TCT EU 28.2 by TCT Magazine

DESIGN-TO-MANUFACTURING INNOVATION

MAG EUROPE EDITION VOLUME 28 ISSUE 2 www.tctmagazine.com

SIMPLY PRODUCTION... EOS M 290: THE BENCHMARK FOR INDUSTRIAL 3D PRINTING heaLTHCARE

The AM community's response to the COVID-19 crisis

postprocessing

Experts discuss new research and workflow collaborations

architecture & construction Latest additive applications for the building of buildings

Hirtenberger. Ingenuity. Engineered

HIRTISATIONÂŽ

FULLY AUTOMATED POST-PROCESSING OF 3D-PRINTED METAL PARTS

No mechanical processing steps involved

Removal of powder cake

Reaching deeply into cavities and geometric undercuts

Removal of support structures

Combination of electrochemical pulse methods, hydro-

Levelling of surface roughness while retaining

dynamic flow and particle assisted chemical removal

edge sharpness

hes.hirtenberger.com

RAPID PROTOTYPING

VOLUME 28 ISSUE 2 ISSN 1751-0333

We are dedicated to providing an excellent service – from rapid quote to on-time delivery – producing high-quality components at the right price. · Stereolithography

· Silicone Tooling

· Selective Laser Sintering

· Reaction Injection Moulding

EDITORIAL

· Vacuum Casting

· Water Clear Lenses

· Two Shot and Over-moulding

· Traditional Model Making

Daniel O’Connor e: daniel.oconnor@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 398

· Silicone Components

· Model Finishing

HEAD OF CONTENT

DEPUTY GROUP EDITOR

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

ASSISTANT EDITOR

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

ADVERTISING HEAD OF MEDIA SALES

Carol Cooper e: carol@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 386 ADVERTISING MANAGER

Christine Joinson e: christine.joinson@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 385 ADVERTISING MANAGER

Nicky Martin e: nicky.martin@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 365 SENIOR SALES

Gareth Jones e: gareth.jones@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 360

PRODUCTION

Sam Hamlyn Matt Clarke Ellie Gaskell

MANAGEMENT C.E.O. / PUBLISHER

Duncan Wood

VP, CONTENT, STRATEGY AND PARTNERSHIPS

James Woodcock e: james@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 391

SUBSCRIPTIONS

PUBLISHED PRICES TCT Europe Print Subscription - Qualifying Criteria UK & Europe - FREE US/Canada - £249 ROW - £249 TCT North America Print Subscription - Qualifying Criteria US/Canada - FREE UK & Europe - $249 ROW - $249 TCT German Language Print Subscription - Qualifying Criteria UK & Europe - FREE US/Canada - €249 ROW - €249 Subscription enquiries to subscriptions@rapidnews.com Read this and back issues for FREE on Issuu www.issuu.com/tctmagazine

BPA Worldwide Membership The TCT Magazine is published bi-monthly by Rapid News Publications Ltd Carlton House, Sandpiper Way, Chester Business Park, Chester CH4 9QE, UK.

t: 011 + 44 1244 680222 f: 011 + 44 1244 671074

While every attempt has been made to ensure that the information contained within this publication is accurate, the publisher accepts no liability for information published in error, or for views expressed. All rights for The TCT Magazine are reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited.

(0191) 454 1900

info@amtech-rp.co.uk

www.amtech-rp.co.uk

from the editor

TESTING TIMES

In contemplating what goes into an editor's letter at this moment in time, I had promised myself I'd steer away from the news topic dominating the headlines. After all, starting on page 12, Laura's excellent coverage of the additive manufacturing industry's reaction to COVID-19 goes into a lot more detail than I ever could. However, by mentioning the pandemic in that first paragraph, I've broken my promise and seeing as the horse has bolted, I may as well continue. I was planning on signing this letter off with something like, "I hope all our readers and their families are safe and sound," but that feels empty, and now is not the time for flippancy. Some basic maths, taking into account our readership and the current curve of the infection rate, the likelihood is that not everyone's family is safe and sound. There will be some of you reading this whose lives have been affected in irreversible ways, and for you, I'm angry. Angry at the slow responses from governments around the globe; angry at the people flouting curfews and lockdowns; angry at panic buyers; angry at some company's behavior towards their staff; angry at some of the ambulancechasing profiteering. Writing an editor's letter and editing a magazine about additive manufacturing at a time like this feels futile. That being said, you could spend your time becoming bitter and twisted at a situation that is out of your control, or you could choose to see some of the positives and examples of community shining through. For every nitwit buying up hand sanitisers looking for a quick buck, there's a company like BrewDog retooling its plant to make hand gel to disperse for free. As I'm composing this, I see the news breaking that 405,000 people have volunteered to assist the health service in the UK. There are positives to try and cling to. The long-serving AM members we're not getting to see this spring at AMUG or RAPID + TCT have always been known for their willingness to help and share information. The response you'll read more about in Laura's piece is proof that, despite AM's unprecedented growth, the spirit of community still exists. We believe we have an innovative solution that is quick and flexible, perfect for the manufacture of bespoke medical devices and short runs. And if we're honest, we also have bags of latent capacity. The mainstream media has been lapping the 3D printing of PPEs and ventilator parts up; let's hope that if there is any light at the end of the tunnel, additive manufacturing has proved to be a viable technology by doing the ultimate and saving lives. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, stay indoors unless absolutely necessary and be vigilant about yours and everyone else's safety. I'm stealing a line from the Kermode and Mayo podcast here that I like, and hope is true: "Everything will be alright in the end, and if it's not alright, it's not the end."

DANIEL O'CONNOR HEAD OF CONTENT

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 05

ARMSTRONG RM COMBINES OLD-WORLD CRAFTSMANSHIP WITH INNOVATIVE, ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SOLUTIONS ..... EVERY DAY FOR ,; 50 YEARS ,

VOLUME 28 ISSUE 2

COVER STORY

08. SIMPLY PRODUCTION…

EOS on its fourth generation industrial 3D printer, the EOS M 290.

HEALTHCARE

11. LAB IN A BOX

Assistant Editor Sam Davies talks to a company hoping to 3D print the ‘desktop PC of biology’.

12. 3D PRINTING STEPS UP IN CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

Deputy Group Editor Laura Griffiths takes a look at the 3D printing industry’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

FINANCE

17. HIR£? PURCHA$E?

Sam takes a look at the increasing prevalence of subscription models for AM hardware.

21 Architecture & Construction 21. COULD AM CHANGE HOW INDUSTRY BUILDS?

Laura talks to Autodesk about a research project producing a large steel cantilever beam with AM.

25. COUPLE UP

Sam speaks to the product design company 3D printing a redesigned scaffold coupler.

Postprocessing

27. MAKING THE CUT

3D Systems and GF Machining team up to optimise the workflow for 3D printed spinal cages.

29. SURFACE FINISHING METAL AM PARTS: TIME TO TACKLE TIME Fintek’s Richard Ainsworth discusses a UK Government sponsored research project.

31. SWITCHING TO A NEW DEBINDING FLUID

Venesia Hurtubise at Microcare on measuring success when changing to next-generation debinding fluids.

THROUGH THE DOORS

33. COMING OF AGE

Behind the scenes at Arcam as the GE Additive company opens new Gothenburg facility.

37 Expert Advisory Column 37. KNIGHT TO REMEMBER A cautionary tale on powder handling from Jeremy Pullin, Head of AM and Design to Manufacture at Sartorius.

42 Executive Q&A 42. MATERIALISE CEO ON REAL SUSTAINABILITY

Fried Vancraen talks to TCT about 30 years of additive innovation.

SIMPLY PROD

EOS M 290: THE BENCHMARK FOR INDUSTRIAL 3D PRINTING

ver the past 19 years since the introduction of its metal technology, EOS has been building up a champion in powder-based, industrial 3D printing that combines the pioneering spirit of the early years with its meanwhile longstanding AM expertise. In 2001, with the launch of the EOSINT M 250, EOS introduced its DMLS metal technology which soon became a seal of quality. EOS has built upon this foundation to create the fourth-generation system – the EOS M 290 – that is the benchmark for reliability, repeatability, and quality in the AM metals market.

EOS M 290: BORINGLY RELIABLE

The EOS M 290 system has been used in serial production for over six years. An EOS customer recently called the EOS M 290 system ‘boringly reliable’. Others rate it as one of the most stable systems or as the workhorse of the industry. As of today, EOS has a global installed base of over 1,500 metal mid-frame systems, 900 of which are the EOS M 290, making it one of the best sellers to date. Approximately 50 percent of these are qualified for production applications in regulated industries such as aerospace or medical. US-based I3D Manufacturing started their business in 2014. Today the company owns 6 EOS M 290 systems. Erin Madrigal, CEO at I3D says: “When we started our business we decided to work with EOS due to their longstanding company history and technology expertise. With the EOS M 290, we know that the 3D

printed part will meet our customers' specifications. It is a very reliable system. There is also no comparison when it comes to quality.” With its 20 materials, EOS currently offers the most extensive range of validated materials and processes available on the market, covering all customer needs. The materials portfolio ranges from aluminium, to cobalt chrome, copper, maraging steel, nickel, stainless steel, tool steel and titanium alloys. Both the comprehensive EOSTATE monitoring suite for quality assurance of all production- and qualityrelevant data in real time, and EOSPRINT for process optimisation for a quick and easy job and workflow management, are ideal for production.

