TCT North America 7.2

HEAlthcare 3D printing in hospitals and vaccine delivery

postprocessing Why automation is key

MAG NORTH AMERICAN EDITION VOLUME 7 ISSUE 2

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CAN YOUR 3D PRINTER DO THIS?

EOS OUTLINES THE MUST-HAVES IN A MODERN METAL AM SYSTEM.

3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing Intelligence

FREEDOM OF DESIGN?

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VOLUME 7 ISSUE 2

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FROM THE EDITOR

FROM THE EDITOR SAM DAVIES

One year on On March 23rd 2021 at 8pm, a neighbor of mine stepped out onto her front porch with a candle in hand. It was a gesture, encouraged nationally, to mark a year to the day since the UK was placed under lockdown restrictions amid the spread of COVID-19.

A whole year. Twelve months so strange and so difficult that nobody who lived through it will forget. We’ve endured a summer under those restrictions, we've all had at least one birthday, and celebrated religious holidays like Christmas or Eid too.

Some started new jobs, moved into new homes, welcomed additions to the family, all that ordinary stuff that never felt so bizarre. It can’t be omitted that millions of people lost loved ones, and without the comfort of a normal send-off.

Fortunately for my family, we haven’t experienced such loss. We’ve avoided contracting the virus and what can follow. We’ve been lucky. To maintain our health, to maintain our jobs, and to be able to experience a sense of unity and kindness.

As a journalist covering the AM sector, I saw that such kindness wasn’t exclusive to a brief chat on a morning walk or the dropping off of essentials to elderly neighbors. We first covered the additive manufacture of PPE parts in the second issue of 2020 with a piece titled ‘3D printing steps up in coronavirus crisis.’ By the summer, millions of PPE components and testing swabs had been printed amid supply shortages and our coverage would extend way beyond that one article. We set up an online COVID-19 blog that ran for four months and is still attracting visits to this day. We published columns

from industry execs, took a virtual tour of Photocentric’s COVID-19 print farm, and covered 3D printing’s role in making supply chains more agile in print, digital, audio and video formats.

With the return of our healthcare focus in this issue, we won’t cover old ground. But with 3D printing back in the limelight we do explore the progress being made with the technology in hospitals on pages 8-11. On page 13, it is perhaps fitting that we look at an example of 3D printing being used to develop new vaccine and drug delivery methods.

And there’s a certain suitability to having Photocentric (page 19) tell us about their efforts to replicate their application of 3D printing for face shields to deliver new battery designs at scale. We hear from them in our Emerging Markets feature, which also includes Nanofabrica on microprinting on page 24 and a look at the semiconductor space on page 22.

John Wilczynski of America Makes talks about AM's potential to reinvent possibilities in supply chain (page 26), perhaps never more important than after 3D printing has again been under the spotlight of the mainstream media.

It caught such attention, this time around, for the very best reasons. Not only accentuating the generosity of many of the people and companies that make up the AM industry, but also demonstrating, when it was needed most, the capabilities of the technology. We’ve enjoyed covering these applications, as we have in pulling this issue together one year on.

We hope you enjoy it too and we hope you’re taking care.

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TCT VOLUME 7 ISSUE 2

19

COVER STORY

6 8

06. CAN YOUR 3D PRINTER DO THIS?

EOS outlines what you should be looking for in your next metal AM system.

HEALTHCARE

08. STANDARD OF CARE

Senior Content Producer Sam Davies speaks to surgeons, lab managers and tech providers about the adoption of 3D printing in hospitals.

13. A SHOT IN THE ARM

Boston Micro Fabrication CEO John Kawola discusses the company’s role in a vaccination research project.

POSTPROCESSING

22

14

14. AUTO FOCUS

Sam speaks to several companies about the importance of automated post-processing.

EMERGING MARKETS

19. CHARGING UP

A look at the research efforts and opportunities surrounding 3D printed batteries.

22. CHIPS CHALLENGE

Head of Content Laura Griffiths takes a look at how 3D printing is being used in the semiconductor space.

24. IT’S A SMALL WORLD

Laura speaks to Nanofabrica about the opportunities for micro 3D printing.

