking about instead. Perhaps how those same feared desktop 3D printers are being used on real production lines to make better products? Or Sam Davies’ report on how one company is harnessing 3D printing to potentially serve 70 million people with bespoke wheelchairs? Or you could borrow some anecdotes from our Q&As with this year’s TCT Hall of Fame inductees who have been innovating in this field for 30 years. There are plenty of reasons for 3D printing to be making headlines and this issue is full of them. LAURA GRIFFITHS, DEPUTY GROUP EDITOR

26 : 5 www.tctmagazine.com

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A driving force in automotive innovation High quality metal powders tailored to your needs

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VOLUME 26 ISSUE 5

COVER STORY

8. HOW FIGURE 4 ADDITIVE Product Design MANUFACTURING SOLVES 29. WEAR YOUR CHAIR THE ‘TRIPLE CONSTRAINT’ 3D Systems on how its Figure 4 technology overcomes tradeoffs between speed, cost and quality.

MATERIALS

11. MATERIALISE AND BASF OPEN UP

Sam Davies gets the lowdown on BASF’s open materials pact with Materialise.

15. ENTERING THE MAINSTREAM

Zevahit Reisin at Stratasys discusses how materials are an enabling force in AM.

19. SOLVAY’S SPECIALTY

A closer look at the chemical giant’s new high-performance AM filaments.

21. ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURING FLUOROPOLYMERS

Carlo Campanelli, PhD Researcher at the University of Nottingham on the potential for fluoropolymers in AM.

23. THE RIGHT INGREDIENTS

How Voestalpine is creating some of the most advanced metal materials on the market.

25. BIND-AND-SINTER

TCT Expert Advisory Board member, Dave Bracket examines the flexibility and productivity of bind and sinter technologies.

Sam reports on a company aiming to serve 70 million people with customised wheelchairs.

33. NO SHORTCUTS

How SCOTT Sports leverages 3D scanning in the development of safe and comfortable sports products.

Desktop

37. SUM OF ITS PARTS

Dan O’Connor explores the components giving low-cost desktop machines engineering grade capabilities.

41. DON’T DOUBT THE DESKTOP

Laura Griffiths finds out how desktop 3D printers are fast becoming an integral part of industrial workflows.

47 Education 47. TCT EDUCATION GUIDE

A round-up of courses and training programmes answering the call for more AM education.

51. EDUCATION INDUSTRY UPDATE

Sam looks at the organisations investing time and money into AM education.

Computing Hardware

53. MARS AIN’T THE KIND OF PLACE TO RAISE YOUR KIDS… IS IT? A look at what the VR trend in computing hardware could mean for architecture on Earth and beyond.

59. TCT HALL OF FAME

Dan speaks to the three masters of manufacturing being inducted into the TCT Hall of Fame this year.

67. NEW ORDER IN THE COURT

Sam investigates how 3D imaging and printing are providing crucial evidence in the courtroom.

73. MAINTAINING THE DIGITAL THREAD

How intelligent solutions like blockchain and augmented 3D printing are continuing the digital link.

79. NEWS

News in brief from this issue’s big focus: materials.

82. ALTERNATE REALITIES

Todd Grimm contemplates how interpretation of facts and assumptions can lead to disparate conclusions on AM.

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HOW FIGURE 4 ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING SOLVE THE ‘TRIPLE CONSTRAIN WORDS: Jeff Robbins, Director, Figure 4 product management, 3D Systems

his month, 3D Systems is releasing the second of its Figure 4 additive manufacturing platforms – The Figure 4 Standalone 3D printer. The Figure 4 technology, for the first time combines advanced, fast printing technology with the latest in materials science, software that understands 3D printing and low total cost of operations with six sigma repeatability.

The test parts were printed on each printer and measured four times using micrometres; the average was used for the statistical sample.

In the past, the ‘Iron Triangle’ or ‘Triple Constraint’; in other words “Fast, good, or cheap. Pick two.” has been the norm. The concept typically consists of one of the following patterns:

Figure 4 Standalone is the second of three plastic production platforms that will be available this year. The first was the fully-automated, fullycustomisable Figure 4 Production platform with in-line post-processing delivering a new paradigm in digital moulding for shop floors. Later this year the Figure 4 Modular will be released. This product delivers a control system that enables up to 24 plug-and-play auxiliary Figure 4 Print Modules to enable quick and easy scalability as part demand increases. The Figure 4 Standalone is a single printer that offers affordability and superior surface quality, ultra-fast for lower-volume production and fast prototyping for tens to hundreds of parts per month.

• Produce something quickly and of high quality but it will be costly • Produce something at low cost and high quality, but it will take time • Produce something quickly and cheaply but it will not be of high quality.

The production of a Cpk > 2 means that Figure 4 3D printing delivers the additive industry’s leading throughput and accuracy.

FIGURE 4 STANDALONE IS A STANDOUT This 3D printer has a compact footprint, and a build volume of 124.8 x 70.2 x 196mm (4.9 x 2.8 x 7.7 in) and comes supplied with 3D Sprint software for rapid file preparation and slicing, plus cloud connectivity for predictive and prompt service and support using 3D Systems’ 3D Connect capability.

Until the invention of Figure 4, The Triple Constraint rule has dominated additive manufacturing since its inception. Figure 4 additive manufacturing is a development of an original patent filing by 3D Systems’ co-founder, Chuck Hull, over 30 years ago. The technology uses non-contact membrane Digital Light Printing (DLP) to deliver astounding results for production of plastic parts. Namely, print speeds of up to 100 mm per hour

The Figure 4 Standalone offers the same rapid print speeds and repeatability of all Figure 4 platforms, with an affordable initial investment of under $25,000. Manufacturers can print and use parts in the same day. Capable of digital texturing that rivals injection-moulded part quality, Figure 4 Standalone is compatible with a growing variety of robust materials.

The statistical result is stated as Cpk > 2, where Cpk is the process capacity index. A result of 2 or higher is considered a “six sigma” quality process. To establish a Cpk value for the Figure 4 3D printing platform 30 test samples are required. These tests were run on eight separate Figure 4 printers.

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COVER STORY

IVE LVES AINT’

THE MATERIALS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE INCLUDE:

COMPARED WITH URETHANE CASTING FIGURE 4 OFFERS TREMENDOUS ADVANTAGES

• Figure 4 TOUGH-GRY 10, a high speed material for rapid design iterations providing up to 100 mm/hour build speed.

Figure 4 Standalone can replace the urethane casting process entirely. Comparative, hands-on testing offers impressive results here as well. The chart below illustrates this for a dashboard air vent design:

• Figure 4 TOUGH-GRY 15, a strong, rigid material for production applications. • Figure 4 ELAST-BLK 10, an elastomeric, black material ideal for iteration and design verification of flexible parts. • Figure 4 JCAST-GRN 10, a castable green material optimised for investment casting of jewellery patterns. COMPARED TO INJECTION MOULDING FIGURE 4 SAVES TIME AND ELIMINATES MINIMUM ORDER QUANTITY (MOQ) CONSTRAINTS Figure 4 delivers the means to begin producing enduse parts immediately, even while tooling for mass production is being prepared thereby enabling you to get parts to market immediately. This is particularly useful for service parts that might typically be put on back order or in allowing design iterations to be tackled quickly and easily since there is no tooling. In this way Figure 4 complements other production methods; there is no delay in production.

BELOW:

BENCHMARK RESULTS – FIGURE 4 VERSUS INJECTION MOULDING

CAPABILITY

FIGURE 4

INJECTION MOULDING

Design time

3 hours

2 days

Tooling design

0 hours

3 days

Tooling time

0 hours

14 days

Estimated CAD, tooling Design and Tooling labor

$121

$4,315*

Time to First part

92 minutes

15 days

FIGURE 4

URETHANE CASTING

Total part cost

$7.90

$35.10

Time to first part

1.5 hours

156 hours

Since urethane casting does not benefit from economies of scale, the part cost remains a constant. Figure 4 delivers lower part cost and significantly improved production times, with fewer man-hours and related costs.

THE NEW EQUATION WITH FIGURE 4 STANDALONE 3D System’s Figure 4 means that manufacturers can rethink their value equations for production. By bringing this capability onto the manufacturing floor, production houses can rapidly respond to their customer’s needs, reduce costs for customers and revolutionise supply chain, resulting in the manufacture of plastic parts that are high quality, fast and low cost. Figure 4 Standalone means today’s technology makes those “cute” ‘You want it when?’ cartoons, that are in every engineering office, obsolete. Technology that produces high quality, affordable parts within hours, eliminates tooling costs and changes, while allowing immediate response to changes on demand, is now real.

* Based on eight-hour days and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures of $40.19 per hour for mechanical engineers and $24.17 per hour for tool and die makers. With Figure 4 Standalone the cost per part remains a constant, regardless of how many parts are produced. Figure 4 also delivers relief from MOQs that force manufacturers and service organisations to keep thousands of parts in inventory. Figure 4 Standalone enables the rapid production of just one or even hundreds of parts, saving you the typical MOQ penalty, back ordering and inventory carrying costs.

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MATERIALS

MATERIALISE AND BASF OPEN UP WORDS: SAM DAVIES

hat seemed like a significant industry development 12 months ago, looks a potentially even more profound one today.

that inhabit the volatile market. In June, Michael Whitens, Global Director for Ford’s Vehicle and Enterprise Sciences unit, made that point at the Materialise Experience Conference, where he literally spelled those concerns out.

Upon the formulation of a dedicated 3D printing business this time last year, BASF told TCT it understood the markets and the application requirements through its engineering plastics business, and its goal was to produce resilient plastic materials for series production. One of the largest chemical companies in the world caught a whiff of a burgeoning sector like a shark sensing blood, and wanted a piece of the action.

‘There needs to be a change of mindset. You can make money off materials but you can’t lock your machine to a material or you’re not going to be successful. Industry just won’t adopt it.’

A company of this stature doesn’t make such a move without expecting a return on its investment, but nor does it make it without a nudge from those markets it mentioned. What do they want that BASF can bring? The material manufacturing expertise, of course, but more than that: an influence.

His open source rallying cry mirrors that of the wider automotive industry, and almost certainly a host of other vertical markets. BASF already knew that, and in the host of that very conference, has found a partner who gets it too, a partner who itself isn’t lacking authority. The collaboration between Materialise and BASF will look to develop materials agnostically, while optimising AM workflows to suit them, for the major

polymer 3D printing processes. Announced in July, the partners will pool together their respective expertise to target applications in automotive, aerospace and consumer goods, industries in which BASF has had a strong presence throughout its history, and Materialise is no stranger to either. “BASF, I think you’ll recognise, is renowned for bringing very tailored materials to specific applications inside automotive and aerospace. That’s what they do,” Bryan Crutchfield, VP and General Manager, Materialise, North America, told TCT. “I came from an injection moulding background and we had many specialised blends that we used for very specific applications. “But also, I think they are going to [want to] focus on bringing large families of materials out. They’re going 4

From industry’s point of view the potential of additive manufacturing (AM) is being stifled by the vendors

SHOWN:

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MATERIALS

LEFT:

CONSUMER GOODS, SUCH AS CUSTOMISED EYEWEAR, WILL BE A FOCUS OF THE MATERIALISE AND BASF ALLIANCE.

up on the materials side, but the AM industry seems more willing to negotiate the former than the latter. The loser if that situation is to remain, Materialise and BASF think, is the vendors. How many more machines could they sell if the user could pair it with a wider range of materials?

to be looking at the portfolio of products that they have currently in those verticals and saying, ‘how do I make those materials available so they can be used in an additive way?’” That not only means today’s AM climate, but tomorrow’s too. The aim of the Luven-based group of Materialise and BASF specialists is to inspire a step-change in how materials are developed and commercialised in the AM industry, accelerating the technologies’ transition from low-volume manufacturing tool, to a high-volume manufacturing one by embracing openness. “I think we are coming to an inflection point where many large manufacturers such as GE, Adidas, HP, even other manufacturing groups, are looking to apply additive manufacturing for high volume series projects,” Crutchfield said. “From our point of view, why not partner with one of the largest chemical companies in the world that is currently supplying all of those major manufacturers in the plastics industry with their raw materials? They have interesting access to the design and process engineering groups of those large manufacturers, and understand what they are looking for, maybe where they are headed.” Materialise is looking to drive some of those projects forward by providing a stern backbone to an open materials approach. That backbone refers to supporting the materials developed, potentially application-specific, with tailored software tools, adjusting its control software to better deal with hatching patterns and laser power, for example. The idea is to look at the digital thread, from content generation to shipping, optimising the builds, preserving mechanical properties so materials can be run through machines more frequently, streamlining the whole process to better resemble current high volume manufacturing methods: “How that whole system works together to try to improve the speeds, scrap rates, the usability of the process itself,” Crutchfield explained.

Their alliance is one that drives the philosophy of open and agnostic materials and machines, but as BASF picked up 25m USD (21.6m EUR) worth of shares in its new partner, also demonstrates another ringing endorsement from one of the world’s biggest companies in AM technologies. “Additive is getting serious,” Crutchfield remarked. It sounds like it has to. “Certainly, the closed ecosystem model that is embraced by a number of large OEMs at this time is still the major hindrance,” Crutchfield considered, “but I believe that will resolve itself over the next five years or so as new machine manufacturers enter from all corners of the earth. They have a very different philosophy about that. They’re more open to an open architecture, and just like in an injection moulding setting, you don’t buy an Arburg machine and then Arburg materials, or Cincinatti machines and Cincinatti materials. You buy the appropriate machine for the application, and then you run the appropriate material for the application through that machine. That is certainly where additive is going. It’s just taking a little longer than it might.” Perhaps now, it’ll get there a little bit sooner.

“THE CLOSED ECOSYSTEM MODEL THAT IS EMBRACED BY A NUMBER OF LARGE OEMS AT THIS TIME IS STILL THE MAJOR HINDRANCE.”

The importance of efficient workflows is just as significant as opening

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MATERIALS

ENTERING THE MAINSTREAM: ENABLING SUCCESSFUL SOLUTIONS WITH ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING MATERIALS ZEHAVIT REISIN, VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATASYS’ RAPID PROTOTYPING UNIT EXPLORES HOW MATERIAL DEVELOPMENTS ARE KEY TO MEETING SPECIFIC INDUSTRY CHALLENGES AND INTEGRAL TO SUPPORTING THE GROWTH OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING (AM).