THE TOP CHOICE FOR HIGH QUALITY AND HIGH PRODUCTIVITY

What EOS hears from the market is that the wellestablished system is very robust, ensuring reliably high performance. UK-based Progressive Technology has a machine park of three EOS M 290 and two predecessor systems, among others, serving primarily the motorsports and F1 industry. With an average uptime of 97.5%, the company is producing around 15,000 parts per year. “Additive manufacturing at Progressive Technology has been steadily gaining traction over the past few years,” states Jon Vickers, Operations Manager. “We see EOS systems as a reliable industry standard for AM. Having worked

SHOWN: INTEGRATED NEW FACTORY AT ECOPARTS, WITH EOS INDUSTRIAL 3D PRINTERS ON THE RIGHT AND POST PROCESSING ON THE LEFT (CREDIT: ECOPARTS)

08 / www.tctmagazine.com / 28.2

COVER STORY

DUCTION... SHOWN: PROGRESSIVE TECHNOLOGIES ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING FACILITY: SPLIT INTO MATERIAL SPECIFIC, TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED ROOMS. THE TI6AL4V ROOM CONTAINS 2 EOS SYSTEMS (CREDIT: PROGRESSIVE TECHNOLOGIES)

“WITH AN AVERAGE UPTIME OF 97.5%, THE COMPANY IS PRODUCING AROUND 15,000 PARTS PER YEAR”

SHOWN: EFFECTIVELY CONTROLLING AN INDUSTRIAL GRADE 3D PRINTING FACILITY AT LINCOTEK ADDITIVE (CREDIT: LINCOTEK ADDITIVE)

with EOS metal machines for 14 years, I am an advocate for their systems. EOS has always proven itself to being a class-leading AM solution provider. The technology enables additively manufactured components suitable for a broad spectrum of industries, enabling best quality components when it comes to mechanical properties, surface and aesthetic finish along with competitive pricing as a function of build speed.”

THE LONGEST LEGACY IN METAL ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

As the fourth generation, the EOS M 290 system builds on the legacy of its predecessors. Taking a system that was already heavily used in aerospace and medical serial production, further improvements in manufacturing were made when it comes to reliability and repeatability. A recently published extensive capability study shows that the EOS M 290 with EOS Titanium Ti64ELI has a minimum Four Sigma process capability for density, geometrical accuracy and surface roughness properties; six sigma capability for tensile and yield strength properties. Several EOS customers, like Swiss-based Ecoparts, first invested in an EOSINT M 270, grew with additional EOSINT M 280s, and continue to invest in EOS M 290 systems. Today, Ecoparts owns eight EOS M 2xx systems (five EOS M 290, two EOSINT M 270, one EOSINT M 280) and plans to further expand in its new location. One-third of its business is in tooling but mechanical engineering applications are on the rise too. Daniel Kündig, one of the founders of Ecoparts, adds: “When we started our business it was very clear that we wanted to be at the forefront of the 3D printing manufacturing revolution. We invested early (2007) on and in EOS we found the perfect technology partner. With the EOS M 290, we found the ideal workhorse to meet the requirements of our demanding customers.”

process EOS offers as it was one of the first free-form AM technologies capable of manufacturing objects made of titanium alloys in compliance with the applicable standards of implantable materials at a reasonable investment cost. Today, the company has 19 EOS systems, among them 14 EOS M 290, operating in three countries (Italy, Switzerland, USA). It mainly serves medical/ orthopeadics, industrial gas turbines and aviation with their 3D printed parts. With the EOS M 290, Lincotek is delivering more than 100,000 units per year, can run AM with OEE above 90%. Winfried Schaller, Lincotek, Group CEO, concludes: “Being a pioneer in the additive market is something that has allowed Lincotek to become the contract manufacturer of choice in the additive field. As Lincotek Additive, we offer our customers a real contract manufacturing alternative in serial additive manufacturing, enhanced by end-to-end capabilities like e.g. coatings and precision machining if needed. We are very excited to be in this fast growing sector offering unique, reliable and economic customer focused supply chain solutions.” These are just a few of the many EOS M 290 customers. To request a copy of the full Capability Study scan the QR Code below or email info@eos.info

Italy-based Lincotek Additive started to look into metal 3D printing back in 2006, clearly favouring the powder-based

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 09

HIGH VOLUME TURNKEY AUTOMATED POSTPROCESSING SOLUTION FOR SMOOTHING THERMOPLASTIC POLYMER 3D PRINTED PARTS

PERFORMANCE: // Injection molded surface quality // Improves mechanical properties // Eliminates porosity // Limits uptake of gas and liquids // Compatible with 100+ materials // Compatible with all powder-bed and filament-based 3D printing technologies SAFETY & SUSTAINAbILITY: // No wastewater effluent. // Chemicals handled in a closed loop zero waste system // Compliant with local and international regulations. // No flammable or explosive chemicals // All chemicals are REACH regulated

CONTACT INFO@AMTECHNOLOGIES.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION.

AMTECHNOLOGIES.COM

HEALTHCARE

WORDS: Sam Davies

6 BELOW:

THE BIOLOGIC TEAM LEFT TO RIGHT: DR COLIN BAKER, RICHARD VELLACOTT & NICK ROLLINGS

or decades the size of computing systems has reduced gradually, from the mainframe equipment used in the mid 20th century through workstations, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

It means, today, at times of crisis and convenience, many workers have been able to take the device that is central to their productivity home, to another workspace or on the road. For those working in biological labs, however, every piece of equipment remains in the facility. Changing that, in one fell swoop, is the motivation of BiologIC Technologies. The start-up has designed, and holds intellectual property for, a device it hopes will become ‘the desktop PC of biology.’ It is intended to scale down laboratory processes to design biology, controlling fluids, cells and introducing chemicals and reagents, within a small footprint. Referred to as a lab in a box, Stratasys’ J826 multi-material PolyJet 3D printing technology is integral to its design and manufacture. “If you think of all the functions in a biological lab, we’re basically miniaturising those into a series of modules each with a Rubik’s Cube sized footprint,” Chairman Richard Vellacott told TCT. “A normal PC runs off semiconductor chips, central processing units and graphical units made out of silicon; we’re making bioprocessing units using 3D printing.” These bioprocessing units, or cartridges, plug into a universal instrument to run a particular biological workflow. Stratasys’ flexible and tear-resistant Agilus material is used to help move biology ‘dynamically’ around the system, while the VeroUltraClear material allows the user to see the biology as it goes. The design of the cartridges is said to be so complex, making them any other way isn’t an option, which means BiologIC will be looking to move into production using the same technology. Currently, BiologIC can print nine cartridges per build on the J826 but moving forward will look to expand capacity with larger format J850

machines. Already, customers are intrigued. “We’ve been working with customers since day one – they’re fascinated by it – and they can see straight into the design, build and tests of these products,” Vellacott said. “We can turn the whole conventional life science instrument development model on its head, rather than waiting five to ten years to get something out to a customer and hope they want it.” Of course, there is some path still to tread in the development of BiologIC’s device – Vellacott confesses it’s a ‘grand vision’ – but once the usual regulatory hurdles have been cleared, the hope is medical professionals can accelerate the advancement

“CUSTOMERS ARE FASCINATED.” of their medicines. BiologIC knows there exist laboratory innovations that could lead to potential therapies for cancers, vaccines and treatments for other diseases, and Vellacott only has to flip open his laptop or swipe a finger across his phone right now to be reminded of the urgency. What’s more, with experience working in laboratory environments, he and his colleagues can relate to the struggles and the pain points that slow these developments down: Specialist equipment not marrying together so well, software tools not connecting either, and scientists routinely being taken away from their specialist tasks to do manual jobs around the lab. “That’s not efficient for anybody,” Vellacott said. “If we can automate all of these processes, we can free up scientists to do what they do best, which is understand biology, design experiments, get results. We want to deploy these people not in mindless capacities, but in mindful creation.

SHOWN:

“If we execute this nicely, hopefully, we will make a big difference in the world.”

BIOLOGIC’S 3D PRINTED BIOPROCESSING UNIT

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 011

3D PRINTING STE IN CORONAVIRU WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

s I sit at my makeshift desk, waving to my teammates over Skype as TCT commences working from home in a bid to curb the coronavirus pandemic, the reality of the crisis we all suddenly find ourselves in looms. But as I struggle to turn my attention away from the growing stats and figures filling up my newsfeed or the empty shelves in my local supermarket which serve as a constant reminder (this crisis will, if anything, make me a more creative cook), there is another movement gaining momentum that’s curbing the worry and giving me hope. A surge of additive manufacturing (AM) companies from service bureaus to makers have declared their willingness to support the manufacture of much needed life-saving medical equipment. As the number of cases increases, our regular supply chains are struggling to facilitate demand for crucial items such as respiratory devices and protective masks. Here in the UK, our NHS is said to have around 5,900 vital ventilators but it is believed we could need almost quadruple that number to care for COVID-19 patients. It’s a similar situation across the world and AM companies believe this is the time to step up. In Italy, the second worst affected country after China, 3D printing is already having an impact following a fast reacting exchange between an Italian journalist, the founder of a Milano Maker Lab and engineering company Isinnova. The collaboration led to the successful production of a prototype for a replacement valve for respiratory aids, which were then printed in a powder bed process in PA12 by AM provider Lonati SpA, and sent to a hospital in Brescia. The manufacturer was able to produce 100 within a day, at a cost of less than 1 Euro each. The UK Government is calling on the UK manufacturing supply chain to switch their production to manufacture "as many new ventilators as possible." A number of 3D printing companies are believed be amongst the 1,400 businesses which have already pledged their support. British engineering and metal AM firm Renishaw is one of the companies the Cabinet Office has approached directly to assist in this national effort. Renishaw's Chris Pockett told TCT: "We have judged that our most useful role in this challenge is to offer our services to rapidly produce components for the devices using our in-house additive manufacturing, machining and electronics capabilities. We have formally communicated this to the UK Government's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and we are already in contact with some of the teams that are working on ventilator designs.” Over in the U.S., Silicon Valley 3D manufacturing company Carbon says it is on hand with its network of contract

012 / www.tctmagazine.com / 28.2

manufacturing partners using its Digital Light Synthesis technology to print polymeric parts, and believes AM can help overcome the challenges of traditional supply chains, particularly in the face of shut-downs and global transportation disruptions. So far, the company has been developing designs for face shields and swabs for coronavirus test kits. Dr. Joseph DeSimone, Carbon's Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board, cited Carbon’s cloud capabilities and engineering-grade materials as valuable assets in tackling the crisis and urged companies, governments, and others to reach out. He told TCT: “Adaptable and diversified global supply chains are essential now and into the future as we confront major disruptions caused by pandemics or other significant events like earthquakes or hurricanes. For example, Carbon printers are all connected to the cloud, so when such a disruption occurs, even if one facility goes down, digital designs for parts can easily be shifted to and manufactured at another facility as needed. We are encouraged that manufacturing facilities that house Carbon printers, including facilities in Asia that were recently suffering some of the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, are back up and running.” Fast Radius, one user of Carbon's DLS technology, says it has already been approached to help design and produce some parts that support life saving functions.