EXECUTIVE Q&A

29

29. “WE’RE MISSING DIVERSITY”

Women in 3D Printing founder Nora Toure gives her thoughts on supply chain flexibility, AM’s biggest challenges and the importance of diversity.

30

Through the Doors

30. PRINT ROE

Business case justification 26. AM’S POTENTIAL TO REINVIGORATE THE U.S. SUPPLY CHAIN

26

John Wilczynski, Executive Director of America Makes on how advanced manufacturing is reinventing possibilities.

Sam takes a virtual tour around a Roe Dental lab.

Expert Advisory Column

32

32. COULD MATERIAL JETTING PROVIDE A PATHWAY TO PLASTIC IMPLANTABLE DEVICES? Added Scientific’s Dr Craig Sturgess pens a column on the application opportunities for material jetting in healthcare.

16. PERFORMANCE MODE

DyeMansion launches its nextgeneration post-processing systems.

30

06

CAN YOUR 3D PRINTER DO THIS? EOS outlines what you should be looking for in a modern metal AM system.

A

fter more than 30 years in the additive manufacturing (AM) market, its founder Hans Langer having shaped much of today’s laser-based AM industry and a line-up of industrial 3D printers adopted everywhere from start-ups like Morf3D or Shapeways to medical device manufacturers like Smith & Nephew and Zimmer/ Biomet, EOS knows a thing or two about what you should expect from your metal AM system.

When it comes to production, the Direct Metal Laser Solidification (DMLS) pioneer believes productivity, reliability and repeatability are the ‘holy trinity’ of features that ought to be at the top of your machine buying checklist.

PRODUCTIVITY In recent years, attention has shifted away from cost-per-part towards productivity; fast build speeds, maximizing machine uptime, high utilization rates and reducing the time spent on nonproductive tasks such as setup and recoating.

Bucking the current trend to boost efficiency by adding more lasers, EOS recommends concentrating on the versatility of the lasers you already have. Do they cover the entire build area? Can they be adjusted for your production needs?

Is the build platform large enough to handle a range of part sizes and rotational symmetric production?

The four precision fiber lasers inside the EOS M 300-4, for example, cover its entire build area and can be optimized to fit the application.

The ability to predict downtime before it happens is playing an increasingly important role in optimizing machine uptime and proficiency. AM platforms that will allow you to anticipate service needs through data analytics and machine learning will go a long way toward proactively implementing contingency plans and increasing uptime. What’s more, you don’t need to worry about securing in-house expertise as there are partners, remote services and comaintenance software solutions that enable this with offsite experts and data analysts.

The design of a machine’s handling and filtration system can also influence its productivity by increasing overall uptime.

EOS suggests looking for machines that can remain in operation while other systems are being serviced or, better yet, machines that eliminate filter changes or provide a permanent lifetime filter to reduce interruptions.

Ultimately, productivity is about eliminating those non-productive times as much as possible and every second counts when you’re talking about a complex production platform. For that reason, you should also consider ease-of-use, how quickly the system can be unpacked, set up, and the speed of the recoater system. It’s also worth considering the size of the machine’s powder reservoir as, naturally, larger powder reservoirs allow machines to complete more jobs before needing to be taken offline and refilled.

06 / www.tctmagazine.com / VOL 7 ISSUE 2

RELIABILITY & REPEATABILITY Assessing the reliability of a modern metal AM system involves a lot more than “kicking the tires.” Time-tested attributes and stateof-the-art features can work in tandem to bolster a system’s dependability and resilience.

Thermal management features are vital in ensuring performance and system integrity are not influenced by heat. Each laser must be managed and maintained purposefully, and the smoke produced by the lasers during build processes must be handled adeptly to maintain operational reliability. Working alongside thermal management, mechanical compensation features also play a major role in preventing the machine’s frame and optical elements expanding or shifting with increased temperatures.

Similarly, gas flow within the build chamber must be designed for stable operation. Proper design helps guarantee the stability of parts for the long haul. The ideal behavior will be uniform and laminar gas flow in all spots on the build plate. Of course, a

cover story

“Productivity, reliability and repeatability are the 'holy trinity'”

3 LEFT:

HEAT EXCHANGER 3D PRINTED ON THE EOS M 290

system’s overall reliability is heavily influenced by its mechanical design and to ensure consistent, repeatable processing and part quality, you’ll need a stable frame that can sustain that.