ZEHAVIT REISIN

s well as innovative hardware, advanced software and strong strategic partnerships, the area of material development is crucial to the adoption of AM. In the past, vendors focused their efforts on rapid prototyping, the initial mainstay of this technology. The demands here were simple, often only requiring verification and testing. But in recent years, as the demands for realism,

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fit, functionality and colour grew, so did the application potential. Now, users are harnessing the technology for the manufacture of complex and tough production tools, factory floor production aids, and even robust, final end-use parts. In many ways, AM materials are the enablers to this, helping to solve the pain points of designers, engineers and manufacturers. But naturally, each application faces unique challenges, not to mention the complexities and regulatory differences between industries, all of which present a challenge when developing materials.

HEALTHCARE

The healthcare industry is set to spend 1.3 billion USD (1.16B EUR) on 3D printing in 2018. Today, many hospitals are using 3D printing to enhance patient care and improve surgical practices. Hospitals such as Queen Elizabeth in Birmingham, UK, and the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, have seen dramatic time and cost-related savings when producing 3D printed medical models using PolyJet technology. With Queen Elizabeth reporting a staggering 20,000 GBP (22,000 EUR) saving per surgery and able to reinvest it into other areas of the hospital, and the University Hospital

Basel reducing surgical time by over a third, 3D printing is playing a crucial role in elevating the standard of patient care at both hospitals. Patient-specific 3D printed models produced today enable surgeons to better visualise the anatomy of interest and practice on surgery accurate, patient-specific models. Using advanced colour, multi-material 3D printers, models can be coloured to differentiate critical structures and different materials can be combined for added functionality. This allows physicians to effectively practice, plan and prepare for complex and life-changing surgeries. However, one of the healthcare industry’s biggest challenges is the need to create models that are not only extremely anatomically realistic, but that respond in a similar way to human tissue. This presents several challenges, from the geometry of the part printed, to the need for multiple, very different materials in a single print. For instance, consider our skin: it is both incredibly soft, yet durable, and 3D printed models need to match this. Every day pioneers are working to find this balance and enable the creation of ultra-precise, anatomically correct, vascular, heart and bone structures that match distinct clinical requirements. Conversely, some medical practitioners require materials that are more lightweight, durable, or biocompatible, and suitable for long-term contact with the human body. This brings with it many other associated challenges, such as sterilisation and certification. 4

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MATERIALS

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QUEEN ELIZABETH HOSPITAL USES MULTI-MATERIAL 3D PRINTING TO CREATE BESPOKE MEDICAL MODELS.

AEROSPACE

High-temperatures and challenging regulations don’t just impact the healthcare industry. This is also a huge consideration in the aerospace and rail industry too. By their very nature, these industries have incredibly strict regulations, with parts often needing to withstand gruelling conditions, all while still increasing efficiency, reducing cost and enhancing performance. At the top of every agenda is whether the material meets stringent flame, smoke and toxicity demands, as well as considering heat release and chemical susceptibility. The result is a demand for complex and specific material properties, all of which are required to ensure passenger safety. Recent media attention has focused on aerospace manufacturers using AM to switch heavier metal parts for strong, lightweight 3D printed thermoplastic alternatives such as ULTEM 9085, which possesses a high strength-to-weight ratio and is also FST compliant. With this material, combined with hardware solutions developed to address specific industry issues, aerospace organisations can now get more parts certified for flight, much faster.

AUTOMOTIVE

With calls for improved fuel efficiency, ever-present environmental and political pressures, and decentralised production, the drivers in the automotive market are just as tough. Compared to the aerospace industry, the environments are different; where aerospace parts may demand strict flammability requirements, automotive parts need to be crash-safe. Materials engineers are working towards higher chemical resistance for fuel exposure and optimal combinations of toughness, ductility and stiffness for durability. New materials are opening up new applications in automotive that were previously impossible. 3D printing composite materials, for example, provide the strength of metal, with the light weight of plastic. AM not only offers the option of lightweight parts, but the ability to also optimise performance-to-weight ratios through complex geometric designs with advanced software and hardware capabilities, which cannot be achieved by other methods. These benefits are underscored by users across the automotive industry and include Formula 1 racing team, McLaren, which operates in the highly-

demanding, high-performance world of motorsport. With Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), McLaren produced a new race-car wing in under two weeks during the last Grand Prix season, using a 3D printed composite mould tool to create the shape of the wing – representing a significant timesaving compared to traditional methods. Similarly, Volvo Trucks in France is using FDM to design durable yet lightweight clamps, jigs, supports and tool holders for its production facility in Lyon. 3D printing customised tools for direct use on the factory floor, Volvo Trucks estimates that for small quantities of tools, the cost of 3D printing ABS thermoplastic tools can be as little as 1€/cm³, while making the same item from metal costs 100€/cm³. Crucially, Volvo Trucks has reduced the time taken to design and manufacture certain assembly line tools traditionally produced in metal by more than 94%, from 36 days to just two days using FDM AM. By considering the automotive and aerospace industries, we can identify one of the key issues facing the adoption of AM today. The application focus is constantly shifting from rapid prototyping, to tooling, to final production parts. As this trend continues, we need traceability to guarantee a secure and dependable supply chain.

SHOWN: PART OF AN ANATOMICALLY REALISTIC 3D PRINTED SPINE MODEL

WHERE NEXT?

The needs and demands of these industries are not solely driven by material development. Users need to consider the innovations in hardware and software, as well as the knowledge, training and industry specific solutions. That said, every development is a leap forward for the AM industry. Within design, the greater the ability for a material to match the final end-use part in mechanical, thermal and chemical properties, the greater its likelihood to perform like the final part, and the greater the efficiency of the design process. In production, material properties are crucial to ensure functionality, consistency, surface smoothness, quality and traceability. For this area, material development is a top priority and ongoing challenge, and as the industry continues to innovate and meet these needs, the adoption of AM will continue.

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MATERIALS

SOLVAY’S SPECIALTY T WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

BELOW:

SOLVAY E-XSTREAM DIGIMAT PLATFORM

he additive manufacturing (AM) world often can feel like stepping into the void. As with any new technology, whether you’re an established company or a newcomer, there is no one-size-fits-all method for success. This year at RAPID + TCT, global chemical firm, Solvay launched its first AM-specific materials onto the market, and I was interested to hear how the company, loaded with over 150-years of chemical knowledge, is entering the market with the wide-eyed mind-set of a newcomer.

“We know we are a big old materials supplier but we are in business incubation so my whole intention is to run this as a start-up,” Christophe Schramm, Business Manager AM for Solvay’s Specialty Polymers told TCT. “The resources hopefully are those of a big company, but we try to be a little bit more agile, a little bit more flexible.” Solvay first set out its intentions to align its specialty polymers and engineering plastics with AM in 2016 with the launch of a dedicated lab at its Research and Innovation Center in Alpharetta, Georgia. Set amidst the sprawling Georgia greenery, the lab officially opened this year complete with three industrial machines catering to powder-bed and FFF (fused filament fabrication) processes. Specialty Polymers already has one of the broadest portfolios of high-performance polymers in the industry. Having previously focused on stereolithography with its range of Sinterline Technyl polyamide 6 (PA6) materials, the announcement in Fort Worth marked the launch of its first FFF commercial products in the form of three high-performance filaments. Based on Solvay’s KetaSpire polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and Radel polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) materials, the filaments are available through Solvay’s online platform with transparent pricing. One is a neat PEEK product, the other a 10-percent carbon fibre-reinforced grade, both designed to deliver excellent fusion of printed layers, high part density and exceptional strength, including in the Z-axis. The PPSU material is formulated to allow good layer fusion, high transparency, elongation and toughness.

Publishing prices like any other e-commerce site (upwards of 270 USD (240 EUR) a spool) is relatively unheard of in the industrial space but Solvay is confident that it is “not competing on price” but “competing on value”. In addition, KetaSpire PEEK AM filament is the first PEEK material to be included in e-Xstream engineering’s Digimat software, launched in June, designed to deliver simulation and testing for “print right the first time” assurance. “We see this as the embryo of a platform to provide material solutions and for us, that means materials and anything that goes around them to print the best possible part as quickly as possible,” Schramm elaborated. “Simulation solutions, testing data, prototyping, processing data and so on - we believe we have a value proposition that goes beyond just providing people with filaments.”

PEEK, a highly sought after yet challenging polymer, is high in demand in industries such as healthcare and aerospace. Earlier this year, the filament was put to the test in Solvay’s first AM Cup, a competition which asked an international roster of university students to print the best possible version of Solvay’s logo. There were some interesting results ranging from novel hacks installed onto sub 300 USD (260 EUR) machines to industrial grade platforms. Mirroring this ethos, the commercial materials on offer are completely open to any FFF platform. Schramm commented: “We advocate an open system. We believe the industry, at the stage where it is, needs to be able to use different materials and different printers, so that the end customer can choose the optimal combination for the given process, given design and given material.” This approach, Schramm believes, will lead to a new set of customers including smaller designers and engineers. These first three filaments, Solvay confirms, are just the start.

ABOVE: HIGH-PERFORMANCE FILAMENTS BASED ON SOLVAY’S KETASPIRE POLYETHERETHERKETONE (PEEK) AND RADEL POLYPHENYLSULFONE (PPSU) MATERIALS. 26 : 5 www.tctmagazine.com

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MATERIALS

ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURING FLUOROPOLYMERS

Carlo Campanelli, PhD Researcher, Additive Manufacturing CDT, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham

t is well-known that additive manufacturing (AM) has great potential but several limitations, one of which is the narrow material portfolio.

Any of these properties can be found in other materials but fluoropolymers are uniquely suitable when two or more of these properties are required in the same application.

In 2012, of the tens of thousands of polymers available on the market, less than 30 were available for laser sintering (of which Polyamide 12 comprised over 90% of the market). This limited number of materials is due to the specific requirements for powder-based AM, such as precise particle size distribution (~45-90 µm) to guarantee good powder flow; relatively low viscosity to avoid porosity; absorbance in the wavelength of the specific heating element (e.g. CO2 laser); and a wide processing window (i.e. the difference between melting and crystallisation temperature) to supress dimensional warping.

The downside of all these amazing properties is that fluoropolymers are quite difficult to process. Because of its high crystallinity and viscosity (1010-1012 Pa*s), PTFE is not melt-processable in contrast to most thermoplastics polymers and requires special manufacturing processes. Their high chemical resistance makes them insoluble in most organic solvents at room temperature, while the high processing temperatures required cause degradation of the polymer chain, which generates corrosive byproducts that necessitate specific alloys for handling. The number of challenges further increases in AM as the commerciallyavailable grades are tailored to traditional processes such as injection moulding (pellets) and coating (fine powders).

Fluoropolymers are an interesting family of polymers. PTFE, better known by the trademark Teflon, is the most famous and widely-used fluoropolymer. The Carbon-Fluorine bonds present lead to many desirable properties such as biocompatibility, non-adhesiveness, wide service temperature (−260 °C - +260 °C), high chemical resistance, high resistance to sunlight, flame retardance and weathering without the addition of fillers, plasticisers or stabilisers.

The investigation of fluoropolymers in AM is still very limited and mainly focused on one particular fluoropolymer - polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) - which has piezoelectric properties and a relatively low melting temperature (<180 °C). 3M, a North American manufacturer, is currently working on the use of PTFE in stereolithography by using a resin binder which is then removed by sintering. At the University of Nottingham, we have been

investigating three fluoropolymers with melting temperatures of around 100 °C, 200 °C, and 300 °C. The first issue encountered was to find these fluoropolymers in a powder form with the ideal powder size. This was not possible so we worked with a particle size below the optimal values. As a result, the powders were cohesive and did not flow well. Good flowability was achieved by adding a flowing agent. A second issue was the high melting temperature of the 200 °C and 300 °C fluoropolymers, which were too high for the laser sintering system used (EOS Formiga P100, maximum powder bed temperature of ~180 °C). Isothermal crystallisation measurements confirmed that the ideal processing temperatures were above 180 °C, which caused warping after a few tens of layers for the 200 °C polymer and warping at the first layer for the 300 °C polymer. The upside was that the polymer did not age at the processing temperature and could be recycled without issue. Different scan strategies and the use of a build platform considerably reduced warpage. The third issue was the high molecular weight and consequent viscosity of the polymer melt. The melting and solidification of the polymers occurs too quickly and the resultant layers were porous. Higher laser powers can reduce porosity but they are limited by the onset of the decomposition of the polymer which must be avoided. A solution to this is to scan the same area multiple times with a laser power that does not cause decomposition. This is not an ideal solution as the printing times would be extended for large parts. These initial results show that fluoropolymers have the potential to be used in AM but they require high temperature printers and the collaboration of the powder suppliers to design polymer grades with properties tailored for AM (particle size, viscosity, etc.).

4 SHOWN:

THIN, LASER-SINTERED FLUOROPOLYMER SHEET (TM ~ 300ºC) SHOWING GOOD FLEXIBILITY.

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MATERIALS

THE RIGHT INGREDIENTS

TCT SPEAKS TO DANIEL HUDSON, AM MANAGER AND DR HELEN FAMODIMU, AM ENGINEER AT VOESTALPINE HIGH PERFORMANCE METALS UK TO FIND OUT HOW THE FAMOUS STEEL COMPANY IS CREATING SOME OF THE MOST ADVANCED METAL MATERIALS ON THE MARKET. Q: When does a material become worthwhile to develop for additive manufacturing (AM)? A: The core competence of the voestalpine mills is material expertise, in combination with material application and existing customer requirements. We have therefore tapped into those resources to establish the AM powder ranges. AM powders developed with properties to provide specific solutions that meet the requirements and expectations of our customers. This makes them more competitive in the market. The route to developing AM powders is two-pronged 1. Optimise existing alloys in the market for improved processability. For example, the Uddeholm AM Corrax was developed to aid in plastic injection moulding markets as it has improved corrosion resistance, wear resistance and polishability.

Q: How is a new material tested? A: As metal particles are susceptible to environmental degradation (moisture and oxygen), testing is carried out under controlled atmospheres during the melting stage. During gas atomisation, a test sample of the current powder is sent to the test lab for analysis. The analysis includes the morphology/rheology (Shape and surface) of the powder particles, porosity, flow rate, density (relative and tap) and particle size measurements.