HEALTHCARE

EPS UP US CRISIS Lou Rassey, Fast Radius CEO, told TCT: "One of the benefits we’ve long talked about with additive manufacturing is how it unlocks speed – speed of design iteration, part production, and fulfilment. In a crisis like the one we are experiencing, speed is critical. We’re seeing, in real time, how engineers and manufacturers are able to produce parts for life-saving devices at a fraction of the cost and time required with conventional manufacturing."

“NOW MORE THAN EVER WE MUST CONTRIBUTE WITH OUR TECHNOLOGY FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE MOST VULNERABLE.”

3 SHOWN:

UK GOVERNMENT CALLED ON MANUFACTURERS TO PICK UP PRODUCTION OF VENTILATORS

new multi mould production order for a large medical provider. The company is also supporting Italian engineers in the conversion of ‘Easybreath’ snorkelling equipment into ventilator masks by manufacturing ‘Charlotte’ valves.

Some desktop machine manufacturers are offering their resources directly to hospitals and projects. BCN3D for example, a Barcelona-based outfit is offering up its farm of 63 polymer Rassey explained how the company dual-extrusion machines and currently produces medical parts has already delivered 400 face used outside the body in various shields to 11 Spanish hospitals. types of diagnostic and support equipment, many of which are in Xavier Martínez Faneca, need right now. The company is BCN3D CEO shared with TCT: "In building out a network of design and the current world crisis caused manufacturing firms who want to help by the Covid-19 pandemic, we across AM, machining and injection cannot stay behind and from moulding, and inviting companies to BCN3D we want to offer from participate. our headquarters in Spain all our technological power of 3D FFF HP has also shared its plans to printers to help all those hospitals assist, leveraging its large Digital and researchers who need 3D Manufacturing Network to help printing to manufacture parts of design, validate and produce respiratory machinery and any essential parts with Multi Jet Fusion equipment that allows to care for medical responders and hospitals. for patients [of] this virus. We are not going to be left behind and "Digital manufacturing can be now more than ever we must a huge help in quickly filling parts contribute with our technology shortages, creating new and more for the benefit of the most effective designs, and helping bridge vulnerable". disrupted supply chains,” Ramon Pastor, interim President of HP’s Meanwhile, Josef Prusa, 3D Printing & Digital Manufacturing founder of desktop 3D printer business, commented. “That’s why we manufacturer Prusa Research, are mobilising both our own internal told TCT the company is starting team, as well as collaborating with production of protective shields our global partner community, to for the Czech Ministry of Health. design, validate, and begin producing The company, which runs a critical parts for medical responders factory of over 1,000 3D printers, and hospitals – respirator valves, says it will donate 10,000 units as breathing filters, face mask clasps, a starting point. Prusa Research's and more." community of makers have come out in force offering their help Similarly, digital manufacturing however, like many, Josef has company Protolabs has managed to warned against the false sense of turn around thousands of components security in 3D printed respirators for coronavirus test kits in just 24 and stressed that the company hours and is said to be working on a is reaching out to professionals 4

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 013

Join us to uncover new ways to grow your business in a sustainable way. worldsummit.materialise.com

Connect over discussions led by industry leaders about the sustainable role of personalized healthcare and current AM practices with the latest 3D printing tools and techniques.

Think. Beyond. Together.

HEALTHCARE

3 LEFT:

3D PRINTING COMPANIES LIKE CARBON HAVE OFFERED UP THEIR NETWORK OF CONTRACT MANUFACTURERS

designer you need to look at the entire use case - design, manufacture, reliability, safety, use by trained and untrained staff, etc. I just point the naysayers to the instruction manuals that come with these devices!"

who can verify and test their designs before manufacturing. It echoes concerns around the reality of crowd sourcing these kinds of devices. Medical equipment needs to undergo stringent testing and validation before approval and even then, is typically only manufactured by approved suppliers to ensure patient safety.

“ADAPTABLE AND DIVERSIFIED GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS ARE ESSENTIAL NOW AND INTO THE FUTURE.” Away from FDM, desktop stereolithography leader Formlabs has established a support network which invites its users to volunteer their time and equipment. The company has, however, been careful to communicate that is is working with hospitals, medical professionals and federal agencies, to print and and test parts. Dávid Lakatos, CPO at Formlabs tweeted urging anyone "just printing something that looks like a mask," could potentially do more harm than good and stressed the importance of involving medical professionals before providing these items to patients or healthcare providers.

While there are many 3D printer owners with the best of intentions offering up their capabilities, there is of course pause for concern about the safe implementation of unregulated parts and an unnecessary rush to reinvent the wheel with consortiums and projects popping all over the world. There are questions around liability should one of these devices fail. Would it be the fauly of the designer? The machine manufacturer? The maker? It's one of the reasons many people are calling for a more organised approach. Kevin Quigley, owner of UK-based product design company Quigley Design, is wary of the Government mobilising manufacturers to develop new ventilators and devices. "This whole situation is about speed," Quigley told TCT. "The ICU situation is ramping up by the hour. If you want speed you look at production rates - you don't try to reinvent the wheel. Developing a complex medical device like this is not easy and if I have learned one thing in 30 years it is that just because you know a lot about one sector doesn't mean it transfers directly to another. Perhaps, technically, some of the same principles apply but as a

He added that he believes the UK Government would be better off turning its attention to existing OEMs who already have the necessary data for parts and assembly, and help them with funding to increase supply. In terms of 3D printing, he suggested an "additive or subtractive" twin would be the best approach, whereby validated part data and specifications are ready to be deployed for on-demand manufacture at the point of need. Yet, i's not just medical parts where 3D printing is offering creative solutions. Belgian company Materialise has released a design for a simple hands-free device to avoid contact with door handles and limit the spread of the virus. Many individuals and organisations like Mayo Clinic have already shared their prints of the design. "These initiatives demonstrate that our industry can speak with one voice and offer a positive contribution by harnessing the true power of 3D printing," Kristof Sehmke, Communication Manager at Materialise said of the design, which is available to download for free and can be 3D printed locally. "By making the design available digitally, it can be produced on 3D printers everywhere and made available around the world almost immediately. As travel and transport gets jeopardised as the result of the Corona virus, the ability to manufacture locally becomes more important” The things we need now; speed, innovation, on-demand manufacture, are the kinds of promises the additive manufacturing landscape was built on, and now, with the right call to action and support from governing bodies, it will hopefully get the chance to fulfil them.

SHOWN: PROTECTIVE SHIELD PARTS BEING PRINTED ON PRUSA’S 3D PRINTER FARM (CREDIT: PRUSA)

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 015

Your Production Solution for Additive Manufacturing CHALLENGE:

We need an additive manufacturing supplier to bring us from prototyping to production.

WHY PROTOLABS:

We have six additive manufacturing technologies, in-house engineers to consult, dedicated project management, and rigorous quality standards to elevate your 3D-printed parts beyond prototyping.

SEARCH FOR PROTOLABS

FINANCE

HIR£? PURCHA$E? WORDS: Sam Davies

n engineer reports back from their latest trade show visit with a bright idea about how a 3D printing system is going to completely redesign a component that weighs a tonne and costs a couple of limbs too. Their company’s procurement team hit back immediately: “How much floor space does it take up? How many people do you need to operate it? What’s the depreciation? The service costs? The materials costs?” Much to the engineer’s dismay, all of these factors will be used to amortise the cost of the machine into the projected cost per part, before they get the nod to order the machine. “In most cases, the equipment is bought and depreciated over a period of time,” Jabil’s VP of Digital Manufacturing John Dulchinos explains. “While the depreciation schedule is supposed to approximate the economic life of the equipment, it tends to underestimate. You depreciate it over five, seven, ten years, and then you’re essentially running that asset for free because you’ve depreciated the economic life of it, and you can see an uptick on your margins on that.”