BEYOND THE “HOLY TRINITY” There are also emerging considerations which EOS believes companies should embrace such as cutting-edge features, capabilities, processes, and services.

The first is sustainability, which EOS leader Marie Langer has been incredibly vocal about since taking over the company, including on TCT’s Additive Insight podcast where the CEO outlined ambitions to develop 3D printing into a “mainstream, sustainable” manufacturing process. While conversations like this are indeed important, particularly in highlighting AM’s green attributes, EOS is also taking action and was recently selected to represent the 3D printing industry as part of the 50 Sustainability and Climate Leaders initiative, a response from the international business community to fight against climate change.

SHOWN:

THE EOS M 300-4 DELIVERS DMLS QUALITY WITH 5X MORE PRODUCTIVITY

The next is big data analytics which will empower users to predict outcomes and

SHOWN:

PART PRINTED IN COPPER WITH PROJECT PARTNER DELVA OY

optimize production environments over time. EOS urges machine operators not to overlook the work it takes to ensure data works seamlessly with machine learning applications and to adopt a metal AM platform that provides a solid foundation for future possibilities. Ultimately, you should be able to pull pertinent build data from your machine via easy-to-use software, or even automate retrieval of that data into your existing ERP system.

As conversations around AM in supply chain continue, the need for digital inventories is more prevalent than ever. By producing parts on demand and eliminating the need for physical warehouses, supply chains can become nimble, decentralized, less prone to disruption and more sustainable.

To supplement that, robust cybersecurity features are vital for safeguarding your digital part and product portfolio, preventing unwanted access to your proprietary data, eliminating counterfeit printing, and managing printing rights effectively. Being able to lock down build jobs and custom parameter sets may allow others to manufacture your parts, but not view or retain your IP. Each of these factors can play a role in promoting better productivity, reliability, and repeatability within your metal AM production environment.

While some of these emerging factors may not be at the top of your list just yet, their potential offers an opportunity for AM users to position themselves as leaders and innovators in their field, and should be given greater consideration in your next machine selection process.

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STANDARD OF CARE

Senior Content Producer Sam Davies explores why hospitalbased 3D printing labs are becoming more prevalent.

A

young mother is making the biggest decision of her life.

During a routine check-up when pregnant, her unborn child has been found to have congenital heart disease. What happens next is in her hands.

It’s a 3D model, printed at a scale five times larger than the baby’s tiny heart, to allow surgeons to explain what the problem is, how they plan to fix it and what the risks of the procedure are.

“The mother is in a very difficult position; she needs to decide what to do with an unborn baby. Imagine how hard that is,” says Beatriz Dominguez Gonzalez, Materialise’s Global Market Hospital Manager. “Having that be tangible in your hands, I can see how that gives you much more peace of mind in taking a decision because you understand much better what it means. I think this is something that all of us should have access to.”

Using 3D printing to produce replica models of internal organs, for example, that will inform patients and guide surgeons through procedures is a burgeoning healthcare practice. There is a plethora of use cases around the world, each with a poignant story behind them. Increasingly, hospitals are building out laboratories and establishing workflows for the 3D printing of such parts. They are no longer oneoff stories; hospitals are investing in the technology, standardizing their processes and documenting their findings.

There is momentum. And it will see 3D printed medical models become the standard of care for surgical planning and patient consent.

“I think that 3D printing is revolutionizing - and that’s the right word - the way

08 / www.tctmagazine.com / VOL 7 ISSUE 2

surgical procedures are being done,” Gonzalez notes. “We are seeing things that were otherwise extremely risky, that almost no surgeon would have embarked on, because of 3D printing.”

Materialise, thanks to its FDA-cleared Mimics software, is among the leading technology suppliers to this growing market. The image processing software is licenced by more than 400 hospital labs around the world, helping them to segment 2D images of patient anatomy before using 3D printing to produce life-like models and other medical devices.

Hospital-based 3D printing labs, Axial3D CEO Roger Johnston notes, are typically either run by a print lab manager serving several medical departments or led by a surgeon and are department-specific.