2. Developing innovative and novel alloys to corner the market especially for tool steels as this is the most under-developed market for AM. Q: What are the cost implications of developing an AM specific material? A: Alloy development is a time and cost consuming activity but the Uddeholm mill has 350 years’ experience in developing new grades, so it’s nothing new for them. The mills have been able to embrace new technologies in the past and harness their knowledge into developing new and/or improved alloys, with AM being the latest step in technical development. Powder development for AM needs a lot of effort but this is necessary, the cost implications are not much higher that of developing new alloys for other applications/technologies. Some of the costs in developing AM specific powders are driven by: 1. Carbon content of the metallic alloys (as tool steels tend to have higher carbon content than the AM procedure can usually process) 2. Metallic alloys are required to have specific properties (e.g. low melting/solidification range) that would make them suitable for the process. 3. Considerable investments to ensure alloy development and handling would meet both Quality and Health & Safety requirements are undertaken. This includes the building of new Gas atomisers, test melt plants and various powder handling/storing equipment. Q: How does the R&D process work? A: Inert gas atomisers are utilised in melting the bars (which have been obtained from the mill directly hence ensuring full traceability). VIM furnaces are installed directly above the atomiser to increase capacity and powders obtained are usually spherical with particle sizes suitable for the AM process. The particle size is influenced by varying the gas flow rate dependent on the alloy being atomised. Mass spectrometry is

conducted to verify the chemical composition during the atomisation process and monitor the oxygen content. Once melted, powders are sieved into two sizes: 0.015 mm – 0.045 mm and 0.045 mm – 0.150 mm. Q: What does the traceability of the material look like (in terms of contamination risks)? A: Traceability is integral to production in the mills and AM powders are no different. Bars for atomising are obtained, with already established melting routes, heat number and lot traceability number. Each batch of powder after atomisation is further assigned its own heat number and material certificate that incorporates the chemistry, particle size distribution and aspect ratio.

Once established that the powder is viable for the PBF/ LMD process, we take the testing further in determining its viability for melting and full densification as a part. This involves testing on several different machines available in the group AM Centres. Dusseldorf and Toronto (for Powder beds) and Singapore (for LMD). This is done with a view to establish a suitable process window, also process robustness tests through its physical and thermochemical properties. When a working process window (through the modification of the laser spot size, layer thickness and scanning speed of the equipment) is obtained, we continue to investigate the heat treatment and other post-processes to verify the properties essential for the targeted application. This is an important step as our alloys should not just be printable but also offer benefits to our customers.

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GUEST COLUMN

‘BIND-AND-SINTER’ ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING OFFERS FLEXIBILITY AND PRODUCTIVITY DAVID BRACKET, TECHNOLOGY MANAGER FOR AM TECHNOLOGY AT THE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY CENTRE (MTC) AND TCT EXPERT ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER, DISCUSSES BIND AND SINTER AM TECHNOLOGIES.

very week it seems as though a new additive manufacturing (AM) machine (or 3D printer) is being announced to the world, leading to a flurry of coverage over what the machine is claimed to do better, cheaper, faster, bigger than existing technology. Whatever the truth of these claims it is clear that current technologies are far from perfect for every application.

At the National Centre for AM, based at the MTC, these processes are referred to as ‘bind-and-sinter’ AM, and encompasses a number of technologies including:

• Metal binder jetting, where a loose metal powder bed is bound together using a binder agent, Real challenges must be overcome for AM to progress e.g. Digital Metal, Desktop Metal (‘Production’ system), ExOne, GE from a niche to mainstream production process. Additive, HP*, Stratasys*. When it comes to the manufacture of complex metal • Metal material extrusion, where parts the predominant AM technology is powder bed a filament or rod (combination of fusion (PBF) where a high power laser or electron binder and powders) is extruded beam is used to selectively fuse a thin layer of powder. from a heated nozzle, (often called Although this approach enables the direct production fused filament fabrication or fused of highly complex parts the speed is currently limited to deposition modelling), e.g. Desktop a few hundred grams per hour which, in turn, increases Metal (‘Studio’ system), Markforged the part cost. This is a significant barrier to widespread Metal X. adoption of the technology. Recently there has been a noticeable increase in the number of alternative approaches to PBF for the production of complex metal parts. Common to these processes is the use of a sacrificial binder material to temporarily bond the metal particles to form the shape of the parts before being subjected to a post-processing sintering process to reach full density. Decoupling the shape forming step from the powder sintering provides the potential for much higher productivity.

SHOWN: METAL BINDER JETTED FASTENERS (SOURCE: DIGITAL METAL)

• Metal vat photopolymerisation, where a photocurable resin loaded with powder particles is cured using a laser or other light source (often called stereolithography), e.g. Lithoz. • Metal material jetting, where ink droplets loaded with powder particles are jetted from an array of nozzles, e.g. XJet.

SHOWN: METAL STEREOLITHOGRAPH AIR INTAKE (SOURCE: LITHOZ)

Following the build process itself, the 3D printed ‘green’ parts undergo a post-processing procedure consisting of a pretty conventional set of steps similar to that used for metal injection moulding (MIM), where the binder is removed and the resulting ‘brown’ part is densified in a sintering stage. The postprocessing of AM parts is one of those underappreciated realities (or ‘dirty little secrets’) of the technology and is not unique to ‘bind-and-sinter’ AM. PBF parts also require a significant amount of postprocessing in order to obtain a finished part, and reducing the effort required for this across all AM processes is an active area of research. A key question when looking at this approach of manufacturing metal parts is: how does the part density, microstructure and material properties compare with PBF processes? To gain insight into this so that the technology can be applied to real applications, the MTC conducted a project with its members which included evaluation of two ‘bind-and-sinter’ AM processes: the Digital Metal binder jetting system and the Lithoz metal stereolithography system. Both systems were found to achieve a density of around 95-97%, which can be compared with a typical density of >99% with PBF. Hot isostatic pressing (HIP), where parts are4 *Assumed to be binder jetting based on snippets of information released. 26 : 5 www.tctmagazine.com

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GUEST COLUMN

SHOWN: METAL MATERIAL EXTRUSION PART (SOURCE: DESKTOP METAL)

“squeezed” under high temperature and pressure, can be used to fully densify parts. Unlike PBF, in metal binder jetting (and metal stereolithography) a support structure is not required, which opens up the range of geometries that can be manufactured. Supports in PBF often need to be reduced through changes in the part geometry and any remaining supports need to be removed at the end of the build – a slow, manual process which adds cost and time as well as wasting material. Moreover, the presence of supports inhibits the ability to stack parts on top of each other in the machine.

batch production scale. These include traditional MIM sectors, such as medical equipment, automotive, portable electronics and luxury watches, glasses and other consumer goods. Considering the difference in production scale capabilities, binder-and-sinter AM is likely to complement MIM rather than compete with it, as current MIM producers already have the infrastructure required to process green parts and will see the advantage of using AM for producing small batches or prototypes before investing in expensive MIM tools for large scale production. Binder-andsinter AM surpasses MIM in terms of higher geometrical complexity and design flexibility, which will enable it to penetrate new application areas that are currently not viable for MIM.

“DECOUPLING THE SHAPE FORMING STEP FROM THE POWDER SINTERING PROVIDES THE POTENTIAL FOR MUCH HIGHER PRODUCTIVITY.”

In addition, the increased design freedom can mean metal binder jetting is the only way to achieve the required geometry. Some machine manufacturers have targeted large parts (e.g. GE Additive and ExOne), whilst others have targeted small parts (e.g. Digital Metal). Others have prioritised build speed such as the Desktop Metal ‘production’ system due to be released in 2019.

For PBF the material needs to be weldable. Moreover, difficultto-weld materials often require changes to the process, including pre-heating. With ‘bind-and-sinter’ AM, the material range can be much wider and includes other materials such as ceramics. However, there are some challenges with using ‘bind-and-sinter’ AM. The thermal treatment process required for the part to reach full density increases the lead time compared to PBF and requires furnaces that are capable of handling organic residues of extracted binders. In addition, the parts are relatively fragile during the intermediate ‘green’ and ‘brown’ stages, which makes them prone to failure during handling or de-powdering. Also, the sintering process could cause deformation to particular geometries, such as slumping of unsupported structures, which makes it necessary to design innovative support solutions during sintering. Shrinkage is generally repeatable and can be compensated for, although not necessarily isotropic, and for some geometries temporary ceramic supports may be required to achieve the required geometric tolerances. In terms of potential application areas, bind-and-sinter AM technologies are likely to find use in industries where small, highly complex parts with tight tolerances are required on a

To summarise, ‘bind-and-sinter’ AM has some characteristics that are different to PBF which can make AM applicable to a wider range of components, with a particular intention of increasing component geometric complexity, increasing build speed, reducing costs and broadening the range of materials available. As the home for the National Centre for AM, the MTC has recently installed a Digital Metal binder jetting system and it is inviting companies that require small and highly complex metal parts to get in touch to see the potential this process offers for their business. http://ncam.the-mtc.org/

SHOWN: METAL MATERIAL JETTED PART (SOURCE: XJET) 26 : 5 www.tctmagazine.com

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page 1

PRODUCT DESIGN

WEAR YOUR CHAIR WORDS: SAM DAVIES

nder a grey cloth centre stage at Autodesk University London 2018 sat an exponent of the company’s Generative Design tools, and to its right, two champions of the technology.

Side-by-side, Rachael Wellach, founder and CEO of Disrupt Disability, and Steve Cox, 3D Tech Consultant, AMFORI Consulting, had delivered a proof of concept for the goal they had been working towards for nearly two years. As the cloth lifted, Cox introduced the audience to the world’s first generatively designed modular wheelchair. It has everything Wellach wants in a wheelchair. Well, almost. It’s comprised of five interchangeable modules, customised in accordance to her measurements and preferences, puts the

user forward and itself in the background, and the potential to be retailed under the 2,000 GBP (2,200 EUR) price point of typical personalised models. It’s a step in the direction of doubling as a medical device and a fashion item, just like spectacles. All that’s left to fine-tune is the weight, which will come as metal additive manufacturing (AM) technology develops, Cox believes. For those working on the project, the lightweighting of a wheelchair is as important as it is in the automotive and aerospace industries. It means less material usage, and less cost in both the production and shipping stages, but most importantly it makes life easier for the user. In a world where they are continually restricted, be it through accessibility, stigmatism,

mobility, making life easier is Disrupt Disability’s motivation, and through a range of collaborators has the technology at its disposal to achieve that. “I’ve been involved with Disrupt Disability for two years,” begins Cox, “and right from the very beginning I’ve had this itch I wanted to scratch of throwing Generative Design at a wheelchair to see what it could produce in terms of making something as lightweight as possible, so it takes the least amount of effort for the user to move it around. Casting into the future when metal additive manufacturing is more efficient, it will give you the opportunity to put a lattice structure inside instead of having them solid which would save more weight.” He’s mainly referring to the wheelchair’s side frames which have been CNC machined at the Autodesk Technology Centre in Birmingham. By harnessing metal AM, and implementing 4

SHOWN:

PROOF OF CONCEPT MODULAR WHEELCHAIR

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PRODUCT DESIGN an internal lattice design, Cox projects weight reductions of around 40% in the future. The design of the side frames was the winner of hundreds of options thrown up automatically by Fusion 360 after variables like material and measurements were manually inputted into the software. Viewing the designs on a scatter plot, Cox was able to see which design was the most lightweight, had the best aesthetics, and was most in line with the user’s preferences, just by running his cursor over each plot. He also ran simulations of some of the other wheelchair modules, such as the seat, which was designed inside Fusion 360’s Sculpt workspace and will be SLS printed in the future, to

see how it would perform if the user leant forwards, backwards, or to the side. For Disrupt Disability, this is an important capability because an SLS seat costs 1,500 GBP (1,670 EUR), a big chunk of the organisation’s budget. The simulation capabilities not only gave the partners the confidence to print the seat, but the seamless way in which Fusion 360 enabled alterations to be made postsimulation, then update and run the simulation again, was a key part of an efficient iteration process. This was just the first go at producing a customised modular wheelchair. Lessons have been learnt, some pieces of technology that weren’t used this time round, almost certainly will in the

future. Metal 3D printing will enable lighter side frames in quicker time, while 3D scanning will return more precise measurements. “There’s no way I’m pretending this is a final product, it’s there as a thought-prompter and a discussion promoter,” remarks Cox. Disrupt Disability was born out of a series of hackathons, taking on board the suggestions from wheelchair users and professional designers, and is aiming to serve the 70 million people worldwide who require a wheelchair, of which around 14 million feel their requirements are not met. It operates with a mantra of ‘able-bodied people don’t wear the same shoes every day, so why should wheelchair users use the same wheelchair every day?’ If the user wants to go to the beach, the wheelchair should be able to do so without its front wheels sinking into the sand. That’s why the five core modules: the seat, backrest, rear wheel axle, cast support and footrest, can all be swapped out to better suit the function at any given time. The organisation has heeded assistance from several outlets: Cox’s consultancy has been ever-present; the hackathons helped get the ball rolling; and the likes of Salomé Bazin from Cellule and Julien Vaissieres from Batch Works helped to prototype different components of the modular system, like the front wheel casting forks, which were 3D printed for less than 30 GBP (34 EUR). With the concept now proofed, all that’s missing is the investment to help make that concept of a functional, fashionable, customised, modular wheelchair a reality. “One of Rachael’s visions is making a wheelchair more of a wearable device, in the same way that spectacles are a medical aid but they’ve become a fashion item. Why can’t we do the same for wheelchairs?” asks Cox. “A key part of that was clearly to make a modular wheelchair that allows you to a) customise for your own preference, and b) change it on a day to day basis depending on what you are doing. I think the proof of concept shows that could potentially work.”

SHOWN:

THE LATTICE SIDE FRAMES WERE CNC MACHINED IN ALUMINIUM.

26 : 5 www.tctmagazine.com

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S TA N D H 3 6

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PRODUCT DESIGN

NO SHORTCUTS WORDS: Simon Côté, Product Manager at Creaform

SCOTT SPORTS AND CREAFORM: COMMITTING THE “NO SHORTCUTS” APPROACH TO SPORT’S SAFETY AND COMFORT

nown for its wide and complete range of quality sports gear, SCOTT Sports has a bit of a peculiar history: the company was founded in Idaho in the north-western USA, back in 1958. It first came to the market with ski poles, followed by goggles, then slowly branching out into biking in the 1980s. In 1998 came an unusual twist: the company was acquired by what was then its European sales and distribution office, effectively moving the headquarters to Givisiez, a picturesque small town near Fribourg. Moving the headquarters to Switzerland seemed to give a second wind to the company, which greatly expanded its product line from then on. Nowadays, SCOTT Sports develops and produces head-to-toe gear for skiing, biking, motorcrossing, snowmobile riding and trail running. The common thread: All these sports are suited to a mountain, outdoorsy environment.