“WE THINK WE NEED TO BE FLEXIBLE, SO WE OFFER A SUBSCRIPTION.” Increasingly, though, an engineer might hear another question when they take their wish list to their company’s financial bods: “what are the subscriptions costs?” While the aforementioned calculations will still be required to take up a hardware subscription, the user won’t ever own the machine so doesn’t get the benefit of running it ‘for free’ further down the line. On the flip side, they can adopt the technology at a significantly reduced upfront cost, maintenance and support services are typically included in the monthly or annual fee, while new and additional machines can

be added to the package as and when required. “We think we need to be very flexible, so we offer a subscription,” Chris Prucha, CEO of Digital Light Processing (DLP) vendor Origin, told TCT last year. “As customers get more systems, the cost of the subscription comes down and the beauty of it is as they scale production they can just add [build] modules. We [also] offer the ability to remove systems to scale down elastically with their demands.” The outlier in subscription packages like this is materials. Users can access the company’s portfolio of materials, but the cost is not included in the subscription fee, meaning as manufacturers scale, the vendor gets the added revenue from materials sales. ETH Zurich spin-off 9T Labs is coming to market with a similar idea. Its Red Series composite printing platform has been designed to output end-use parts with customers able to onboard more build and post-processing modules as they ramp up production. With technology development still ongoing,4

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 017

FINANCE updated hardware will also be seamlessly swapped in for older machines. Colin Cater, Sales Manager at UK reseller Tri-Tech 3D, noted how companies who take out finance options on 3D printers, typically SMEs, have to part exchange old machines for upgraded ones. While the likes of Origin and 9T include those trade-ins at no extra charge, Prucha did also acknowledge that customers who require their production workflows to be certified by an independent body would have to go through that process each time they brought on new and updated hardware platforms. This may be one of the reasons why the likes of Desktop Metal and HP, for example, offer subscription models for their Fiber and Jet Fusion 340 machines respectively, but not for their larger platforms designed to produce end-use parts. Another reason may be that the larger manufacturers these machines are

printing equipment. That’s a strategy that, with its competitors catching up to the size and variety of Carbon’s material portfolio, didn’t compute with 3D Systems’ Dr Ulrich Koops at TCT Show last year: “[For the Carbon M2], it’s £30,000 a year, renting, and you have to sign for three years. That’s [almost] £100,000. Or you can get four Figure 4s and you can keep them.” (Ed. The Carbon M2 Standard subscription price is £45,000 per year) But it’s a model that sees Carbon replace broken parts and implement hardware updates at no extra cost. And it’s a model that works for Byrnes Dental, a company harnessing 3D printing in the shape of two Carbon M2 machines to produce surgical guides and models. “I never own the machine, but the money we pay every month is a fixed cash flow for us, so we know what we’ve

“AT THE END OF THE DAY, THERE ARE NO FREE LUNCHES.” ‘two-year decisions rather than ten-year decisions’.

targeted at have a greater understanding of the demand for their products and a better grasp of procurement - compared with start-ups integrating AM for the first time - and therefore would rather purchase equipment outright. “A lot of manufacturers are used to paying for professional services and reoccurring components separately,” Prucha explained. “For production companies, there will be a purchase option on the [Origin One] system. You get a little less flexibility than the subscription model, but the advantage there is many factories are used to ‘capexing’ [referencing capital expenditure] equipment. They’re already doing forecasts, so they can procure the right number of systems from the beginning.” Another company occupying the DLP market is 3D Systems, an industry veteran who, like many fellow seasoned vendors, has a more traditional business model in which customers pay for the machine and own the machine. Carbon’s business model, meanwhile, runs on cycles of three years, at which point customers must choose whether to extend their subscription or hand back their 3D

got to pay, we know what we’ve got to turnover. It’s a lot of money, that’s the pressure for us, but it’s our responsibility,” founder Ashley Byrne told TCT in 2018. “That, in the modern world, is a little bit easier to handle than having this £200,000 up-front cost which you’ve then got to make work.” In the current climate, with the COVID-19 pandemic adding to existing economic concerns because of Brexit, it is understandable why companies might be hesitant to commit to such hefty investments. In fact, many are being advised against it. Just last month, global procurement consultancy GEP published a blog suggesting companies postpone or cancel capital purchases to cut costs amid a looming recession. It should come as no surprise, then, to see vendors react. HP announced its first hardware subscription model in March, Desktop Metal in November, and MakerBot VP of Product Development Johan-Till Broer told TCT a subscription offering ‘had its advantages and is being looked into.’ 9T Labs CEO Martin Eichenhofer emphasised a key motive for its model is to allow customers to make

Though in the fortunate position of being a billion-dollar business, Jabil takes the cost of each hardware investment seriously, treating every 3D printer purchase the same way it has 25,000 times in the buying of CNC equipment: how much output per square footage of factory space and how much revenue on that output? Initially, the company had a ‘level of resistance’ to subscription models because ‘that’s not the way equipment is bought in the manufacturing sector.’ But today, it has ‘no fundamental preference’. “You can make both capital and subscription models look very attractive or very unattractive depending on what the numbers look like,” Dulchinos reasons. “What makes more of a decision point for us is what do the capabilities enable in the kind of parts you can make? 3D printing applications can be relatively short lived. You might have a six-month programme or a one-year programme and that’s the end. If you don’t have something to backfill, then you’ve got an idle piece of equipment that isn’t generating value for you. So, which has the best likelihood of seeing other applications that would use that technology? That would probably be the tiebreaker. “At the end of the day, there are no free lunches.”

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 019

INDUSTRIAL

OPEN CHOICE OF MATERIAL

MECHANICAL STRENGTH

ARBURG PLASTIC FREEFORMING 3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY

SMALL-VOLUME BATCHES

4.2020 21.-23.0 th 3 4 05 oo B , Hall B , US A im, C A A na h e

More flexibility for your additive manufacturing! Our two freeformers offer everything you need for the industrial production of high-quality individual parts and small batches: different build chamber dimensions, two or three discharge units, and a variety of qualified original plastics. Also suitable for resilient and simultaneously complex hard/soft combinations. Anythingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possible with our open system! www.arburg.com

architecture & construction

COULD AM CHANGE HOW INDUSTRY BUILDS? WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

SHOWN:

THE LASIMM SYSTEM

arely a week goes by without a story about some kind of world first 3D printed house, office or bridge. But what is the reality for architecture and construction firms using the technology today? A collective of companies, universities and research institutes have come together to answer that question through the LASIMM (Large Additive Subtractive Integrated Modular Machine) Project and develop a scalable, hybrid manufacturing system capable of 3D printing large metal parts for construction. The LASIMM employs a dualrobotic system from Global Robots; the first for additive manufacturing of aluminium and steel, and the second for machining to finish the part and remove any excess material, followed by metrology and inspection. The three-year project recently concluded with a series of demonstrator parts for three industrial end-users including British architectural design and engineering firm Foster + Partners. The company worked with the LASIMM to manufacture a large steel cantilever beam as a research artefact from partner Loxin’s facility in Spain. The full design measured five meters long, 0.5 m wide and 120 mm deep, tapering to the end at 50 mm deep, and was designed for a 500 kg point load at the tip. Using generative design tools to adapt the designs to various shapes and dimensions, different sized beams were tested ranging from two to five meters. Components

build things faster. The convergence of manufacturing and construction is redefining the future of making, changing the way the industry builds.” Autodesk was responsible for transforming Foster + Partner’s design into manufacturing toolpaths and ensuring the two robots worked accurately together. The robot arms are designed to work in parallel yet independently from one another, building simultaneously on different areas of the same part.

“THE TECHNOLOGY HAS THE POTENTIAL TO TRANSFORM THE SUPPLY CHAIN FOR ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS.” were welded onto a steel plate, layer by layer, resulting in a final two-metre beam measuring 2 x 0.4 x 0.05 m. Johnny Van Der Zwaag, project manager in the Collaborative Research and Innovation team at Autodesk, which helped to assemble the LASIMM and build the software to drive it, believes the technology has the potential to transform the supply chain for architectural projects. He told TCT: “As the global population increases and cities become even more crowded than they are today, we need to

SHOWN: STEEL CANTILEVER BEAM DESIGNED BY FOSTER + PARTNERS

Van Der Zwaag explained: “Creating this safe system between two robots, where they understand and are talking to each other is a further step forward to hybrid manufacturing being used at an industrial scale. It means we can manufacture parts faster and scale up to make bigger parts. Not to mention, the time savings, using less material, reduced inventory and work floor space. The potential is to localize the manufacturing environment, which would also reduce the carbon footprint that comes with shipping parts worldwide.” Foster + Partners plans to test additional freeform shapes and explore how LASIMM could open up new ways of using materials more effectively, such as timber and carbon fibre. According to Van Der Zwaag, the hope is that it will eventually become more cost effective to use additive processes throughout the construction industry. He said: “The studio was able to research and test the science behind the materials uses in buildings, to understand the requirements for the spatial or performance characteristics of the design. Being able to 3D print and have control over structural volumes, means it could control the geometry and integrate lighting, ducts, airflow, heat transmission, and acoustics directly into the structure of the part.” The European Commission, which funded the project, is said to be building on learnings to invest in further activities which could bring LASIMM closer to commercial application. Van Der Zwaag is optimistic this will lead to more industries working together, sharing knowledge and testing new innovations for manufacturing. Read the full LASIMM Q&A at tctmagazine.com

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 021

3DEXPERIENCE | Make

Get your parts made now! 210+ SERVICE PROVIDERS, 13,000 MACHINES WORLDWIDE Upload your design. Select the manufacturing process and the material and get your parts made by industrial manufacturers. Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Make is also directly accessible in SOLIDWORKS and CATIA applications. Benefit from instant quoting for 3D printing and CNC machining, as well as 3D based collaboration making the ordering process even faster. The 3DEXPERIENCE Make is the best way to connect with manufacturers and start manufacturing now! • Get instant quotes for 3D Printing and CNC Machining. • Identify the best partner for every project based on your specifications. • Go straight from design to parts thanks to direct integration within SOLIDWORKS and CATIA.

The power of on-demand manufacturing across all processes with more than 210 service providers and 13,000 machines worldwide.

• Iterate on design and manufacturing with 3D based collaboration and in-app messaging. • Reduce errors and risks with process-driven specifications, geometry check and repair and design for manufacturing feedback. • Ensure traceability of all Buyer/Seller exchanges, order modifications and part updates.

Learn more about these services at:

© 2020 | Dassault Systèmes. All rights reserved. 3DEXPERIENCE®, the Compass icon, the 3DS logo, Make and Part Supply are commercial trademarks or registered trademarks of Dassault Systèmes, a French “société européene” (Versailles Commercial Register #B322306440), or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are owned by their respective owners. Use of any Dassault Systèmes or its subsidiaries trademarks is subject to their express written approval.