An example of the former is Montefiore Medical Center, whose 3D Imaging Lab Director Nicole Wake believes by bringing 3D printing technology closer to the physicians and patients, surgeon confidence and the quality of care both see significant improvements. In her lab - which is equipped with material jetting, binder jetting, material extrusion and vat photopolymerization technology - clinicians order a model via Montefiore’s patient medical record system, specifying the type of model, when they need it and which imaging exam the data should be derived from. Wake will then schedule the print job and manage it through post-processing, conversing with the surgeon to ensure the correct level of detail and color has been achieved.

Compared to department-specific labs, these set-ups typically have larger format machines and larger volumes of printer installations. Materialise and Axial3D serve both, compete for both and, in some cases, share customers. While Materialise

licences its Mimics software and hands over the segmentation responsibility to the customer, Axial 3D offers a cloudbased service for image segmentation that doesn’t need to be integrated into the hospital’s IT infrastructure and is available as a pay-per-use tool.

Between them, they work with the leading hospital users of 3D printing, including Mayo Clinic, Great Ormond Street and Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHC).

NYU Langone Health is another. Working with Materialise for 14 months, its surgeons were recently able to rehearse the world’s first double hand and face transplant operation, fine-tuning the plan using 3D printed anatomical models so that, once a suitable donor was found, they were able to carry out the procedure within 24 hours.

Pre-surgical planning allowed the surgical team to virtually select and position various medical implants to predict the optimal fit, while 3D printed cutting and drilling guides helped to position medical tools with greater precision during the surgery and saved the overall operation time.

The printing of these parts was outsourced by NYU Longone Health to Materialise – something Johnston expects to see more of as hospitals adopt a

HEALTHCARE

3 LEFT:

A 3D PRINTED ANATOMICAL MODEL

6 BELOW:

A SURGEON & RADIOLOGIST DISCUSS THE PRINTING OF A HEART MODEL

6 BOTTOM:

A PRE-OP PLANNING MODEL PRINTED ON A FORMLABS MACHINE

“3D printing is revolutionizing the way surgical procedures are being done.”

hybrid approach to battle complex prints and time constraints – but in the catheterization lab at CHC we have a service line-led lab doing the bulk of its segmentation and 3D printing in-house. Jenny Zablah is the interventional cardiologist at the heart of the cath lab’s 3D printing application which is powered by one Formlabs machine, one Ultimaker machine, a Mimics subscription and the use of Axial 3D’s services too.

Segmentation is typically done inhouse, by Zablah and two assistants, with Axial 3D on hand for those more complex and time-consuming jobs.

With the Formlabs machine and the company’s Fast Draft resin, it is possible to produce a child’s heart model in around two hours, while the Ultimaker machine is slower but still outputs good quality, per Zablah. She says that these models are extremely

helpful in cutting through the complexity of heart defects, not only allowing better communication with patients and relatives but also allowing the surgeon to hold an artificial object that mirrors what they will see when they open the patient up.

“Having the heart in your hand and them knowing what they have to do because it looks more realistic, more what they’re used to seeing directly when they open up the patient’s chest, it makes much more sense than when you’re scrolling through the [2D] images,” Zablah explains. “For a patient that’s even worse because they have no basis.

When we show the heart and what things are connected, you can explain where the catheter is going to go, where the wires go, what may happen if you place a stent, why this kid is having a clot or has a risk of stroke. Explaining the complications when they see the heart makes more sense. Patients are more informed; they have better questions, and they have a better understanding of what’s going on in the cath lab.”

The potential applications for Zablah and her team include models for pulmonary valve replacements, coarctation repairs, Atrial Septic Defect Closures, Ventricle Septal Defect Closures, and many more congenital heart procedures. Off the back of her work, the hospital is currently building out a virtual reality simulation lab and 3D printing conference centre that will be accessible for most specialities, including orthopaedics, radiology and plastic surgery.