THE NEED FOR 3D SCANNING TECHNOLOGY

Bertrand first saw a live demo of Creaform products at an industry show and admits that he was astonished by the technology. Especially by the fact that it “seemed so simple to use while still being very accurate.” At first, SCOTT Sports wasn’t sure if its engineering division actually needed a 3D scanner of its own. It had partnered with external services in the past, but could an in-house device really be useful and a sound investment? The company initially decided to make a minimal investment in a “nearly homemade” mini 3D scanner, just as some sort of proof

test. After a while, it became clear that: 1. SCOTT Sports could definitely use 3D scanning technology and; 2. their mini-scanner was not upto-part. For Bertrand and his team, the HandySCAN 3D was the right choice because it was “so much more intuitive, quick, and comfortable to use” than their “test” scanner. Furthermore, they were impressed by its resolution and ability to work on any surface or colour while they appreciated that Creaform software was powerful yet simple to use. It made postscanning work with meshes a cinch. 4

A PASSION FOR PUSHING THE LIMITS

In the highly competitive sports gear market, what sets SCOTT Sports apart? According to Bertrand Didier, Chief Engineer for the company’s Sports Division, it’s first and foremost an intense drive to innovate and constantly push the limits of its products. The company’s tagline is “No Shortcuts” and it is no less than a motto that permeates the whole design and development process. In order to create gear that is perfectly suited to the sport and truly corresponds to its practice, they must constantly rethink all the most important aspects: security and protection, ergonomics, reliability and, of course, style. While SCOTT Sports likes to continue playing on and drawing upon its American heritage, it is now a Swiss based company, with all the efficiency and precision that this implies. In Givisiez, there are currently over 20 engineers working for the various sport divisions. Every new product development stems from a collaboration between three teams: Product Managers, Designers, and Engineers. The latter becomes more and more involved during the project lifecycle, as the technical aspect gradually takes center stage.

26 : 5 www.tctmagazine.com

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PRODUCT DESIGN

On top of using it in its development process, SCOTT Sports utilises their Creaform 3D scanner for reverse engineering, dimensional control as well as to obtain renderings of all their products to keep on file and to provide 3D models to the manufacturers they work with.

GEARED TOWARD THE FUTURE

A COMPETITIVE EDGE

When asked if the HandySCAN 3D brought SCOTT Sports a competitive edge, Bertrand responded with a resounding affirmative. The whole team uses it and has quickly integrated it into their workflow. “We like that it’s right there, so easy to take out of its box to operate. Its availability means we never have to hesitate to measure something, even to obtain a reference or make measurement comparisons” between prototypes, for instance. Case in point: Using Creaform technology when developing the recently launched Symbol 2 ski helmet, “was useful for the flexibility and speed it brought us in the design phase, the comparison between different versions, as well as the product control at the end of the development lifecycle. All of this led us to deliver a great product on time, with the shape and fit that everybody expected.” Bertrand estimates that using the HandySCAN 3D saved SCOTT Sports “at least a few weeks” of trial and errors, including the designers and engineers’ salaries as well as a few prototypes (which generally cost between 700 and 1,000 euros each).

5 top:

SHOWN: HANDYSCAN 3D SCANNER HELPS DESIGNERS ACCELERATE TIME-TO-MARKET FOR THEIR NEW PRODUCTS.

Since a helmet is a very complex object, one that presents particular challenges in terms of both volumes and ergonomics, it simply wouldn’t have been possible to “go as far” while designing the product without a 3D scanner. This type of product features both safety and comfort (pressure points) issues that could prevent it from reaching a perfect fit. But the TRUsimplicity of the HandySCAN 3D rose up to the challenge with its user-friendliness and versatility, contributing to the Symbol 2 success (the helmet won the gold award at the ISPO Award in 2017).

What are the next steps for SCOTT Sports? 3D technologies such as scanning and printing have opened up new possibilities for the dynamic company. Armed with an extensive industry knowledge — very few companies offer such a broad product line, which enables them to easily transfer knowledge and features from one sport or one equipment piece to another — Didier and his team want to continue improving the products and constantly make them safer, more comfortable, more versed in aerodynamics, etc. Furthermore, they are not afraid to question their own processes and challenge themselves, willing to change direction quickly if need be, all in the name of perfection. Focusing on the details and transitioning the products into a technology realm are two upcoming challenges for SCOTT, and for sure “no shortcuts” will be taken. And they can rely on the HandySCAN 3D to help them achieve their goals.

THE HANDYSCAN 3D HELPS THE COMPANY’S ENGINEERING AND DESIGN TEAMS TO GET THE SHAPE AND FIT THAT PEOPLE CAME TO EXPECT FROM SCOTT SPORTS PRODUCTS.

4 RIGHT:

HANDYSCAN 3D IS VERY VERSATILE NO MATTER THEIR SPORT GEAR.

26 : 5 www.tctmagazine.com

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DESKTOP

SUM OF ITS PARTS C WORDS: DAN O’CONNOR

hristmas 1999, as an excited 15-year-old, I unwrapped my first Personal Computer, purchased from the now-defunct British electrical retailer, Comet. Less than one month later my father, in dispute with the branch manager, was threatening to launch the painfully sluggish machine through the shop window and it had nothing to do with the Millennium bug. Before Comet eventually relented and refunded the money, my uncle, a local IT whizz said of the terrible PC, “a machine can only be as good as its components.” When looking at a couple of shortlisted entrants to this year’s TCT Awards, I wondered whether Uncle Patrick’s statement was as true now for desktop 3D printing as it was then for personal computing. After the experience with the shop-bought PC, Patrick taught me to build PCs, scouring computer fairs across the country on the hunt for appropriate components that I’d then assemble with varying degrees of success. These clunkily-put-together machines, with their parts exposed and super-loud fan systems, ran Championship Manager much faster than the shinier looking, shop-bought, CE marked Comet one ever mustered. We’ve had our fair share of 3D printers on loan at TCT that are comparable to that Comet PC. Assembled, ‘plug-and-play’ machines that have been, by and large, slow, unintuitive, prone to failure, and frustrating to the point where if I’d have paid for them, I too would be looking for a shop window for which to launch through. However, there’s a raft of hobbyists building their own or upgrading on existing desktop 3D printers. Thanks to that evergrowing demand there’s also a steady supply of manufacturers producing components that move the dial on 3D printing’s viability as an easy-to-use, reliable technology be that for the home or the engineer’s desk.

TIPS OF THE ICEBERG

Take the Olsson Ruby FDM Nozzle, a finalist in the TCT Hardware Award 2018 – NonPolymer systems. The add-on has the potential to take sub 500 GBP FDM printers and have them churning out parts in engineering-grade carbon filled filaments. Designed by Uppsala University research engineer Anders Olsson and commercialised by 3DVerkstan, the nozzle is brass but has a ruby gemstone mounted to the tip. Whereas the majority of nozzles are entirely brass, which wears quickly when printing with abrasive materials such as carbon filled nylons, the Olsson Ruby’s tip is much harder wearing. A test showed that a brass nozzle degraded beyond usability after printing 0.3 kg of a carbon fibre filled filament, whereas after printing 8 kg of the same material there was no visible wear under a microscope to the Olsson Ruby nozzle. Then there’s E3D Online, whose tool-changer concept has been shortlisted in the TCT Hardware Award 2018 – Polymer systems category. E3D’s components, and in particular its hot-ends, are revered by both the knowledgeable hobbyist market and industrial OEMs like Lulzbot and German RepRap. 4 26 : 5 www.tctmagazine.com

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DESKTOP

Although E3D will be the first to admit that a tool-changer is not a new concept, the company is renowned for perfection and the overseeing of successful stepchanges in extrusion-based 3D printing. The R&D that has gone into creating a better solution for multi-material extrusion-based 3D printing at E3D’s Oxfordshire HQ is staggering. Multi-material printing has been a goal since the days of Adrian Bowyer’s first RepRap work. Effective multi-material printing can unlock applications that have proved out-of-reach to desktop systems. With the E3D concept a 3D printer would be able to pick up different hot-ends at speed to combine materials; imagine being able to use a Olsson Ruby Nozzle for a sturdy carbon-filled structure, a 1.2 mm E3D Volcano nozzle for fast and fat layering of support material and then a 0.4 mm nozzle for fine details, all without the need for human interaction. To achieve effective multi-material printing E3D has developed both a toolchanger and a new motion system to control the tool-changer from scratch. After trial and error experimenting with pneumatic sucker grabbers, electromagnetics and the likes, E3D’s tool-changer uses extremely precise (sub five microns) kinematic coupling alongside a permanent magnet tool dock and a sprung bayonet cam-loc - the prototype of which was manufactured using metal powder-bed fusion technology. The beta product for the tool-changer

looks like a fantastically fast factory pickand-place system that could well prove to be a huge leap forward for desktop 3D printing.

ABOVE BOARD

Back in the PC building days, the motherboard was the key, get the right motherboard, and everything else would fall into place. With 3D printing that is no different. Much like the early days of the PC, where hobbyists were cobbling together existing microprocessors to process logistical problems, in the early days of the desktop 3D printer, the RepRap community was using readily-available PIC microcontrollers and Arduino-based electronics to drive the stepper motors, control temperature, slice files etc. The sophistication of off-the-shelf electronics only goes so far, if you wanted to control a system like E3D’s pick and place or even just an extra stepper motor you’d come unstuck. Bart Meijer, a founder of the component and filament supplier RepRapWorld, decided there needed to be a better option and created a line of motherboards engineered explicitly for 3D printing. Minitronics, Megatronics and Ultratronics is a line of increasingly advanced boards for hobbyists and industrial OEMs alike. The cheapest board, Minitronics, allows users to add functionality like dual extrusion; the mid-range board, Megatronics was the first single-board solution for 3D printing; and the high-end Ultratronics boards is the only board to support up to seven stepper motors, 5 thermistors and four thermo couples.

OEMs like professional 3D printer expert, Tumaker, calls Megatronics the “brains” of its machinery and for the Italian manufacturer, Kentstrapper’s latest industrial machine, RepRapWorld proved to be the only place it could turn for its significant electronic enhancement. “MAVIS has automated calibration and is equipped with a [power management] system that significantly reduces the risk of print failure,” explained Lorenzo Cantini, Chief Product Officer and Cofounder of Kentstrapper. “We decided to use Ultratronics because we needed a powerful, 32-bit board that would also allow us to add additional stepper motors when we add extruders to the machine. As we’ve worked with RepRapWorld since 2011, we knew how they work and had trust in their boards.” Investigating the home computer revolution and some of the famous failures like the Honeywell Kitchen Computer and its tagline, “If she can only cook as well as Honeywell can compute”, it’s hard not to compare with the heady days of Bre Pettis vs. Avi Reichental at CES with the “3D printer in every room,” declarations. The fact was that the components inside those early desktop machines were not up to scratch, much like the Comet PC, and it was enough to put many people off. However, much like the home PC revolution, thanks to the thirst of dedicated hobbyists baying for more advanced componentry, the desktop 3D printing revolution still has a beating heart. Visit ReprapWorld (Stand G48), E3D (Stand C44) and 3DVerkstan (Stand D42) at TCT Show

SHOWN: THE OLSSON RUBY NOZZLE ENABLES LOW-COST FDM PRINTERS TO PRINT IN ENGINEERINGGRADE CARBON-FILLED FILAMENTS.

26 : 5 www.tctmagazine.com

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SHOW

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DESKTOP

WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

he humble, plastic extrusion desktop printer is probably the image most synonymous with 3D printing in the public eye. Your child’s school may have one, local library or makerspace, and every now and again you may even spot one on “special buy” in the electronics aisle of the supermarket for less than the cost of a games console. Desktop 3D printing, namely in the consumer space, has had its fair share of hitches. We’ve seen layoffs, short-lived partnerships with consumer brands (Did ANYONE buy a Martha Stewart 3D printed napkin ring?), and closures as the consumer 3D printing dream failed to live up to far-fetched expectations. However, that dip and subsequent disillusionment, has allowed for the hardware, materials and software to mature, and useful applications to materialise. In fact, the most recent Wohlers’ Report suggests that as many as 75% of the desktop machines sold in the industry have gone to companies rather than individual users, with engineering departments and designers thought to be the biggest user base. The poster child of this desktop industrial revolution has to be Ultimaker, a company who in the space of a few short years has evolved from being a hobbyist favourite to finding itself an invaluable place on assembly lines at Volkswagen Autoeuropa, where 3D printed tooling, jigs and fixtures are

expected to save the company up to 250,000 EURO a year. But there are plenty of other areas where desktop is making an impact on an industrial scale.

MAKER TO MANUFACTURER

MakerBot is arguably the most recognisable desktop 3D printing brand having gone from being king of the maker community, proclaiming its machine will change the world, to an acquisition by Stratasys, with plenty of highs and lows along the way. Now, with its ten-year anniversary just around the corner, it’s done a bit of a U-turn and found itself a comfortable position serving the education and professional markets. Over 5,000 schools in the U.S. have a MakerBot installed and at his year’s RAPID + TCT, there was no sign of a consumer-focussed past on the MakerBot booth with examples from robotics company KUKA to lacrosse equipment manufacturer StringKing, showing how desktop 3D printers can be an integral part of industrial product design. 4

“WE ARE NOT TRYING TO SUBSTITUTE INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS, WE ARE JUST TRYING TO GET YOU AS CLOSE AS WE CAN TO THAT FINAL PART OF THE PROTOTYPING PROCESS.”

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DESKTOP

6B ELOW:

FORMED PARTS WITH PRINTED TOOLING PRODUCED ON A MARKFORGED MARK TWO.