3DEXPERIENCE | PartSupply

Accelerate your design with millions of 3D Components 40M+ parts, 30 countries, 800 content providers Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE PartSupply is the most comprehensive, artificial intelligence-driven catalog of sourceable 3D components. Available free-of-charge for companies of all sizes, its more than 800 on-demand content providers from around the world comprise a one-stop-shop of tens of millions of qualified component configurations. 3DEXPERIENCE PartSupply makes it easy for you to:

• Browse catalogs of qualified supplier components any-time. • Quickly search for components you need by combining the power of semantic search and 3D shape similarity. • Compare similar configurations side-by-side and analyze their characteristics and supplier locations to decide which best fit your needs. • Download the 3D model into your design environment (such as SOLIWORKS and CATIA) for fast validation of your design.

Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE PartSupply Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Make Or contact us at

The most comprehensive online 3D components catalog with tens of millions of components and hundreds of qualiﬁed suppliers.

partsupply.3dexperience.3ds.com make.3dexperience.3ds.com

marketplace.make@3ds.com | marketplace.partsupply@3ds.com

J750 Digital Anatomy 3D Printer When you need Accuracy, Realism and Functionality! The J750™ Digital Anatomy™ printer enables medical models to offer stunning realism. Alongside this ground-breaking printer and software solution, Stratasys has launched three new digital base materials:   

GelMatrix™ (FLG110), TissueMatrix™ (MED310) BoneMatrix™ (RGD516)

Taking medical modelling to another level, these materials provide an incredible array of microstructures which look, feel and function like actual human tissue for true haptic feedback. Whether used for surgical training or to perform testing during device development, models from the J750™ Digital Anatomy™ printer provide unmatched clinical versatility. To find out more about this game-changing printer, contact:

THE TOTAL SOLUTIONS PROVIDER Find out more about how our TOTAL SOLUTIONS philosophy can help you consolidate your complete 3D print requirements.

01295 672500  3dworld@laserlines.co.uk  www.3dprinting.co.uk

architecture & construction

WORDS: Sam Davies

or two years a prototype has been handled with great care, whether in the hands of the product design company that produced it or the civil engineer whose experience in the construction industry spawned the idea for it. At January’s Futurebuild trade show, the sintered aluminium piece, a new design of a scaffold coupler, was being clanged and bashed against the kind of cold, metal framework it is designed to join together. For more than 100 years, the design of scaffold couplers hasn’t changed, so those clanging and bashing know just how much they should withstand, they know how long it usually takes to screw the part tight and they know when they’ve come across big potential. “They got it immediately,” LUMA-ID Director and Product Designer Mark Little told TCT a week later. “It’s really satisfying when you spend so much time designing something and it’s used by people in the trade for the first time, slamming it against the scaffolding, doing their thing, and they [were asking] ‘when can I have this?’”

OVERHAUL

The civil engineer who thought up the coupler design is a Managing Partner of StrucTemp, a structural and temporary works service, with more than 36 years’ experience. In that time, Shiraz Dudhia has been hurdling and ducking the threaded studs that stick out of traditional couplers asking, ‘has nobody come up with anything better than this?’

CREDIT: SCULPTED WITH LIGHT

Explaining that frustration to LUMA-ID has led to the design of a scaffold coupler with no external or sharp parts and a shortened thread that allows users

to screw the device to a close in as little as two seconds. This design, which also has typical wall thicknesses and dimensions, has been validated over the course of 18 months using SOLIDWORKS software and fused deposition modelling (FDM) technology. “At Luma, we’re not big fans of overly theorising. We like to print something, test it and see how well it works and where it fails,” Little said. “When you’re working with something so handheld and repetitive, you don’t want to spend hours on an idea if you haven’t tested it out first.”

THE NEXT STEPS

With FDM, the coupler was printed in two parts and riveted together, but as the Futurebuild show approached, they looked instead to direct metal laser sintering (DMLS). With DMLS, which LUMA outsourced, the couplers were printed in

aluminium in a single part and designed as a fold piece with gaps to limit the amount of redesign as they move into production. What process will be used for the manufacture of the scaffold coupler is still to be decided – metal folding is an option the partners have prepared for, but casting remains on the table. While it won’t make much sense to additively manufacture the pieces – “the numbers of worldwide production of scaffold couplers are bonkers. I don’t want to quote them because they don’t sound real.” – the technology has still had a major role to play. “3D printing gets you 80% of the answer and that’s enough to feel confident and go ahead on tooling. It will be slightly different properties, things might crack and fail, but you put your engineering hat on and try to avoid anything obvious,” said Little of moving into production. “I’m always a big fan of going to a supplier and saying, ‘we’ve got this; what would be the best thing to do from a cost perspective?’ Then, we can design around that.”

“WE'RE NOT BIG FANS OF OVERLY THEORISING.”

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 025

POST-PROCESSING INSPEX

WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

he next time you find yourself doubting 3D printing’s potential for production, just think of this figure: 1 million. That is the number, according to 3D Systems, of certified medical implants it has 3D printed for human beings around the world. How they got to that number is all about workflow, and that workflow, is down to collaboration. 3D Systems partnered with precision machining specialist GF Machining back in 2018 to deliver a new automation concept for complex metal parts. At the most recent Formnext trade show, the companies demonstrated the results of this integrated workflow for a series of titanium spinal cage implants. Discussing the partnership, Mark Cook, Vice President, Metals Products at 3D Systems, told TCT how the company worked with GF to address the requirements of the manufacturing floor: “Teaming up with GF was critical for us to take that next step and really help customers develop more efficient ways to bring additive into the serial production environment.” Different applications require different solutions, and medical devices, naturally, come with additional challenges around certification. For spinal cages, which 3D Systems is said to be producing 500,000 of annually, the parts are designed, prepared and optimised in 3DXpert software and then sent for printing in the DMP Flex 350, which features quick swap build modules for continuous production. The parts can then go straight to the CNC machining centre to begin postprocessing. While all applications are different, the common thread is a need to understand each workflow from the outset to maximise efficiency and incorporate all postprocessing functions, as Romain Dubreuil, Product Line Manager at GF Machining, explained: “Where there are still a lot of manual operations,

the vision in the future is […] going to production in series where the complete manufacturing chain is optimised.”

THINKING AHEAD

Applying its 65 plus years of experience, GF says it is working with 3D Systems at R&D level to further simplify AM integration into the full manufacturing process chain for steps such as milling and CNC machining. But is post-processing really as much of a bottleneck as once thought? Cook says, in the case of metals, post-processing is little more than a required downstream operation. “Even in traditional manufacturing, you typically never put a piece of material into a CNC machine and get the final part out,” he suggests, adding that post-processing steps need to be considered as part of the overall production workflow to make it as efficient as possible.

Gautam Gupta, VP, Business Development, Healthcare at 3D Systems, however, says metal printing does come with its own unique postprocessing challenges, even just to remove the parts from the build plate. He described how previously it had been difficult to position the build in a way that would allow for wire EDM. To solve that, GF introduced the AgieCharmilles CUT AM 500, specifically designed for AM, which allows efficient separation of parts up to 510 x 510 x 510 mm, from the build plate without any damage. Gupta explained: “Now instead of you having to turn the plate 90-degrees and get the wire somehow aligned, you can just keep the plate as you printed it, keep all the data intact and let the wire come in horizontally. It seems very trivial and simple, but it has created a huge impact on how we can process the implant.” 3D Systems is also leveraging additional solutions from GF including a System 3R clamping mechanism which allows easier integration and accurate positioning of the build platform with secondary processes. Cook says they’re only just scratching the surface and as the partnership progresses there is scope to further streamline the entire process from putting powder into the system to getting your final part in hand. He added: “It's really much more about designing equipment with the entire process comprehended at the beginning [..] we're starting to develop concepts that are based on accomplishing that goal four or five years down the road.”

3 LEFT:

3D PRINTED SPINAL CAGES

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 027

Reinvent how you manufacture with RenAM 500Q

1 × laser

2 × lasers

4 × lasers

RenAM 500Q is Renishaw’s new quad laser AM system. It features four high-powered 500 W lasers, each able to access the whole powder bed surface simultaneously. RenAM 500Q achieves significantly higher build rates without compromising quality, vastly improving productivity and lowering cost per part.

For more information visit www.renishaw.com/additive

Renishaw plc New Mills, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, GL12 8JR, United Kingdom T +44 (0)1453 524524 F +44 (0)1453 524901 E additive@renishaw.com

www.renishaw.com

H-5800-4277-A_0.4_EN_192x136 TCT Advert.indd 1

EOS M 290 Mit 20 Werkstoffen für die Produktion Mit der größten Materialvielfalt fertigt die EOS M 290 zuverlässig auch Ihre Anwendung: aus Aluminium, Kobalt-Chrom, Nickel, Edel- und Werkzeugstahl, Titanlegierungen und mehr. Welcher der 20 Werkstoffe ist für Sie der richtige?

www.eos.info

10/03/2020 10:46:19

POST-PROCESSING INSPEX

SURFACE FINISHING METAL AM PARTS: TIME TO TACKLE TIME WORDS: Richard Ainsworth, Fintek