It follows a research paper authored

by Zablah that put 61 3D printed models into focus. In this study, Zablah determined the ability to accurately replicate the airway and vascular structures in the heart, documented the quick turnaround times of under 24 hours (which Zablah says have significantly improved since the work was carried out) and noted how the institution’s routine three-dimensional rotational angiogram technique had ‘been evolved without increasing radiation dose, contrast dose or procedural duration.’ For this study, Zablah had deployed Materialise Mimics, but having since worked with Axial 3D, Johnston believes CHC is two years ahead of any other cath lab in the world.

“They started small and they’re doing one or two things incredibly well,” he

VOL 7 ISSUE 2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 09

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says. “Incredibly well isn’t proving you can do this for one heart revision or knee revision, it’s taking it to the point where you work out how do I build this into the standard of care for a particular type of surgery, which is exactly what Jenny has done. She’s gathered lots of data, proved that using 3D modeling for this particular surgical procedure across six months has these huge benefits and she’s now built that into the standard of care in Children’s Colorado every time one of these procedures happen. That’s where this game starts changing, because then you do that for a second type of surgery, and you do it for a third. Rather than just do one-offs for 20 different types of surgery, knock off one procedure at a time and get it built into the standard of care. It is an awesome model.”

The standard of care is what the people working closely with 3D printed anatomical models in hospitals expect the practice to become. Gonzalez notes how, even though it’s in human nature to resist change having done something the same way for 20 years, “we are seeing that surgeons who have [3D printed] models don’t go back.”

“We've got an obligation to make 3D printing high capacity & affordable.” of the investment that it needs. Most centers won’t expand until there’s a clear pathway through insurance.”

In 2019, the American Medical Association approved four category III reimbursement codes for 3D printed anatomical models, but their category III status means they are merely temporary placeholders. Permanent category I codes are still some years away, with the authorities needing more documentation of 3D printing workflows to give proper reimbursement.

Though the reimbursement codes are in development, the cost of the

That, however, isn’t the main barrier for this application of 3D printing to become the standard of care around the world. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, it’s funding: in public healthcare systems, the cost of the technology is prohibitive and while that might also be the case in private hospitals, that there’s no longterm guarantee of reimbursing said cost is the real deal breaker. Since 3D models for surgical planning is still nascent and there’s no real equivalent, category I reimbursement codes don’t yet exist. Though Zablah and CHC have decided to forego the irredeemable costs because of the quality-of-care enhancements, not every institute is willing to make that call.

“Most of the time, we’re doing it without any income at all. I think it’s worth it,” she says.

“Now, for other hospitals, as soon as the billing [codes] start coming up, I’m pretty sure people will justify their time on using the technology more. Until then, there’s a lot of places that won’t start because SHOWN: A 3D PRINTED HEART MODEL USED FOR PRE-OP PLANNING

technology will likely need to come down too. Formlabs Director of Healthcare Gaurav Manchanda notes how the company is ‘set up to be the first taste’ of 3D printing for hospitals with machines valued at around $10k, while Ben Klein, the Medial Modelling lead at Stratasys, a company delivering larger format systems into the market, says they are well aware that ‘the only means to make this market grow is to make [our technology] more accessible.’

Indeed, though Zablah and CHC are working with low volumes inside the cath lab, their adoption of 3D printing was only possible because of the low price point Ultimaker and Formlabs operate at. There is now more significant investment taking place hospital-wide at CHC, but the finances involved will continue to limit to what extent they deploy the technology.

This hospital is a fortunate one. 3D printing is not currently affordable for every medical center in the world to adopt and sustain. But it needs to be.

“It needs to get to a price point, with or without reimbursement, where it can be adopted, not just for those who can afford it or not just for the most extreme of cases,” Johnston concludes. “Does anybody ever think any snooker fan yearns for the days of black and white TV? No. So, can you imagine in ten years anyone wishing they had that hard-to-understand 2D imaging? Which surgeon is ever going to say that? They’re not. As an industry, we’ve got an obligation to make this high capacity and affordable, first world through third world. It doesn’t mean we give it away for free, but it’s got to be affordable in the same way that MRI, CT, X-rays are affordable. It has to become ubiquitous like that. Does anybody believe that 3D isn’t going to be the dominant imaging technology if it’s affordable going forwards? It’s inconceivable that it’s not.”