“The way that we see it, AM has two big applications, either for actual manufacturing or prototyping,” Felipe Castaneda, Senior Industrial Design Manager at MakerBot told TCT. “With prototyping you need something that’s going to take you to the next step. We are not trying to substitute industrial systems, we are just trying to get you as close as we can to that final part of the prototyping process.” At KUKA’s Development and Technology Center in Augsburg, a MakerBot Z18 is in operation for around 7,000 hours a year and was recently applied to the development of the company’s small-scale KR 3 AGILUS robot, savings weeks on development time. In environments like this, accessibility is one of the main advantages desktop has over large industrial systems. These low-cost, compact machines can be set atop a designer’s desk rather than locked away in a dedicated lab or outsourced to a service bureau which, according to internal studies, MakerBot believes encourages use. “We did this study last year on bicycle seats. We had a bunch of printers and I was trying to prove a

point of what happens when the designer is exposed as many printers as they want,” Castaneda explained. “The good thing about these machines is the turnaround is about 12 hours, so I was printing, in this case, five sets of bicycle saddles in a week. Whilst that experiment was running we did our service bureau order, so we had one of the saddles come in after a week with expedited shipment. It’s that story of opening the platforms. They need to be a tool that you can use to just get that idea out of your head and put it in a physical manner.”

CONVENIENCE ENCOURAGES CREATIVITY Mara Hitner, Director of Business Development at MatterHackers, a technology solutions provider specialised in primarily sub 5,000 USD (4,330 EUR) printers and materials, believes that aside from prototyping or jigs and

fixtures, giving engineers access to desktop printers in large corporations can be a real access point for creativity. Hitner points to a small plastic ring on her finger which was produced on her first desktop machine and ignited her interest in the technology. “NASA is pretty famous for having a makerspace but I feel like the word ‘makerspace’ used to be a dirty word for a major manufacturer,” Hitner explained. “All these engineers and creative people, they can’t mess up when they’re on the job, they can’t try something new on a rocket and then have it fail. But if they have a certain percentage of their time where they can go down to the makerspace and just play, they can do what they started in their careers doing, just trying stuff.” MatterHackers is completely technology agnostic, delivering over 50 machines, kits and 700 materials from partners alongside its own range of filaments, delivering to the education and professional markets. In addition to big machine launches like the larger Ultimaker S5, materials have also benefitted from some serious advancements over the last year as material science has moved on and companies, namely Ultimaker once again, partner with major materials manufacturers BASF and Solvay to bring engineering quality to the desktop. What may once have been the province of larger industrial machines, engineers are now able to print with high-temperature resistant, nylon and carbon-filled filaments to produce functional parts which could potentially save thousands in production costs. 4

5 ABOVE:

MAKERBOT Z18 IS IN OPERATION FOR AROUND 7,000 HOURS A YEAR AT KUKA.

4 RIGHT:

THE POSTER-CHILD OF INDUSTRIAL DESKTOP 3D PRINTING, ULTIMAKER HAS TEAMED WITH GLOBAL MATERIALS COMPANIES TO MEET DEMAND FOR ENGINEERING-GRADE MATERIALS. 26 : 5 www.tctmagazine.com

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DESKTOP

“Volkswagen is a really great example and there are so many more companies that are seeing where this technology fits in their workflow,” Hitner continued. “Most people, once they start seeing these use cases, the wheels start turning and they start to understand how having a fabrication machine on every engineer’s desk just sparks that creativity. It helps people to iterate faster and is really going to bring us to the next generation of products and services that are available to the public.”

INDUSTRY-FIRST

Markforged is a company which has always been industry-focussed, bringing engineering-grade materials to the desktop starting with its Mark One 3D printer back in 2014. Unlike the colourful polymer prints produced on machines of a similar stature, the Boston-based company’s machines are designed to produce functional end-use parts in carbon fibre, Kevlar and fibre glass. Jonathan Reilly, VP of Product at Markforged commented: “I think the general shift to a more industrial focus is very interesting and also very necessary because it expands the capabilities of 3D printing and I think it’s the right place to start pushing towards more and more high-volume applications.” The company has since turned its attention to developing larger industrial solutions and a low-cost metal 3D printing machine but Markforged’s continuous carbon fibre desktop systems are proving to be an invaluable access point to the technology as they’re leveraged on manufacturing lines to print jigs, tools and fixtures. This flexibility is enabling companies like Centerline Engineered Solutions, a U.S. contract engineering business, to significantly reduce costs and lead times with printed inspection, welding and

assembly fixtures and custom tooling. In the recent case of a press brake punch and die used to bend and form a custom sheet steel part, which would typically cost up to 2,000 USD if machined, the company decided to use a fixture, 3D printed in Markforged’s Onyx carbon-composite material reinforced with continuous Kevlar fibres. The part was able to successfully form steel and resulted in an 86% reduction in costs. Proving the durability of the technology in end-use applications, Humanetics, a crash test dummy manufacturer recently utilised a Markforged Mark Two 3D printer and Onyx material to produce a complete set of ribs in just a week. The company was able to save up to 60% in assembly and labour costs and the printed ribs were still going strong even after over 150 impacts. Reilly added: “I have this saying, “the part is our product, the thing you’re buying from us is a delivery system for your part”, it’s easy to get stuck focussed on your printers or your materials but the customer really only cares about their part at the end of the day and if you can build the right delivery mechanisms that make it easy and repeatable for them to get what they expect, you’ll win and you’ll succeed and grow.” For the industrial sector which may have once overlooked seemingly simplified desktop systems, it looks like that message is finally getting through.

6 BELOW:

ENGINEERS AT VOLKSWAGEN USE ULTIMAKER DESKTOP MACHINES

26 : 5 www.tctmagazine.com

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EDUCATION

THE TCT EDUCATION GUIDE WORDS: Compiled by Marthe Kvernvik

s adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) increases, the demand for qualified engineers well-versed in the specific processes, materials, design principles and optimisation methods, follows suit. Education is high on the wish-list for manufacturing and engineering firms looking to secure a skilled workforce capable of operating the factories of the future. Education and training are crucial to filling the gaping skills deficit facing the high value manufacturing sector which, for the UK alone, means a need for 60,000 AM skilled engineers by 2025. A recent study, commissioned by Ricoh Europe, found that nearly nine in ten higher education professionals believe the skills developed through use of digital fabrication and 3D printing technologies are vital for graduates entering the job market, but the availability of educational programmes specific to AM and 3D printing technologies remains limited. At university, AM is primarily offered as a singular module or at post-graduate level which typically requires some form of engineering degree or background to qualify. The majority of AM studies on offer are research-based rather than taught, with more universities across the UK and Europe offering PhDs exploring various AM challenges. However, while only a small number of AM-specific courses are available, lots of universities across the world are investing heavily in AM with their own dedicated 3D printing facilities which offer short and part-time learning on an introductory basis.

Outside of academia, organisations such as the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) are taking the reins by offering over 80 technical courses in AM training, whilst equipment providers, like EOS, are leading their own educational programmes. Sam Davies takes a closer look at these initiatives on p. 51. TCT spoke to a number of academics and course leaders about the crucial need to deliver more AMfocussed education and training in order to keep up with industry demand. 4

“WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING HOW THE TECHNOLOGIES WORK, WHAT GEOMETRIES ARE VIABLE WITH WHICH PROCESSES AND PROPER CONSIDERATION OF FACTORS SUCH AS BUILD TIME, POSTPROCESSING, TOTAL PRODUCTION COST AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES, THE USERS OF THESE SYSTEMS MAY BE MISSING OPPORTUNITIES TO DEVELOP TRULY INNOVATIVE DESIGN SOLUTIONS,” SAYS DR ABBY PATERSON, PROGRAMME LEADER FOR THE MSC DESIGN FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURE COURSE AT LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY WHICH FOCUSSES ON DESIGN RULES, PARAMETERS AND GUIDELINES FOR AM.”

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EDUCATION

Huge strides have been made in recent years to bring AM into focus and a number of institutes have started incorporating elements of AM into their courses,” Dr Javaid Butt, Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Anglia Ruskin University which offers a masters in AM developed with feedback from academics and industrial partners such as Ford and Photocentric. “There is still a lack of specialised courses in the field of AM and they are not as prevalent as other manufacturing courses are but things are changing quite rapidly, owing to the impact that AM is making in different industrial sectors such as aerospace, medical, automotive etc.”

Companies are investing in AM hardware and software much faster than they can find skilled employees to incorporate the techniques into their new or existing practices,” Candice Majewski, Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at The University of Sheffield, which recently introduced a dedicated MSc programme in Additive Manufacturing and Advanced Manufacturing Technologies. “We believe we have a big part to play in helping to solve this issue, and a responsibility to help educate and inspire the next generation of engineers about these technologies.”

The use of additive manufacturing technology has been enjoying significant and steady growth over recent years,” explained, Dr Martin Baumers, Assistant Professor of Additive Manufacturing Management at The University of Nottingham, which is offering a dedicated postgraduate masters course (MSc) from September 2018. “Because of the newness of the technology and significant conceptual differences between AM and more conventional ways of manufacturing, there is also an urgent need for university-trained professional engineers with a specialism in AM.”

TYPES OF COURSES AVAILABLE THE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY CENTRE | TRAINING In a recent skills mapping project, the National Centre for Additive Manufacturing within the MTC identified 147 subjects applicable to nine occupational curricula for AM. Courses are available through face-to-face learning, virtual classrooms and eLearning modules covering best practices, design guidelines, material characterisation for AM and more. Start date: Various

DESIGN FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURE MSC | LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY Primarily led by academics in the Design for Digital Fabrication Research Group at the Loughborough Design School, the MSc Design for Additive Manufacture curriculum focuses on design for end-use applications of additive manufacture, from textiles and garment design, industrial and product design or medical devices. Start Date and Duration: October, 1 year

INDUSTRIAL DIGITALISATION MSC | MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY Taught within the university’s Print City facility, this new course is aimed at graduates from a number of disciplines, allowing students to apply their knowledge of digital manufacturing to their chosen specialism. With the focus on 3D print, other units will develop skills in Computer Aided Design and manufacturing, industrial sustainability, cybersecurity and even augmented reality and robotics. Start Date and Duration: September, 1 year

MSC ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING AND 3D PRINTING | UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM The Centre for Additive Manufacturing Research Group at the University of Nottingham is hosting a dedicated postgraduate masters course which provides students with the advanced skills and knowledge needed to become an industry professional or researcher. This course allows students to gain practical insight and deep technological exposure to state-of-the-art AM systems and processes. Start Date and Duration: September, 1 year

To highlight the opportunities currently available in AM education, we have rounded up the courses and training programmes on offer in a searchable online guide. To find an AM course or training programme, visit the TCT Education Guide at: mytct.co/TCTEducation

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EDUCATION

EDUCATION INDUSTRY UPDATE

o encourage new talent into new businesses you have to have the right level of tech. Delivering that kind of innovation to the next industry leaders, the people coming from university, it’s awe inspiring because then they’ll learn from that and drive that further and continue to perpetuate the market.” – John Burton, Dell Precision Workstation. Thankfully, the additive manufacturing (AM) industry hears Burton loud and clear, and this year a range of organisations invested their time and money in education initiatives. Here are some of the highlights. RENISHAW Renishaw has injected 45m USD (50m EUR) of investment into its Miskin facility in South Wales, home to its Fabrication Development Centre which helps train the next generation of engineers onsite at a real-life manufacturing base. The company has also launched online guides to additive manufacturing, featuring case studies, featured articles and opinion pieces.

GE ADDITIVE The company immediately outlined its intentions upon its formation back in 2016, investing 10m USD (8.7m EUR) between 2017 – 2021 through its GE Additive Education Program. Now in the second cycle of the initiative, GE Additive has delivered a Concept Laser Mlab 200R machine to the University of Limerick and Coburg University of Applied Sciences & Arts, hundreds of desktop machines into primary and secondary schools, and also opened up the parameters of the Arcam ABM A2X platform for universities.

MTC The MTC is investing around 500,000 GBP (558,000 EUR) year-on-year on designing more than 140 AM-related courses, 80 of which are technical training initiatives. They range from process to process, and cover a broad range of elements from design through to post-processing. The organisation has also launched the country’s first AM apprenticeship programmes. These schemes will cover the ‘whole range of competencies necessary’ to define the required knowledge, skills and behaviour to operate in various job roles within end-to-end AM product development environments.

ULTIMAKER Ultimaker agreed to become a sponsor and supplier to GE Additive’s education endeavours, seeing its desktop machines installed at a host of schools across the continent. AMPOWER The German consultancy firm has set up three modules of training to help ensure AM is implemented properly. Its Basic stage (one day) teaches the fundamentals surrounding process and materials properties; its Design phase (two days) comprises the Basic curricula and a design workshop; while its Pilot phase (up to four months) harnesses the knowledge picked up in the prior two levels and puts it into practice, culminating in a built part that can be presented to the client’s management team.

3YOURMIND The 3D printing service provider launched an online AM Summit conference, designed to inform and educate participants. 3YOURMIND hopes to continue the conference going forward.