Surface roughness measures for each set of parameters formed the basic data matrix to begin the POSY development. This process was repeated to create a sizeable database. A set of test bars were also produced for mechanical testing by Liverpool John Moores University, who carried out further surface finishing in a centrifugal disc finishing machine and a drag finishing machine. An identical set of samples went to Fintek, who processed them in a centrifugal machine and a new generation high-energy stream finishing system from OTEC Präzisionsfinish. Measurements of surface roughness before and after processing, tensile strength and mechanical properties were then supplied to MTC. Using disc finishing, LJMU found that INTEGRATION OF AM AND FINISHING roughness differed depending on if the AM The first aim was to reduce the variability bars were built layer-by-layer horizontally, and overall surface roughness of an AM vertically or at 45 degrees. During the finishing part by optimising the build parameters and cycle, they responded differently with plastic make mass finishing more effective and process media over time – vertical built quicker. The second aim was to improve bars saw the greatest reduction in surface mass surface finishing techniques to suit increased part complexity. Capturing process roughness, followed by the horizontal build and then the 45-degree build as the cycle time informatics from build and finishing stages, along with mechanical properties measured increased. Drag finishing proved to be more aggressive over the same time. at key points, were vital to providing data Fintek found highly variable cycle times were for developing a new process optimisation system (POSY), designed and developed by necessary to achieve smoothing. They also discovered that the usual silicon carbide media MTC to help manufacturers predict the best used in stream finishing was unsuccessful, build parameters to achieve near net shape sometimes resulting in pitting on the part while maintaining tensile strength surface due to its grain structure. Like LJMU, and reducing initial surface roughness. they had better results using plastic media. Both LJMU and Fintek found that the greatest MEANINGFUL BENCHMARKS roughness decrease occurred in the first 20 To start, Croft additively manufactured minutes with further incremental improvements simple test bars in stainless steel 316L, up to 80 minutes at between 190rpm and having defined a series of different 250rpm. laser parameters and build orientations. The studies also showed that the rate of material removal had implications for the

urface finishing costs can be up to 60% of an additive manufacturing (AM) component. Currently, poor quality of surface finish can make them unsuitable for some industrial uses. Post-processing, such as CNC machining or linishing, is time consuming, often inconsistent and usually costly. This is suppressing AM uptake, despite the potential benefits. To mitigate the scarcity of information, Innovate UK sponsored detailed research, led by Croft Additive Manufacturing with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) and Fintek.

initial part build; suggesting that for more complex shapes it would be beneficial to design in material to be strategically added to compensate. OTEC's high energy stream finishing performed best in achieving a commercially viable smoothness.

COMPLEX TEST PART

The next tests represented a real world, complex AM component. With experimental design from MTC to help validate the POSY software, Croft created an AM part comprising flat, curved inner and outer surfaces. Identical test pieces were supplied to LJMU and Fintek. The results from mechanical testing and low and high energy stream finishing were added to POSY. To refine the stream finishing process, Fintek called on OTEC. With an adjustment of the plastic media, the SF machine was able to surface finish external facets to Ra 0.05µm in 12 minutes – a more commercially acceptable time comparable to subtractive engineering. However, the smaller internal spaces were still challenging to penetrate for current process media types.

VALIDATION OF POSY

To validate the effectiveness of the data and POSY, a desired surface finish of an AM part was entered into the software tool which then predicted the build parameters and orientation necessary to achieve the target. The resulting part was tested, and the surface roughness was found to be within 6% of the POSY prediction. This showed the software enabled the creation of a part nearer to net shape from first build, reducing lengthy and costly trial and error work. Significantly, the surface finish of the part was already improved. As more data is added, POSY is expected to become even better at predicting build parameters based on a target surface roughness and known post-processing method. Importantly, stream finishing is one of the newest forms of mass finishing, highly adaptable to inline production. While internal spaces and channels are still problematic, there is hope in the form of an abrasive flow polishing system being developed by Croft for this purpose.

SHOWN: STAINLESS STEEL COMPLEX TEST SHAPE BEFORE AND AFTER

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 029

Mass Finishing Efficient systems engineering and innovative technologies – powerful and economical

Surface Finishing is our DNA Shot Blasting Individual systems engineering and intelligent process solutions – reliable and energy efficient

AM Solutions The full solution provider for 3D post processing equipment and 3D printing services

POST-PROCESSING INSPEX

SWITCHING TO A NEW DEBINDING FLUID: HOW TO MEASURE SUCCESS WORDS: Venesia Hurtubise, MicroCare Corporation

SHOWN: WEIGHT LOSS ANALYSIS IS THE MOST COMMONLY USED METHOD TO MEASURE DEBINDING SUCCESS

or many AM (additive manufacturing) companies, sustainability is impacting the way they do business. They must minimise negative environmental impact, conserve energy and protect natural resources all while safeguarding the well-being of their employees. One way companies are achieving sustainability is by changing the solvents used in debinding operations. DEBINDING WITH VAPOUR DEGREASING In some shops, removal of binders is done with a solvent inside a vapour degreaser. Dunking parts into the liquid solvent or holding them inside the solvent vapours, dissolves the binders. The solvent has a low surface tension and low viscosity to penetrate the parts, ensuring thorough debinding. The solvent evaporates out of the parts almost completely before sintering, preventing damage by gasification of the trapped solvent. Historically, n-propyl bromide (nPB), trichloroethylene (TCE), perchloroethylene (PERC), terpenes and hydrocarbons were the chosen solvents for AM debinding. However, those solvents have serious health, safety and environmental concerns, and environmental agencies are implementing stricter regulations to reduce the negative impact to the planet and to workers. FINDING A BETTER ALTERNATIVE Fortunately, there are next-generation debinding fluids that debind just as well, if not better than the legacy solvents. They are aggressive enough to selectively remove just the right amount of binder, yet gentle enough to prevent part deformation and damage to delicate, uncured substrates. In many instances, modern debinding fluids do not require purchasing new equipment. Often, after emptying and cleaning the existing vapour degreaser, the new debinding fluid is dropped in without any significant down-time or appreciable change to the cleaning process. Modern debinding fluids are also safer. They are low-boiling, thermally stable, and nonflammable. The PEL (Permissible Exposure Limit), or OSHAdesignated time limit that workers should be exposed to a solvent, for new fluids is about 200250 ppm compared with TCE (100-ppm PEL) or nPB (0.1 ppm PEL). Plus, most new debinding fluids have a Global Warming Potential under 10 and a zero Ozone Depleting Potential, making them better for the environment. WHAT ABOUT PERFORMANCE? Many new debinding fluids are lab-tested and analysed to ensure their debinding results are just as good as legacy solvents. However, some

3 LEFT:

LEGACY SOLVENTS ARE BEING REPLACED BY NEXT-GENERATION DEBINDING FLUIDS

initial weight of a part and debinding the part using their chosen fluid, allowing the part to dry completely before recording the final weight. The amount of binder removed is then determined by calculating the percentage of weight loss.

AM manufacturers are conducting performance tests of their own. Density testing allows manufacturers to measure how much binder is removed from their parts. The feedstock supplier typically provides companies with the “minimum brown density” to measure the brown parts debinding success. This accounts for the maximum amount of primary binder allowed during secondary debinding and sintering without causing part deformation. “Minimum brown density” must be reached before the green parts move into the furnace for final debinding and sintering. After primary debinding, the density of the parts should match the “minimum brown density” of the feedstock, which is equal to the density of the feedstock minus the primary binders. AM manufacturers also use weight loss analysis to verify the correct primary debinding is achieved. The percentage of binder removal is determined by comparing the part mass before and after debinding. Manufacturers start by recording the

% Binder Removed = (Initial Mass – Final Mass) / Initial Mass x 100% Although weight monitoring is the most commonly used measurement to determine primary binder removal, it does not take into account unwanted loss of feedstock powder or secondary binder removal. Although a part shows a 4% decrease in weight, this measurement alone does not indicate whether that loss is due to binder removal or damage to the part surface. Density measuring using a pycnometer measures the volume of the brown part in order to calculate the actual density of the material and ultimately determines the overall debinding fluid success. CONCLUSION Many companies are looking for better debinding fluid alternatives that will be sustainable, easier to maintain and less hazardous for workers and the environment. For many companies looking to make the switch to a better debinding fluid, it is imperative that they maintain their debinding performance with minimal impact to throughput and productivity.

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 031

Make the future with proven powders created by Praxair

TruForm™ metal powders support every part you make with capacity, quality and experience. • Used by leading OEMs across AM industry

• Custom alloys and particle sizing available • Aerospace-grade

It’s

Learn more: praxairsurfacetechnologies.com/am To order: Praxair Surface Technologies GmbH Am Mühlbach 13, 87487 Wiggensbach Germany Tel: +49 (0) 837 0 9207 0 Fax: +49 (0) 837 0 9207 20 Email: AME_Europe@praxair.com

Tru:

Tru2Spec™ is the leading custom alloy formulation process for OEMs looking to go beyond conventional powders.

Creative:Clients:Praxair:5701-25931UpdatedHalfPageTruFormPrintAdforGermany:5701-25931UpdatedHalfPageTruFormPrintAdforGermany-192mmx136mm_v02.indd

EPP_202003_AZ_TCT-European_192x136_3DP-Keyvisual_RZ_ZW.indd 1

December19,201911:45AM

03.03.20 09:48

THROUGH INSPEX THE DOORS

COMING OF AGE WORDS: Sam Davies

ollaborative workspaces, silver spherical monograms nailed to the walls, room to grow by five times, the implementation of lean manufacturing and a resounding American voice carrying through the corridors as a press tour navigates the 15,000-square-foot space, ambles along a steel walkway and heads down to the squeaky-clean shop floor. This is not the Arcam the additive manufacturing (AM) industry has grown accustomed to over the last 20 years. This, as the logo now tells us, is a GE Additive company. Before, Arcam was based inside a building three times as small; an ‘entrepreneurial start-up’ bringing to market a ‘unique but young’ technology from multiple offices throughout Gothenburg. Now, with the support of GE, it is looking to propel itself to new heights. “The commitment was to help this entrepreneurial company become world-class in terms of quality and supply,” opens Jason Oliver, GE Additive CEO and the owner of those intonations reverberating through Arcam’s newly opened Centre of Excellence. “Part of building a great company is having the right facilities and tools for our teams, our customers, our suppliers to come and collaborate.”

SHOWN:

AVIO AERO TURBINE BLADE MADE ON THE SPECTRA H EBM MACHINE

GE has pumped 18m EUR into this new facility, three years after completing the takeover as it launched its Additive business. But its dealings with Arcam predated that acquisition; in 2013, GE Aviation had bought out Avio’s aviation business, which had been using Arcam’s Electron Beam Melting (EBM) technology for four years. Incidentally, Avio had also been using titanium aluminide, a material originally patented by GE, for even longer. Four weeks before the unveiling of Arcam’s new Gothenburg site, the trio celebrated a landmark moment: Boeing successfully flying two GE9X engines on its 777X aircraft, each of which featured around 250 titanium aluminide blades printed with EBM technology by Avio Aero. One of these blades is being swung repeatedly by Arcam General Manager Karl Lindblom to demonstrate the 30% weight reduction which is contributing to a 10% increase in fuel efficiency compared with the GE90 engine that came before it. GE Additive is also keen to point out these critical and moving

parts can’t be made any other way. The GE9X is GE Aviation’s biggest ever commercial aircraft engine, and while turbine blades have previously been made with investment casting, the size of these components mean they typically crack because of the thermal gradients running through the blades. With EBM, the surrounding temperature inside the machine is 1,000°C, with the electron beam raising the temperature to 1,200°C to melt the material, which means smaller thermal gradients are generated and the component experiences less residual stress. Ten of these blades can be printed at one time on the Spectra H platform, with the build taking around 100 hours and machining being carried out afterwards. Arcam’s VP of Engineering Annika Ölme and VP of Technology Isak Elfström believe January’s test flight to be a ‘big moment’ for the company, Lindblom agrees it was a landmark, and Oliver would tell you enabling applications like this is what the new facility in Gothenburg is all about. “Having a new facility gives you a chance to change and look at processes to continually improve; it’s about things like efficiency and quality,” he says. “This allows us to provide top quality to our customers, lower costs and make us a world-class company.” The GE9X turbine blade showcased on the left of a corridor, beyond the turnstile that separates the lobby from the rest of the facility, is evidence of this ambition.4

“WE’RE TRYING TO HELP THIS ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPANY BECOME WORLD-CLASS.” 28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 033

The Event for 3D PRINTING & ADDITIVE INTELLIGENCE 29 30 01 SEPT/OCT 2020 NEC, Birmingham, UK

Evaluate, Adopt, Optimiseâ&#x20AC;Ś Analyse the opportunity Discover your application Learn from user success stories Understand capabilities and limitations Choose the right solution Optimise existing technology Consider enterprise adoption Ensure return on investment

With more than 80 speakers and 250 exhibitors, find your strategy at TCT3Sixty.

www.tct3sixty.com

through INSPEX the doors

3 LEFT:

GE ADDITIVE ARCAM EBM MACHINES AT AVIO AERO

It lives next door to another example of its offering to customers; one that highlights a fundamental benefit versus conventional manufacturing methods. On the bottom shelf is a machined bracket accompanied by the strips of material waste, and on the top shelf, a printed version using 95% less powder. “Every big company has a CO2 target,” opines Lindblom, highlighting why these returns are attractive for customers before Oliver adds: “GE Aviation has done redesigns and what would have been 300 parts is now down to one. [And] given the amount of movement these individual parts from different companies and different facilities around the world [would have required], GE Aviation is now running Arcam machines and [Concept] Laser machines 100 metres over to where they put it in the engine. That’s that movement out of your supply chain; it completely goes away and that’s massive.” Beyond the application showcase, Arcam has materials development and research labs, testing centres for SHOWN: INSIDE ARCAM’S NEW GOTHENBURG FACILITY

“IT'S GOING TO BE A VOLUME BUSINESS IN TEN YEARS.” customers, and software, hardware and electronics engineers working on the floor above. The 100 or so people situated here are managed by Ölme and Elfström, who now also have 1,000+ additional R&D brains to pick via GE. Elfström compares this to a Christmas present, while Ölme suggests the involvement of GE in the Arcam effort means the company is now seen as a more stable player in the AM industry. They both say it’s nice to have an industrial owner. Lindblom, again, agrees.

Lindblom is one of a host of workers who lives upstairs but now finds himself without a desk thanks to a hotdesking policy that encourages internal collaboration. He’s also enjoying the implementation of lean manufacturing, which sees him ‘go to Gemba’ and spend at least 30 minutes on the shop floor three times a week listening to the vexations of the workers there. “Trust your employees, listen to your employees, stop small problems becoming big problems.” As problems within the business are supressed, the aim is for the machines they are manufacturing to scale. GE took over the company with aspirations of manufacturing 10,000 machines in ten years, with an extra 1,000 for GE’s own deployment. Those figures will, of course, be spread out across Arcam, Concept Laser and GE Additive’s binder jetting endeavours, but will still require a big effort from the Gothenburg-based team. Lindblom takes a moment to ponder the numbers as they are put to him, perhaps thinking back to Oliver’s approximations earlier in the day re the medical implant sector. Presenting a near-net-shape hip cup application that facilitates bone in-growth and can be implanted without glue, Oliver referenced Geoffrey Moore’s ‘Crossing the Chasm’ and observed that with capabilities like that, “you’ll see a big spike once we get past the early adopter stage - the first 5-7% - because there are a handful of companies out there that say ‘hey, this works,’ and everyone jumps on board. That’s about what’s happening right now; everybody wants to get into additive implants.” If that wasn’t the reason for Lindblom’s pause, maybe it was the GE9X turbine blade. Boeing is expecting to deliver the first of 340 777X aircraft orders in 2021, with every plane requiring two GE9X engines, and each engine equipped with around 250 blades. It takes 100 hours to build ten blades, and while Avio Aero installed ten Spectra H platforms last year, it’s possible the company would need to up their printing capacity to handle the production of so many components. “It takes a certain amount of time before it comes through the pipeline, of course,” Lindblom assesses, “but yes, this means a lot of business for us going forward. It at least shows the direction we are heading. It’s going to be a volume business in ten years, for sure.”

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 035

The MAGAZINE for

INNOVATION NEVER STOPS, SO NEITHER DOES TCT TCT is a year-round source of news, learning and opinion. Subscribe for free today to join the global TCT community and ensure you are up-to-date with the news and views that matter throughout the year.

VISIT

myTCT.co/subscribe

TCT EAB COLUMN

JEREMY PULLIN, HEAD OF AM AND DESIGN TO MANUFACTURE AT SARTORIUS AND TCT EXPERT ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER RECOUNTS A CAUTIONARY TALE OF POWDER HANDLING AND KNIGHTS OF THE REALM.

t was early April 2010 and at the time I was working for Renishaw PLC in charge of Rapid Manufacturing (as it was regularly called back then).

We had many different types of 3D printing technologies there covering a range of materials including photopolymers, plaster, thermoplastics, sand and metals. We also had a whole range of other kit including various metal cutting plant, laser cutters, vacuum casting, mini-injection moulding, laser welding, chemical etching, a spray-painting booth and a vast array of electronics prototyping equipment. Now this of course was a great place for engineers to work but inevitably it was also a great place for people to do private jobs for home. 4

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 037

I caught people up to all sorts, like spray-painting radiators and a car bonnet (that one was not difficult to spot in the spray booth), machining motorcycle yokes and personalised drink coasters, printing a motorcycle oil tank and endless phone holders. I even managed to amaze a guy one day with my powers of deduction by catching him making something for Valentine’s Day on our laser plotter. “I don’t know what you’re talking about” he said with smug confidence when I confronted him. I took enormous delight in very slowly holding up the piece of acrylic stock that he had carelessly left on the machine in front of his ever-widening eyes. The sheet was completely intact apart from the large love heart shaped hole. Case closed, your honour. It was however, absolutely unheard of for the Chairman/CEO Sir David McMurtry to ask for anything that was not very strictly work based. Colour me amazed when he somewhat shyly asked me if I could make something for him to give to his friend Alex Moulton as a 90th birthday gift. By pure coincidence Dr Alex Moulton was a personal engineering hero of mine as I had gone to school in Bradford on Avon where his bicycle factory is located, and my schoolhouse was named after him. I had also studied some of his work at university, so I was both shocked and delighted in equal measure. I suggested that we make a cut-out model of a radial engine (I’m sure many readers of TCT would have seen this part on various show stands) and emboss "Happy 90th birthday" on the foot section. Sir David agreed and the file, which we had originally been generously given by EOS was scaled down to 80% of its original size, and modified with the requisite text. I choose to print it on our SLS machine which was an EOS P385 running PA 3200 GF (glass filled nylon 12).

ABOUT TURNAROUND

When Friday arrived the rest of the department had all gone home for their 12:30 finish but I had stayed on as usual. I was surprised when Sir David appeared in the office and asked what was happening with the birthday gift. I assured him that we had put the part on to print and that it had completed. I told him that my SLS operator would break it out from the build cake, clean it and it would be up in his office ready nice and early on Monday morning. “Well, it’s actually his birthday today,” he said, “and I am off to see him now”. I thought he was joking and looking back, my gag about the then 70-year-old Sir David teaming up with his mates to give the 90-year-old Dr Moulton the bumps after jelly and ice cream probably wasn’t the best. He just laughed politely and asked “Where is it please?” At which point I realised that he was being serious which gave my stomach the sort of sick feeling that you normally only get when you are

038 / www.tctmagazine.com / 28.2

the passenger in a car being driven by a 19-year-old showing off the speed his badly customised Citroen Saxo can do over a humpback bridge. I went with him into the SLS printer room where my pride and joy EOS machine sat, with the man that had given me the money to buy it. He had actually miss-counted the number of zeros on the £300,000 capital request that I had submitted and thought that he was giving me £30,000 when he signed it but I only told him that after the thing was on order. I now had to break the news to this man (who besides being the Chairman/CEO is also an extremely lovely guy) that there was no way he was going to get his gift. I pointed at the powder cake sitting in the breakout chamber as I looked anywhere except in his direction and said with a voice muffled by the baffles of shame, “Ummm well it’s in there David but the powder cake has to cool down before we can do anything with it. That’s going to be a few hours yet I’m afraid”. I did wonder if I should offer to nip down to the nearest Argos and get him a game of Twister to give over as a 90th birthday present instead. Unusually for me however, I kept that one to myself. To my amazement Sir David stuck his finger into the powder cake and cheerfully said “Ah it will be all right, let’s get it out shall we”?