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Computing hardware

MARS AIN’T THE KIND OF PLACE TO RAISE YOUR KIDS… IS IT? WORDS: sam davies

n a world at one’s fingertips, a million people live on a rocky surface. Its murky ether, ultramodern architecture, futuristic vehicles, and lack of congestion on the roads are enough to know it isn’t Earth. These people don’t need spacesuits, however. They breathe air organically, grow food in 3D printed dome structures, commute via an Hyperloop system – but it isn’t Matt Groening’s Futurama biosphere either. It’s Mars. Or at least, it’s a virtual rendering of Mars, generated by crowdsourced design ideas and architectural and engineering technique, accommodated by HP’s Mars Home Planet project. It is merely a fun use of HP’s marketing dollars, though it’s certain to illuminate the lightbulbs above the heads of Elon Musk and co, and shows just how computing hardware and immersive technologies can be used to better imagine how landscapes are brought to life. Musk is in the midst of a three-way race: NASA, Mars One and his own Space X are driven to be the ones to land the first humans on Mars, and ultimately have people live up there. NASA is hosting a years-long competition to source design ideas for

3D printed Martian homes; Mars One wants to establish a human settlement up there through a reality TV show; while Space X has set itself a target to have 1 million people living on the planet within a century of its first visit. It is a testament to the development in technology that sees each setting their momentous launch dates prior to 2040, and a couple even within the next decade. That tech isn’t just exclusive to the unmanned spacecraft currently in orbit, sending back images of craters, sand dunes and information that reveals a 12-mile body of water submerged beneath the Red Planet’s south polar ice caps. Purring in the background is a series of computing hardware technologies, fundamental to pretty much every operation the aforementioned trio will embark on. Leveraging the vast processing power to hand, experiments will be running, missions tracked, and communications enabled. NASA has 120 HP ZBook

Workstations on its International Space Station alone, and there are many more functioning on Earth below it, and in the future, potentially more far beyond. And that’s just NASA, and those are just HP products. Thousands more are using hardware from Dell, Lenovo and Fujitsu, in sectors like media and entertainment; finance; and software development. More than half are sold into architecture and engineering. Some 87,205 of those architects and engineers have been in a Mars-related race of their own, utilising workstations and design capabilities in CAD software to build infrastructure concepts, the winning designs being incorporated into HP’s simulated martian terrain. “I want to walk around the future of Mars and be amazed. I want to walk around, fly around, get transported around on the far-out Hyperloop of Mars and see these worlds come to life,” was the instruction of Sean Young, HP’s Head of Global Industry Segments and leader of the project. Mars Home Planet has aimed this last 12 months to not just paint a picture of what an inhabited Mars might look like, but create a virtual reality of it, and in October an Unreal file containing the end result will be available for public download. While it won’t necessarily act as a blueprint for life on Mars, it does mirror the future of architecture here on Earth. 4

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BACK DOWN TO EARTH Key to future productivity in the design of our buildings and structures is the spate of VR-ready workstations being brought to market by the likes of Dell and HP, among the two leading vendors in the space. The former was number one globally last year for shipments, and has 47% of the market share in the UK, the country’s capital being the setting for the company’s recent Future of Architecture event where architect, Sam Jacob presented alongside John Burton, a Dell Precision Workstation Technologist. Dell didn’t just gather a set of journalists to boast, it did so to demonstrate how it has reached that status, and the impact innovation in the market might have on a key vertical. The company’s Precision division has the broadest portfolio of workstation products on the market, with its 20 commercially available models set to become 21 this September. It includes fixed tower workstations; standard mobile laptops; flexible rack platforms; two-in-one laptop/ tablet devices; and the Canvas, an interactive station that enables the user to sketch designs as if they were using pencil and paper, and quickly share with collaborators within a few clicks. They each boast varying levels of processing power, graphics ranges and storage space, but such is the wealth of choice, Dell feels it has every vertical market requirement covered. Newer products have graphics cards compatible with VR technology, the extra performance kicking in when users go above 90 frames per second,

and the company has a team in place dedicated to VR technology to assess its potential development. The company has also recognised a trend of customers moving to mobile devices, and so is bringing to market two-in-one devices for increased flexibility, and laptops that run off six core processors with up to P52000 graphics, and 128gb of RAM, almost matching the performance of fixed tower platforms. HP is providing stiff competition with similar ranges of VR-ready fixed tower platforms, as well as mobile devices, and two-in-one products. It has its own VR headsets – two being launched as the Mars Home Planet VR Experience was premiered at Siggraph 2018 – to be harnessed in parallel with the VR-ready machines. Its most unique commodity in this territory is the Z VR Backpack PC. This, as the name suggests, is a computer that can be worn like a backpack, and when teamed with a VR headset, enables the user to place themselves in a room as they design the interior, for example. You can walk around the room, pointing to spots on the floor and transporting yourself there instantly. The colour of furniture can be altered, and you can move the window’s placement to ensure the room gets some natural light, but not too much. It’s innovation to this scale that has architects and designers salivating at the prospects, not just in the work they produce, but the better communication with their clients they’re set to benefit from along the way.

PUTTING IT INTO PERSPECTIVE Jacob, who is currently working on the renovation of Surrey Street Market, described using the Canvas as ‘pleasant and natural’ and having a ‘real haptic quality of drawing on a piece of paper’, while he wants to be able to bring VR into his studio to have greater control, rather than rely on service providers. VR is, perhaps, the technology to cause widespread disruption in architecture in the coming years. It enhances interaction in the planning and design phases, even allowing clients to experience the building at the focus of a project before bricks and mortar are on the ground, and not just view the rough aesthetics and scale portrayed through cardboard models. “You have standard ways of making drawings,” Jacob told TCT, “which in a strange way has stayed the same for a long time. It’s beginning to change with Revit and BIM, but at the end of the day we’re often sitting with a bit of paper with a plan, which we could have been doing in the 16th century. It’s amazing how fast that is changing. Rather than being outside the drawing you’re in it, things are flying past you, you look backwards, they’re behind you. That’s a really exciting and interesting way of thinking about an idea of space that you could not do without the hardware, without the software, and without the knowledge.” “Being able to be on the road with a VR headset and connecting to it and getting feedback there and then, in terms of where a window will be. If the sun comes around at that point what reflection am I going to get off that building at that one point? That’s the detail you can see,” offered Burton. “[Whether] we need to move that window a couple of feet to the left so you’re not going to get that mid-morning reflection where, as you walk in, you’re blinded. Those are the types of interaction we’re starting to see from an architectural space.” 4

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Computing hardware

“One of the things that clients always demand, even if they don’t know they’re demanding it, is to get a real feel for the project,” Jacob added. “That’s what clients want and being able to work across all those different ways of showing what a project is going to be like is increasing the dialogue, increasing the time you spend together, increasing the way in which you can interrogate the designer. The more we can provide them with experiences and ways of seeing and ways of understanding, the better the end products are.”

the interior design of a hotel room, to a multi-storey office complex, to… a fully functioning eco-system on the nextnearest planet? While transitioning the latter from virtual concept into reality is fanciful to say the least, for the former two examples it is becoming increasingly more feasible, and increasingly more recurrent.

“We’re focused on VR and our customers are focused on VR. It’s completely game-changing [because] you get this immersive visualisation experience,” Young summarised.

It’s technological developments, and then the successful applications, like this that enable, perhaps even justify, the thoughts of having humans live on Mars. But transforming the architectural design process in this world is one thing, making Mars a home planet is an entirely different story.

ANOTHER TOOL, ANOTHER PLANET? It’s important for architects to be able to offer these simulative environments for clients, many of whom walk into a blank room and see a blank room. Displaying it in a 3D realm where you can walk around freely, move furniture from one side of the room to the other without the back ache, or knock a wall down only to put it back up without the planning permission and subsequent hassle, is huge for architects. “It’s about this idea of seeing it visibly, the way buildings are designed and products are designed, the way in which we shape the tools that we use, that then goes on to shape the world,” Jacob articulated. “In architecture, that means the way in which we draw things and how we visualise things changes what it is that we design. This is changing really rapidly now, but it is something which is embedded in the history of architecture.” A natural progression, the industry is always wanting to advance what’s capable, not hit the limits of the tools it uses. Architects want to experience things like never before, from

Whatever happens with regards to the infrastructure on this planet or that, it looks bound to be visualised through the scope of a VR headset, and fuelled by the processing power of a VR-ready workstation.

“THE MORE WE CAN PROVIDE THEM WITH EXPERIENCES, WAYS OF SEEING, AND WAYS OF UNDERSTANDING, THE BETTER THE END PRODUCTS ARE.”

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TCT HALL OF FAME

ELY SACHS HILTON BIRMINGHAM METROPOLE

26 SEPT 2018

GREG MORRIS

DR CARL DECKARD

During the gala dinner for the TCT Awards in Birmingham on the 26th September 2018, three more masters of manufacturing will be inducted into the TCT Hall of Fame. Nominated by their peers, the TCT Expert Advisory Board, and then voted in by the general public these three trailblazers are worthy company for Scott Crump, Chuck Hull, Hans Langer, Wilfried Vancraen and Adrian Bowyer in the illustrious Hall of Fame.

INDUCTEES

In this special feature, we present extracts from a series of interviews with the class of 2018, the full versions of which are available to download on the TCT Podcast. Listen at mytct.co/TCTPodcast

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TCT HALL OF FAME

ELY SACHS OUR FIRST INDUCTEE IS PROFESSOR EMANUEL ‘ELY’ SACHS, THE INVENTOR OF THE METHOD OF 3D PRINTING KNOWN AS BINDER-JETTING. HIS WORK ON THE TECHNOLOGY AT MIT IN THE 80S WAS SO AHEAD OF ITS TIME THAT ONLY NOW, THREE DECADES ON, ARE WE BEGINNING TO SEE ITS TRUE POTENTIAL. TO CAPITALISE ON THE PROMISE, ELY CO-FOUNDED DESKTOP METAL, WHERE HIS WORK ON SINGLE PASS JETTING COULD REVOLUTIONISE THE ADDITIVE MANUFACTURE OF SERIES PRODUCTION METAL PARTS.

Q. You’ve talked about how you had seen beta tests of the stereolithography process in the 80s and how that ignited a fascination with making complex shapes, what made you decide you needed to invent a different process to achieve this? A. My goal was [to use] engineering materials and more specifically to make functional parts and tooling, some of our first papers had that right in their title “Functional parts and tooling by 3D printing”. The polymers used in stereolithography had minimal mechanical properties, and those early acrylate resins were very brittle and not great dimensionally. Our thrust was, ‘let’s move from just form and fit, in fact not even form and fit, just form models to making actual engineering parts. We came up with a bunch of different ideas one which we referred to as 3D printing and is now known as binder-jet printing.

Q. What was it that made the binder-jet process so appealing?

Q. What were some of the first applications of binderjet printing technology?

A. I saw binder-jet printing as a path not just to making prototypes but down the road to making production parts. If you look at our first patent, the image on the front page is of a line printer shown depositing the powder and immediately following with a print head that prints across the full width of the powder bed in one pass. It’s taken a long time to get to but it is what we’re doing at Desktop Metal in the specific application of printing with fine metal powders, but that was part of the original attraction of binder-jetting because I could see there was a path to doing production parts very rapidly.

A. I was interested in metal casting technology and in particular investment casting technology. I was aware that you make a ceramic mould, then you pour the metal in, then you break the mould and you get a metal part, and I was also aware that the ceramic mould had to be porous. When I was thinking about binder-jet printing, it was clear that the part that was going to come out of the machine was likely to be porous and so I made that match and I said, ‘let’s see if we can print ceramic moulds and cores for metal casting.’

One of the great strengths of 3D printing is that you can make geometries that you can’t otherwise make, but there’s less of a reason to do that if you can’t also take that technology into production.

Down the road, I figured we’d learn how to densify the parts, consolidate them as we do when we’re using metal powders but here this casting application didn’t require that so we could take the part in its porous state, as printed, and pour metal into it. That was very attractive.

Q. Having taken a break from the industry from 2002 to 2015, what were the technological steps that helped you decide to come back to the industry with Desktop Metal? A. I think that it’s a set of factors and the first is that inkjet technology did massively progress along a parallel dimension. There are now many vendors of inkjet printheads that have thousands or tens of thousands of jets used, for example, for printing books on demand. Another major factor was that at roughly two-thirds of our way through the work at MIT we started to use very fine metal powders to print parts, these are the kind of powders used in Metal Injection Moulding (MIM). The MIM industry at that time was tiny and viewed with a fair amount of suspicion. In the intervening time the MIM industry has blossomed and all of a sudden powders are more readily available at a lower cost. And more importantly, people have gotten more used to the idea of making production parts out of powder.

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TCT HALL OF FAME

GREG MORRIS WHEREAS THE MAJORITY OF THE HALL OF FAMERS HAVE INVENTED TECHNOLOGIES OR IMPROVED UPON THEM, OUR NEXT INDUCTEE IS FAMED FOR AN APPLICATION. GREG MORRIS FOUNDED MORRIS TECHNOLOGIES ALONGSIDE HIS BROTHER, WENDEL MORRIS AND BUSINESS PARTNER BILL NOACK WITH A USED SLA 250 MACHINE IN 1993. BY NOVEMBER 2012, GE HAD ACQUIRED THE COMPANY IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE LARGEST METAL SUPPLY ADDITIVE SUPPLY CHAIN IN THE WORLD FOR THE FIRST SERIES PRODUCTION OF AN ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED METAL PART. Q. In 2003 Morris Technologies acquired the first metal machine in the US. What was it like as a company to invest in such a fledgling technology? A. We brought over to America the first DMLS machine (An EOS M 250) and thought we’d make a lot of mould inserts and be making quick injection moulding tools and maybe make a few direct parts and, of course, history has proven the complete opposite to be true. Initially, we were selling parts to GE Aviation, who kept pushing us for a better material because the early bronze-based alloy had issues, the steels would corrode, they would stress crack etcetera. We kept going back to EOS saying we need a superalloy something like a nickel-based alloy and they finally told us that they had been working with some medical customers, dental customers with an alloy called Cobalt-chrome. We ended up getting our hands on the Cobalt-chrome, and when we started using it with our new M 270, that’s when the metals side really took off. Q. What was the design for additive manufacturing capability like in those early days of metal 3D printing? A. Painful! We used to have a large wooden crate that one of our guys termed, ‘The Box of Broken Dreams,’ which was where we threw all our scrap builds that failed in the build for one reason or another.

We learned a lot through crash builds, lots of scrap parts that we had to take and pay for. At GE, only two engineers were working with us; one was in what they called the Test Facilities Engineering Group and the other was in the Combustion Engineering Group. To their credit those two engineers, since retired from GE, they stuck with the problems because they recognised the potential of the technology. Q. When did it become apparent to you that additive manufacturing was going to become suitable for the series production of the LEAP fuel nozzle? A. GE held the fuel nozzle close to their chest, although we expected that in 2010 or 2011 GE was probably going to be moving towards using additive to produce the tip of the fuel nozzle. We didn’t have a full view of that until they acquired us but once we knew for sure that’s what GE were doing it really validated the technology on so many different levels. The reason they acquired us was to protect their supply chain for the fuel tips. This was the major first step where we’re seeing the technology placed into the heart of an engine in an extremely high-application environment and that a company like GE is going to bet the farm that it was going to be the way to make the LEAP engine fuel tips.

Q. After GE acquired Morris Technologies, do you think there was a broader opportunity for metal additive OEMs in that one company had simultaneously validated the technology and wiped out the capacity? A. We had a good half the capacity in the country, if not the world, in additive metals at that time, which sounds grandiose but it was a tiny amount of business in the grand scheme of manufacturing. But still, when GE bought us, overnight the rest of our customers lost their supplier, overnight the capacity went from the market, overnight all these people realised that if GE is buying somebody for this technology, this must be pretty good and that is exactly what happened. The EOS, the Concept Lasers, the Renishaws, the SLMs of the world, their order books started piling up and accelerating. It’s been an amazing transformation from November 16, 2012. Going forward I think in our little industry, it’s sent a lot of shockwaves that says this technology is validated.

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DR CARL DECKARD DR CARL DECKARD IS ONE MEMBER OF THE 2017 SHORTLIST WHO MANY COMMENTED SHOULD HAVE MADE THE INAUGURAL HALL OF FAME LINEUP. FORTUNATELY, THOSE PROTESTERS GOT THEIR ACT TOGETHER FOR 2018 AND VOTED FOR THE INVENTOR OF SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING (SLS) IN THEIR DROVES.

Q. Talk to me about your time at TRW Mission and how that shaped the invention of SLS? A. TRW was an iron-based machine shop that made stuff primarily for the oil and gas industry, they made all kinds of things and to me, a kid who had wanted to be an inventor since the age of seven, to work in such an impressive manufacturing facility was a thrilling experience. TRW had lots of old tech but it was also an early adopter of CAD, and at that time what I understood was that you could go unambiguously from this computer model to the programme that drove the CNC machine, which wasn’t actually the case at that time. A lot of the parts they made started out as a casting, the casting came from a foundry, the shape for the casting came from a casting pattern and the casting pattern was generally made by hand. I looked at that and thought, ‘if I could make a casting pattern directly from the computer model people would pay good money.’

dimensional parts with internal features and overhangs. To do this I was aware that I need some kind of support. To achieve that I came to the realisation that I needed to lay down an entire layer of powder and I needed to melt the powder together under computer control. Q. You started the SLS project at the University of Texas, while getting your masters and PhD, can you tell us how that all came together to be the SLS technology we know and love today? A. I’d worked on this to a point where I finally thought an invention of mine was worth pushing, and at that time I was just about to go to graduate school. An epiphany for me was the realisation that you could do research based on your own project, so I approached Professor Joe Beaman and I said to him that I wanted to make solid three dimensional objects from a computer model. I explained to him how I was going to do it, what the opportunities were and what the potential issues would be.

Q. One of the differences I’ve noted about this year’s entrants compared the class of 2017 is a desire to make 3D printing a production technology as opposed to just a prototyping one. How did the desire to print using engineering grade materials shape the invention?

He agreed, and I went off and worked on the ideas on paper. When I came back the next semester, I was talking to Dr Beaman after class one day and he said to me, ‘I need you to spec out some equipment, there’s some money available now and it is going away soon, so figure it out.’

A. I didn’t want to be tied to a particular set of chemistries, like with photopolymerisation. I also didn’t want to be restricted to two and a half dimensions either, I wanted real three-

Luckily, I was taking a fairly light load that semester, so I learned all about lasers, learned all about scanners, I put together a budget and it was 30,000 USD (25,000 EUR). I submitted my quotes to

Dr Beaman but realised I had gotten my physical constant for the power of the laser wrong by three orders of magnitude. Fortunately, there was enough money available in the budget to make the readjustment and I got the laser I needed. Q. Talk me through some of those components and performances in those early machines. A. For the first machine, which became known as Betsy, I fed the powder by hand but I knew that I needed a way to modulate the laser so I set up a system on a Commodore 64. I only had four kilobytes of memory to work with for both my program and my data. The parts weren’t great off that machine, but for research purposes it worked and was good enough to get my Masters. After I had gotten my Masters and PhD, I continued to work on the technology and for a later machine I realised things like the machine needed to be enclosed. For one particular machine, I finished building a few days before its most important demonstration, to DuPont. I tested the machine and it failed for one reason or another every time, I didn’t manage to solve those issues right away but I did create workarounds. The first time that machine actually worked was during that demo.

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IMAGING

NEW ORDER IN THE COURT

ASSISTANT EDITOR, SAM DAVIES EXPLORES THE EMERGENCE OF 3D PRINTED ANATOMICAL MODELS AS A DEMONSTRATIVE EVIDENCE TOOL IN CRIMINAL AND MALPRACTICE COURT CASES.

he Criminal Justice System is steeped in traditions of enforcement, accountability, rehabilitation and righteousness. It is conformist, cautious, conservative in its ways, which over centuries only change gradually. And with good reason, because there are livelihoods and reputations at stake within the four walls of a courtroom that can see a jury of 12 and a single judge dictate the rest of the defendant’s life. Beyond any reasonable doubt, the prosecution must prove the defendant carried out what is alleged, the jury must decide whether they are guilty or not, and as the gavel falls, the judge must order their punishment or their reprieve. Through time, new methods of pleading their respective cases have evolved. In this regard, DNA profiling has perhaps been the biggest breakthrough. It was developed in 1984 by Sir Alec Jeffreys, by 1986 was introduced in sexual assault and murder trials, and before long was standard practice.

Police. On either end of the phone were Williams, leader of CiMAT, and Detective Inspector Harry Harrison, who, working a case, had a favour to ask. He needed to demonstrate the severity of the accused’s actions with minute precision and absolute clarity. What followed would provide the case study for the group’s January 2017 research paper: ‘Novel application of threedimensional technologies in a case of dismemberment’, and represented the first of 100 cases worked on by the WMG as it became a national centre for 3D printed demonstrative evidence. Many of those proceedings are still ongoing, but if they’re anything like the few Williams could divulge earlier this summer, then he and his colleagues are making a serious difference.

“DOES ANYONE QUESTION DNA ANYMORE? IT WILL BE THE SAME FOR 3D PRINTING.”

“Does anyone question DNA anymore? It will be the same for 3D printing,” teases Professor Mark Williams, at the University of Warwick’s Centre for imaging, Metrology and Additive Technology (CiMAT) inside Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG). In 2014, WMG received a phone call from West Midlands

“YOU’RE NOT SQUEAMISH, ARE YOU?”

In that first case, a murder victim had been dismembered, squeezed into two suitcases, walked through town at 21.39 as per some eerie CCTV footage, and dumped in a nearby canal. A group of workers found the suitcases, and judging their weight to be suspicious, contacted the police, who sent them to be CT scanned at the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire. Inside was the entire skeletal remains of a man (save for a piece of the left humerus); a saw; a kitchen knife; a hammer; and a chisel. 4

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IMAGING It’s said that dismemberment cases are not so hard to solve if you know where it happened, and thanks to one particular fire department call out, that proved true. The perpetrators, in an attempt to destroy evidence, had collected the remains, including soft tissue and that elusive humerus bone, and with the help of some plastic sheets and petrol, started an oil drum fire in their back garden. After DNA samples from the victim’s body revealed his identity, the police were alerted to a fire where his former housemate and partner lived, put two and two together, and conducted arrests. Eleven bone elements were micro-CT scanned by the WMG, including the humerus bone which was printed and presented in court. This fragment was identified using a Nikon XT H 225/ 320LC micro-CT scanner, which highlighted the area of a clump of charcoal which had suffered the least heat damage – bone being notoriously resistant to fire. It was visualised in 50um and printed in 20um on an Objet 260 Connex. “[The humerus bone] was encased in charcoal and so badly damaged that if we took it apart physically, it would have crumbled away, so we used [CT imaging] technology to scan the charcoal, extract the bone geometry, and 3D print a model to demonstrate,” explained Williams. “The only physical evidence that ties the place of murder and the murderer was this shoulder bone.” The 3D prints not only helped the judge to determine the sentencing of the offenders – 19 and 2 ½ years respectively – but also helped in questioning. Upon seeing the 3D printed models, one of the accused cracked, admitted their guilt, and proceedings went straight to sentencing. Lifting a tray of 3D prints of this ilk out of a secure cabinet at the CiMAT, Williams’ “You’re not squeamish, are you?” query was met with a bare-faced lie. Out came 3D prints characterising leg fractures of young

children; models aiding in facial reconstruction for cold cases; and finally, a segment of a skull printed on a Form 2 SLA machine. The skull belonged to a victim who had suffered a severe beating to the head and later passed away in hospital. During a police search, a spanner and a hammer were found, and so the Nikon XT H 225/320 micro-CT scanner was again utilised to examine the skull in 80um resolution to identify the murder weapon. Both were a match, and to present this evidence in court, the Crown Prosecution Service requested a 3D print to help them deliver the evidence. It was produced to scale in 50um and two people were sentenced to life imprisonment. “The benefits of this X-ray technology over conventional hospital scanners is the increase in resolution, many, many thousands time the level of detail, so we can produce very high resolution models,” Williams stressed. “If you used a hospital scanner you would miss these microscopic injuries and fractures. That’s why the increasing resolution capability of 3D printers is great because you can include those [details].”

DOMINO EFFECT

Those details being clearly described to the jury is the difference, and it is no surprise that the WMG is now working with dozens of police forces in the UK and overseas. Of equally little surprise is the businesses over in the United States sprouting up offering identical services. Lazarus 3D is a medical model company, using 3D printing technology to provide demonstrative evidence on the side, while 3D Printed Evidence is a ‘does what it says on the tin’ firm set up by a law student. It typically costs around 1,000 USD (874 EUR) for the digital imaging to be carried out, while a second cost for the actual 3D print is dependent on the size and materials used. But it comes as little cost to legal counsel when the chance to put the guilty behind bars, or get the innocent off the hook, arises. That all depends, of course, on the jury sat to the east of their benches. “The standard defence [against the use of 3D printing] is it either distresses the jury or influences the jury’s decision because it’s emotional,” Williams told TCT. “Presenting 3D printed parts, although accurate representation, we can do neutral colours, they’re not the real thing. They’re doing this because they can introduce it as evidence to explain to juries quite complex injuries or cases and then they can move forward.” 4

SHOWN: ELUSIVE HUMERUS BONE: THE CRACKING ON THE SURFACE WAS CAUSED BY THE INTENSE HEAT OF THE FIRE.

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IMAGING

“BY USING 3D PRINTING, WE’RE TRANSFORMING THE INFORMATION PRESENT IN MRI INTO A WAY ANYONE CAN UNDERSTAND.” “It’s important to present things in a way that makes them easy to understand,” added Dr. Jacques Zaneveld, President & Founder, Lazarus 3D. “There’s a whole load of technicalities that you have to pay immense attention to, and in every step, you have to assure that there is very high accuracy. You need to be absolutely positive that what you’re building is the [accurate] representation and [you’re] able to demonstrate it.”

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A 3D PRINT OF THE SKULL SEGMENT WITH HAMMER AND SPANNER IMPRINTS.

Not only that, they must prove to the legal authorities their competence, consistency, and reliability. The models must be accurate, repeatable, believable. The academic institutions and experts involved need to be credible. Their qualifications and track record must be ratified too. Helping WMG’s cause has been having all the scanning, data processing, image processing, and 3D printing technology under one roof. The research it has carried out goes a long way too, as it has for Lazarus 3D, who have showed the continuity of its process has yielded accurate results across a range of cases. But the general consensus is once the technology has been accepted into the courtroom a first time, the dominoes begin to fall, case after case relies to some degree on 3D technologies, and it becomes commonplace in the courtroom. “Hinging upon admissibility is a barrier, but really it’s just apprising the legal field of [our] services, of the technology itself, and of the applications that it has in the courtroom,” offered Josh Weinberger, Founder, 3D Printed Evidence. “A lot of people are aware of 3D printing, but not really what you can do with it, and the extent to which you can make a model, and the extent of the accuracy that you can achieve.”

BEYOND ANY REASONABLE DOUBT

Between the WMG and 3D Printed Evidence, 150 cases on both sides of the Atlantic have seen the capabilities of 3D technologies, while Lazarus 3D estimates 3D printed models for demonstrative evidence represents about 15% of its business. “The demand is there, and the need is high,” Weinberger affirmed. “The quality of the models that we’re able to produce from this technology far surpasses the traditional models that are available. The accuracy is tremendous. We take what’s there and only remove the back wall, the trachea, some of the bone tissues. We’re not adding or altering any

of the injuries by any means, we’re only highlighting what’s there so it is a true, accurate representation of the client’s injury.” “A powerful piece of demonstrative evidence can absolutely change the outcome of the case,” emphasised Zaneveld. “Traditionally, in personal injury and medical malpractice cases, what you very often get is one medical expert saying, ‘this is a terrible injury’, and the other side saying, ‘it’s really not that bad’. And the jury is left with very little evidence that they can digest. If you present an MRI to the jury, without medical training it can be very difficult to understand and get an unbiased assessment of how much damage has occurred in that case. “By using 3D printing, we’re transforming the information present in that MRI into a way that anyone can understand. If I can show you the break in an arm and you can see how big the crack is, that’s a very powerful piece that allows the jury to get a much better, independent assessment of how much injury has occurred in a way they can understand and interact with.”

“That’s the beauty of the high resolution of these 3D prints, you can see that cracking, the microscopic [injuries],” Williams finished. “These non-invasive technologies, the process of scanning and 3D printing is absolutely critical for the point where you can demonstrate to the jury. In a lot of cases it isn’t necessary to go to 3D printing, but it’s a really important part of the process when we need it for the key cases.” Through Standard Operating Procedures signed off by forensic regulators, and expert witness statements corroborated by prosecution and defence, these evidential articles are validated, and the floor is theirs to fight a cause, one way or the other. “Precedent is everything,” Williams summarised, “it’s only novel for so long.” As time passes, a neutral-coloured 3D anatomical model printed in high resolution will become humdrum in its presence in the courtroom, but a crucial component of many a counsel’s closing statement. Beyond any reasonable doubt.

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INDUSTRY 4.0

MAINTAINING THE DIGITAL THREAD M WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

ost devices in the world are connected. You can login to Netflix on your smartphone, watch an episode of The Walking Dead, switch to your smart TV the next day and pick up right where you left off. You might book a flight, check in and store an electronic version of your boarding pass in your mobile wallet which is updated in real-time. Recently, I smugly managed to beat the ten-deep bar queue at my local pub by ordering from my table using an app and funds from my PayPal account – a minor victory but a good example of how digital threads are changing how we operate. In the context of additive manufacturing (AM), a supposedly smart, automated manufacturing technology, that level of connectivity is not quite there, yet. The design portion is digital, pre-processing software helps translate CAD files to a 3D printing format whilst retaining data. That data is passed on to the machine where the ideal print environment is selected, often without much user interference thanks to intelligent optimised print parameters. Once the print is finished you might perform some form of post-processing such polishing or grinding but typically, that’s where the

digital thread ends. As Industry 4.0 promises smart industrial workflows consisting of digital twins, automated factory floors and cloud connectivity, how do we ensure that data-rich digital thread continues throughout the lifecycle of an AM part?