YOUR CAKE AND HEAT IT

Now the thing is, you should never break parts out of an SLS build cake until they have cooled down. They need to cool down slowly in their own time so that they don’t warp and become damaged as they fully solidify. There is also the slight issue of not wanting to burn your hands of course. We would shove a nice long thermometer right into the cake and wait for it to get to 60 degrees Centigrade or less. If you were in a real hurry you could occasionally really push your luck and go up to 70 degrees. When I looked, the thermometer was sitting there at a steady 80 degrees. I looked at the thermometer then looked back at Sir David’s face and just thought ‘Ah well, mess or glory’ so picked up the paintbrush by the side of the breakout chamber and went in. I had to keep telling him to keep his hands away as politely as I could as he tried to pick

TCT EAB COLUMN

the part out while I was gradually excavating it from the powder cake. After giving it a quick brush, I blew it over as gently as I could with a compressed airline to cool it down a bit. The part actually looked ok although I’m sure that if we had measured the thing it would have been about as straight as a varicose vein on the leg of a 95-year-old cyclist. The partially hollow nature of the part meant that it had a lot of powder inside which was proving tricky to remove as I didn’t want to shock it thermally by blasting it with too much air. Eventually though, there was only a dusting of powder over the part. “Right,” I said, “Let’s get the mechanism moving shall we”? I tried the turning handle, it was stuck solid. I smiled at a confused looking Sir David in a ‘don’t worry this is normal’ sort of way and wondered if I was too old to start a new career

HE HAD ACTUALLY MISS-COUNTED THE NUMBER OF ZEROS ON THE £300,000 CAPITAL REQUEST THAT I HAD SUBMITTED.

at McDonalds, which was probably the best I could hope for after he had fired me which I was expecting at any moment by now. This time I gave it a good blast and tried wriggling it again but still nothing. It was at this point I realised that we had never actually printed this part at 80% scale so the clearance gaps carefully optimised by the original designer were no longer big enough. I froze at this point and just thought ‘or Burger king. I do enjoy a Double Whopper after all’. Sir David could see that I was having trouble so casually picked a six-inch steel rule (that he would pretty much always carry around with him) out of his pocket and got stuck in to trying to free the mechanism up. The part has some pretty fine and delicate internal details which were even finer at 80% scale and I was convinced that the part was going to be left in the same sort of state as my engineering career was going to be when this was all over. I quickly grabbed my trusty penknife knowing that it had some tools on it which were a lot smaller than the rule Sir David was using but as I tried to take the part back off him he simply said “Oh good idea” and took the penknife off me. I then stood there helplessly by his side thinking ‘one of the greatest living inventors/engineers is just about to stab himself in the hand with my penknife and it’s all my fault. Forget Burger King I won’t even get a job emptying the fat out of the grill drains of a kebab van after this’. To my relief and amazement the thing actually started to move. After a bit more wiggling around, it was all turning freely, in one piece and working exactly as it should. I gave it a light bead blast and final clean and gave it back to him. He smiled at me, generously thanked me and cheerfully wished me a happy weekend as he went off. This is when I realised that he had actually enjoyed the whole episode. I made my way to the toilet and found a pale looking face looking back at me in the mirror. To this day I do not know if my face looked that pale due to the blood draining away from it or because the white SLS powder had stuck to it where I was sweating so much. I guess the lessons here are always fully understand your timescales, always take post processing into account for your process times and never forget that messing around with parameters such as scaling could have disastrous knock on effects.

28.2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 039

THE DIRECTORY

THE DIRECTORY Metalise it… DMLS and SLS

• Fast turn around • Competitive pricing • High Quality • In-house design/development capabilities

Derby, Derbyshire, DE24 9FU, United Kingdom +44 (0)1332 742820 www.addqual.com

Key services Qualification Post Processing 3D Re-Engineering Verification Fast Make Tooling

AddQual panel.indd 1

Your Manufacturing & Design Partners hello@additive.xyz 020 3697 7969 additive.xyz

30/05/2018 13:38

+ SLS Nylon + SLA Resin + CJP Plaster

3ddc.eu

+ 3D Design + 3D Scanning + Digital Sculpting

e | adam@agprototypes.com w | www.agprototypes.com

LARGE STOCK OF LEGACY SLA SPARE PARTS All components can be sourced and supplied to keep your Machine in production

t | 01707 391 120

call 07398 927855 or email INFO@3D-SQUARED.COM | WWW.3D-SQUARED.COM

COST EFFECTIVE PRODUCTION WITHOUT ANY TOOLING. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR CARBON 3D SERVICES 01223 836837 compfab.co.uk

comp_fabricationpanel_2020.indd 3

06/04/2020 09:42

TO ADVERTISE HERE CONTACT CAROL HARDY ON + 44 1244 952 386 OR EMAIL CAROL@RAPIDNEWS.COM

THE DIRECTORY

THE DIRECTORY tct_advert_1.pdf 1 19/03/2018 11:07:10

Large Scale Additive Manufacturing Solutions MY

• Print Service • Machine Sales

• Service • Spare Parts

CMY

pi-am.co.uk • info@pi-am.co.uk • 01603 891618 K

GET

YOURS

FREE

 INSPECTION  MEASUREMENT  REVERSE ENGINEERING  3D PRINTING

www.laser-scanning.co.uk

E: sales@laser-scanning.co.uk T: +44 (0)114 257 3650

Tooly Por table 3D prototyping

. bot more than a magazine For the latest news, reviews and industry technologies

MAG

www.tctmagazine.com TO ADVERTISE HERE CONTACT CAROL HARDY ON + 44 1244 952 386 OR EMAIL CAROL@RAPIDNEWS.COM

27.1 / www.tctmagazine.com / 049

Executive Q&A

FRIED VANCRAEN ON CREATING REAL SUSTAINABILITY

WE SPEAK TO MATERIALISE CEO FRIED VANCRAEN ABOUT THE MOMENT HE REALISED AM REPRESENTED A PARADIGM SHIFT AND THE 30 YEARS OF INNOVATION THAT FOLLOWED. TCT: Materialise turns 30 this year, can you tell us about the early days starting the company? Fried Vancraen: I was working as a research engineer at the Belgium Centre of Metal Manufacturing Engineering and that is where I came in contact with the launch of the first 3D printer from 3D systems […] and immediately, I got interested. Then, half a year later, approximately, I sold the first printer in Europe, in Germany in Bremen, and that is the moment that I really got a click, 'this is a paradigm shift. This is not a milling machine or a turning machine on which a computer has been placed to control it. This is a manufacturing technology that is designed to be controlled by a computer,' and with my experience in economic justification at a time of flexible manufacturing cells, CNC machines and so on, I knew that the industry was waiting for something more simple that would produce more shapes in a more flexible way. That's why I decided first to talk with my boss to try to get such a machine in our research centre and he said, 'we have no budget.' So, then it came down to the fact that I did some market analysis and we found that there could be a market for it. Together with my wife, we decided to set up a company and start our own business providing services with this first printer from 3D Systems. TCT: Sustainability is a major focus for Materialise and this year’s Materialise World Summit. Can you elaborate on what sustainability in AM means to you? FV: We are proud that we defined, from the opening reception of Materialise, our mission statement that we wanted to use our knowhow in 3D printing for a better and a healthier world [...] we see this just as an extension of an

042 / www.tctmagazine.com / 28.2

evolution we have been in already for a long time because sustainability is now another word to define that better and healthier world. I would say that it's important to notice that while additive manufacturing has the potential to create sustainable solutions, simply by its nature because it's growing products, rather than subtractive technologies that waste a lot of materials by definition, it is not necessarily the case. It's important that people make a knowledgeable choice for sustainability and that's also where with Materialise we want to focus on, that we not just take sustainability for granted, but that we really matter and that we really compare to the existing technologies, and that we make sure we create, what I would say, real sustainability […] We also want to help our customers and the 3D printing community by spreading knowledge we gain around this topic in order to make sure that we are all moving in the right direction. TCT: What are your thoughts on the role AM can play during our current coronavirus crisis, and are there any lessons the industry could learn from this? FV: I think the positive contribution of the 3D printing industry in this corona crisis will hopefully be an accelerator once the crisis is over to use it also in the sustainability context because we have this now short-term threat, but we have the longterm threat of the climate impact and social disturbance. The way some people are being treated very well by life or treated very poorly in some of the developing countries is something we have to resolve, and that's a long-term crisis that we have to tackle. I think that 3D printing can play a constructive role in this long-term challenge, where sustainability is the answer [...] but the corona crisis is the kind of prototyping project, I might call it, for what we need to do in the long-term. Listen to the interview in full on our Additive Insight podcast: mytct.co/FriedVancraen

The only fully automatic machine for Plastic SLS Post Processing. PULVERMEISTER Typ 3 ready for delivery in Q2 2020. Check https://www.pulvermeister.de (DE/EN/FR/IT) for status updates.

Image shows PULVERMEISTER booth at Formnext Frankfurt 11/2019

The Pioneer of Selective Laser Melting

Redesigned SLM®500 - The highest, safest performance available in its class with cost reduction

Build envelope of 500 x 280 x 365 mm Real build rate up to 171 cm3/h Multi-laser SLM® technology increases productivity Focus on repeatability and machine uptime Industry-leading gas flow for consistent quality Fully automated powder management for safe part production For more information on the new SLM®500 visit: www.slm-solutions.com/en/slm500 EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENT

POWDER POWDER

| WWW.SLM-SOLUTIONS.COM WWW.SLM-SOLUTIONS.COM

TCT EU 28.2

Articles inside

Testing Times