AUGMENTED 3D PRINTING

Boston-based 3D printing company, Rize may have a solution. The company launched its Rize One 3D printer back in 2016 offering multi-material printing capabilities for the desktop. At the Additive Manufacturing Users Group conference earlier this year, the company announced it was taking that technology a step further with something called Augmented Polymer Deposition (APD), combining extrusion and material jetting to bridge the virtual and real-world gap. “The model is in a digital world as it moves from the CAD or design tool into the pre-processing software and then into the machine,” Andy Kalambi, President and CEO of Rize Inc. told TCT at the launch. “But the moment the part gets printed on the machine, it’s a physical part and there is no more digital element.” 4

“THE MOMENT YOU CREATE A MEDIATION, YOU ARE CREATING A POSSIBILITY OF ERROR OR RISK”

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INDUSTRY 4.0

“MAINTAINING A SECURE AND AUDITABLE DIGITAL THREAD FOR THE 3D PRINTING WORKFLOW IS NOW MORE CRITICAL THAN EVER.” The idea is to allow engineers and designers to embed additional functionality into parts to eliminate risk of human error and common problems such as piracy. For example, engineers can use the Rize One’s voxel-level capabilities to print a QR code into the part which can be scanned on a smartphone to provide digital information. This could contain essential data about the part itself, how to assemble it or maybe even a code to view the part in a virtual reality environment. “The moment you create a mediation, you are creating a possibility of error or risk. The QR code is just one example that we tried out and it was very successful,” Kalambi added. “It enables AM and especially the physical part to be connected into that whole digital workstream which involves CAD, PLM, sometimes even IOT.” The overall aim is create an “appliance user experience” which Kalambi likens to the way Uber has changed the way we travel. You’re connected to a pool of local drivers with access to their profiles, you know when the car will show up and your receipts are stored handily in an app using a cashless system – the act of taking a taxi hasn’t changed but the user experience has. Rize wants to do the same for 3D printing by having all of that information available as part of an inclusive and connected user experience which will ultimately save

engineers time and energy when a part lands in their hands.

BLOCKCHAIN Founded primarily as a way of securing information for cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology is becoming increasingly relevant to industries and businesses that require protection and security for their digital assets. In a first for AM, LINK3D has introduced the integration of blockchain technology for AM in its flagship SaaS product, Digital Factory. The AM software solutions company believes the need for file integrity and traceability is a priority for AM processes to ensure that the digital thread continues once a part is either sent from the designer or comes off the print bed. “3D printing enables digitisation of manufacturing, which has a lot of benefits,” Vishal Singh LINK3D CTO told TCT. “This also introduces the challenges of the digital world, especially: security, IP protection, tampering of parts, and hacking of advanced manufacturing machines. Furthermore, the digital manufacturing supply chain enables on-demand and distributed manufacturing, which brings together several participating stakeholders. Digitisation creates security challenges, especially with stakeholders, so maintaining a secure and auditable digital thread for the

3D printing workflow is now more critical than ever.” LINK3D says the software will be particularly beneficial to service bureaux who will be able to receive orders based on their capabilities and pre-verified orders. Prints can be traced in real-time, logging data from machines which can be stored safely and accessed for traceability checks. Once the part is printed and shipped, the package can also be tracked to ensure it is opened by the intended recipient. “It can be used for managing recalls and forensics, if something went wrong with some parts, the batch or lot number can be isolated and the root cause can be identified - be it machine parameters or material details or some other detail,” Singh continues. “Beyond production, supply chain and logistics aspects also need to be tracked to ensure the parts are delivered to correct destinations in an untampered way.” LINK3D claims blockchain integration can help AM to become more accessible to designers, manufacturers and supply chain representatives as a necessary tool for validation and trust in a decentralised manufacturing ecosystem.4

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INDUSTRY 4.0 Singh adds: “Unifying the digital thread in 3D printing is a necessity to enable 100% replicability of printed parts.” Over in San Francisco, another software provider Identify3D is working to enable the digital thread by providing security, manufacturing repeatability and traceability throughout the digital manufacturing process. At RAPID + TCT in April, Identify3D claimed it wants to become “the shipping container for digital manufacturing”. What that means is, whilst everyone is familiar with the humble cargo box, unless you packed it or are the recipient, you have no idea what’s inside. Identify3D thinks of secure zip files in a similar vain. They can be packed with part and manufacturing information but only users with a specified license will be able to access it. “Identify3D has developed a software solution that protects engineering and design data using the highest encryption standards and a system of licensing to ensure only authorised parties have access to the data they need to produce parts under specific manufacturing rules,” Stephan Thomas, Co-founder & CSO of Identify3D explained. “By enabling a secure digital thread that tracks the design, manufacturing, and deployment of parts along the digital supply chain, Identify3D provides customers with the exact knowledge of how, when, where, and by whom a part has been manufactured.” With its Trace capabilities, Identify3D keeps a log of all information as it moves through the supply chain. Design and engineering data is protected from the get-go and teams can manage who can access their manufacturing files and even how many times. This can provide information such as how the file is to be manufactured and once it becomes a physical entity, can be traced all the way to the end user to ensure IP control and authenticity. “The digital thread is what connects the flow of data from conception through the production and maintenance of a part. This requires interoperability between the systems that transmit and manage design and manufacturing data, creating huge vulnerabilities for cyberattacks on digital interfaces,” Thomas adds. “If the digital thread is not maintained or secured, it will compromise the integrity and traceability of the digital manufacturing flow resulting in increased risk of counterfeit, maliciously modified, poor quality, or uncertified parts from entering the physical supply chain.” Some of the biggest AM players are already on board with the likes of SLM Solutions, Renishaw and EOS partnering with the start-up and more are in development including several pilot deployments with Fortune 500 companies.

POST-PRINTING

removal of support materials, CONNECT3D is a cloud connected software that addresses the full manufacturing thread from design to post-processing, learning from itself along the way, to deliver more consistent, final parts using smart removal of support material and surface finishing. The software enables users of PostProcess’ hardware to leverage native CAD formats to automatically define the desired algorithms for postprinting in a range of metal and polymer materials. Farfaglia added: “With the PostProcess CONNECT3D platform, the user can have all of the information carried with the part through the whole AM process through to the final post-print step, so that they can make informed decisions on what processes the part needs to go through to get the final desired end finish to be truly customer-ready.” Modern lives are intertwined by digital threads and whilst that constant exposure to data can have both positive and negative implications, for AM to fulfil its promise as an integral cog in the factories of the future, a strong digital thread will be key to its implementation. It’s no longer just about having a machine in place and suddenly you’re on the cutting edge. Rather, developments like this where manufacturers are examining the nitty gritty of everything else that happens around the print itself, will help users to get the most out of the technology from that initial idea all the way through to delivery.

For most AM applications, the process does not end as soon as the part comes off the print bed. Parts require an element of post-processing but typically that means the digital link has already been broken when conventional finishing processes come in. AM post-processing solutions provider, PostProcess Technologies is looking to tackle that with its recently launched CONNECT3D software. “Managing the life-cycle of subtractively manufactured parts is a wellestablished process. Additive manufactured parts have the opportunity and advantage to do so digitally and end-to-end,” Marc Farfaglia, Engineering Manager at PostProcess. “Moving additive manufacturing from prototyping into a production atmosphere requires tried and true management of the entire process ... without it, continuous improvement is a guess and check game, and optimal operational and economic efficiencies cannot be achieved.” Linking this data can be critical to the entire workflow, affecting decisions early in the design process such as part orientation and placement of supports right through to the post-printing step. Building on the company’s AUTOMAT3D software which enables intelligent

5 TOP:

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POSTPROCESS TECHNOLOGIES’ CLOUD CONNECTED SOFTWARE ADDRESSES THE FULL MANUFACTURING THREAD FROM DESIGN TO POST-PROCESSING.

26 : 5 www.tctmagazine.com

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NEWS

AND IN OTHER NEWS

MORE STORIES ON THIS ISSUE’S BIG FOCUS: MATERIALS

PHILAMENT INTRODUCES HIGH HEAT-RESISTANT INDUSTRIAL FILAMENT Hungarian filament producer, Philament has introduced its newest material, Philament Engineering, a heat resistant PLA capable of printing objects resistant to 140°C, without any heat treatment. Designed for high-performance applications, Philament Engineering is reportedly shockproof and impact resistant which makes it ideal for

printing objects for use in industrial environments. Available in white, black and blue in 1.75 and 2.85 mm diameters, Philament also says its engineering-grade characteristics make this polymer material a viable substitute for replacing metal parts. “With Philament Engineering we would like to increase the selection of our Philament Technical products, dedicated to industrial needs,” Dr. Zsolt Bodnar, CEO of Philament explained. “The results of the tests and first feedback from customers have confirmed our goal, to develop a filament for challenging applications in different industries.”

ARKEMA 3D PRINTING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE TO FOCUS ON DEVELOPMENT OF RESINS Arkema has opened a dedicated 3D Printing Center of Excellence to drive the further development of 3D printing resins.

has expertise in materials designed for UV-curable AM resins under the N3xtDimension brand. Boasting thermoplastic-like mechanical properties, these materials have been applied in the dental, sports and electronics sectors.

Located at its Sartomer facility in Exton, Pennsylvania, the new production base adds to the company’s global additive manufacturing (AM) material development network and will be further enhanced with the 20m EUR expansion of its Mont site in France, pledged for next year.

The 3D Printing Center of Excellence will provide a location where Sartomer’s chemical specialists and the application engineers of its respective partners can work side by side to develop industry-grade resins. It will also house SLA, DLP, and MJP printers for tests to be carried out.

Sartomer is an Arkema subsidiary division which

RAHN TO DELIVER TAILORED RAW MATERIALS FOR 3D PRINTING MARKET RAHN, a global supplier of oligomers, diluents, additives and photoinitiators for the energy curing industry, is bringing its expertise to the AM market for photopolymerisation processes. The Swiss company has invested in lab-scale 3D printing capabilities at its USA and European application laboratories each staffed by experienced UV Chemists to help deliver tailored formulations to material manufacturers. “RAHN has many years of experience in developing unique performance products that are used in UV and

EB cure technologies,” Roger Küng, Head of Operations EnergyCuring explained. “RAHN was able to build a broad and unique expertise in how to tailor the physical, mechanical and chemical properties of its products and formulation containing them. This capability is key to supplying essential components for high performance applications.” The aim is to develop state-of-theart raw materials and customerspecific solutions to meet evolving needs of AM materials and OEMs.

JOHNSON MATTHEY COMMISSIONS PILOT PLANT FOR CERAMIC 3D PRINTING Speciality chemicals and sustainable technologies company, Johnson Matthey has recently commissioned its first pilot plant for ceramic 3D printing. First installed last year, the pilot plant features adapted large-format binder-jet machines from Voxeljet which can produce small, complex ceramic components with feature sizes down to just 400 µm. The scalable process uses inert binders which have very low environmental

impact and toxicity. JM’s focus is on producing low density, porous ceramics that are fundamentally lighter than conventionally manufactured ceramics or plastics. One of JM’s main research areas is the design of the next generation of catalyst supports, trademarked as Structal supports. Replacing conventional catalyst supports with Structal supports means that fewer are needed to deliver the same amount of surface area for a given reaction, which benefits overall operational efficiency and energy demands of the process.

26 : 5 www.tctmagazine.com

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grimm column

ALTERNATE REALITIES WORDS : TODD GRIMM

TODD GRIMM is a stalwart of the additive manufacturing industry, having held positions across sales and marketing with some of the industry’s biggest names. Todd is currently the AM Industry advisor with AMUG

tgrimm@tagrimm.com

speaker had no hidden agenda and nothing to sell to those that believed her words. Her motivation was pure, which furthered my doubts. So I made it my mission to chat with her, to compare notes, and to discover where my blind spots existed.

ruth is I doubt my opinions and beliefs on what the future holds for additive manufacturing (AM). The doubt doesn’t arise from a lack of confidence nor from a lack of conviction. Instead, it arises because there are many possible realities when it comes to the future. The alternate realities are each based on a set of facts, nuances, caveats and details that must themselves become real. Not knowing exactly how these pieces of the puzzle will come together, it makes little sense to be overly confident and to not re-evaluate my beliefs frequently.

Pleasant, approachable and open minded, she engaged with me in a 90-minute conversation. Our dialogue was exhilarating, challenging and, most importantly, productive. When we ended our discourse, neither of us had changed our opinions of AM’s future, but each of us understood the underlying tenets that lead to our conclusions. I found that our thoughts were not that different. Instead, our assumptions about how the pieces of the puzzle would come together were the cause of the divergence.

The most common situation that causes me to reassess what I hold to be true is when I join the audience to hear what a keynote speaker has on her mind. Coming from a pragmatic position, the thought-provoking commentary often disagrees with my thoughts. This causes me to pause and to contemplate what she knows that I do not. Surprisingly, follow-up conversations often reveal that while our predictions are drastically different, our facts are not. Instead, it is our interpretation of the facts coupled with the underlying assumptions that leads to disparate conclusions.

Through the conversation, and others like it, I discovered how we could devise alternate realities while sharing many beliefs. Simply stated, the devil is in the details, and that is the crux of my message to you. To understand how AM can help or harm you in the years to come, you must understand the planks that support the opinion or forecast. Don’t

accept others’ positions without first appreciating the details and caveats on which the premise is made. Start by being receptive to ideas that appear to be contradictory, treating each as a possible reality. Then dig in to discover the details that are fundamental to the possibility becoming a reality. Next, determine which of these details are pertinent to your business and then distill this list to the five or so critical elements. Armed with this insight, investigate the current state of each element and the probability of change. Now, you can come to your own personal conclusion, not those of a few pundits, as to what role AM will play and what you need to do to get the most out of it. What the future holds, and how to plan for it, that is up to you to decide. Rick Riordan, a bestselling American author said, “It’s funny how humans can wrap their mind around things and fit them into their version of reality.” Don’t get caught up in another’s reality; determine your own. And remember, according to John Lennon, “Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.”

Two weeks ago, this situation played out once again. An informed keynote speaker from a large corporation, one firmly rooted in technology, clearly and enthusiastically laid out the future of manufacturing. AM was a key to this future and one that she stated would profoundly impact all companies. She advised preparation for the big changes that were coming, changes that would fundamentally alter manufacturing strategies, plans, actions and control. I stepped up on the stage after her presentation and delivered my message: sweeping change is possible but not probable without significant developments. Lingering in my head as I presented was the voice questioning if I was wrong. The keynote

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