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HEALTHCARE

A SHOT IN THE ARM WORDS: SAM DAVIES

A

year ago, an industry began responding to one of the biggest pandemics in modern history. Face masks, face shields, ventilator parts and nasopharyngeal swabs were output in their thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions as 3D printing providers and users mobilized.

At that time, Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF) was announcing the international roll-out of its Projection Micro-Stereolithography (PμSL) 3D printing technology. Such is the profile of PμSL – a technology designed to print micro scale parts at high accuracies and resolutions – it was never likely to play a role as users of 3D printing sought to plug the gaps in PPE and medical equipment supply chains. But months later, when it came to plotting the route out of this pandemic and other public health emergencies to come, BMF was invited to take part in a project led by Carnegie Melon University (CMU).

“The concept of microneedles for vaccinations or other drug delivery has been around for a while,” John Kawola, BMF’s CEO, begins. “But COVID has accelerated it. The world is faced with having to vaccinate billions of people. And while the needle and the vial [method has been around] for 75 years, it’s not that easy to scale.”

CMU has thus stepped up its work in the development of microneedle array technology, which comprise hundreds of tiny needles on a miniature patch that, when applied onto the skin, quickly dissolves to deliver the medication. These devices don't require the same level of cold-chain storage and can allow for 1/100th of the dose of a traditional vaccine to be delivered. CMU's intradermal delivery device builds on ten years of research and, the university believes,

would simplify the transport and storage of vaccines, while also reducing shortages.

BMF has been invited to contribute to the project because of PμSL technology’s capacity to print small parts at very high tolerance requirements.

The project will utilize printers from BMF’s 2μm series – the 2μm referring to optical resolution – which are able to achieve layer thicknesses in the region of 5-20μm and surface finishes of 0.4-0.82μm on the top of parts and 1.5-2.52μm on the sides.

“On a two-micron platform, typically you can get a feature size down in the range of 15-20 microns,” Kawola explains. “In this case, for microneedles, that’s the size of the feature they’re trying to get to. Now most of these are cones that’s going all the way up to the tip, and that’s the smallest tip they want to get. And we’re trying to balance geometry with materials properties with the ability to make sure they [pierce the skin] but don’t break.”

So far, the partners have learnt that the smaller the needles, the easier it is to puncture the

skin. Though still undecided, if PμSL is to be used to print the microneedles for direct use, a biocompatible material that has the strength and elongation to puncture the skin will need to be developed, with a balance between feature size and strength ‘subject to optimization.’ Alternatively, PμSL could be used to print mold patterns in an existing PDMS material, which has enough strength and biocompatibility to be used in the injection molding of medical devices.

Another aspect of the project - which includes the University of Pittsburgh Center for Vaccine Research, Premier Automation and Tiba Biotech – is a focus on optimizing and automating production. While the partners will not be drawn on when the results of this project will be commercially available – and they play down the idea a microneedle vaccine could help guide us out of the COVID-19 pandemic – they do see the last 12 months as a wake-up call, and they do see 3D printing playing a pivotal role in not just responding to global health crises, but in the immunization of millions of people.

“With dozens of machines or more in a factory, you can certainly be talking about hundreds of thousands, if not millions, a week. That’s the goal,” says Kawola. “If it’s hundreds of thousands approaching millions then that starts to scale.

Manufacturing small parts like that at scale the conventional way is expensive. The injection mold is not £25,000, it might be £200,000.

Everybody in 3D printing is looking for a way to displace the current way of doing it. If it’s difficult and expensive, then that’s a great target and that's where we see this sitting.”

VOL 7 ISSUE 2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 013

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problem.”

he cost of post-processing can account for up to 30% of the 3D printed part.

If you’ve got this not so little secret at the back end, then you’ve got a big

uses a proprietary algorithm to vary agitation intensities, temperatures and other process factors during the post-processing cycle, while Connect3D links the hardware with the rest of the factory floor.

“Here you are with one of the most exciting technologies in the world but when you scale, you need to put bodies at the end of the line to be able to finish the parts.”

The company has launched these products to address an issue that, Bourguet believes, has not always been among the primary considerations of the AM market.

AMT CEO Joseph Crabtree and PostProcess Technologies Managing Director Bruno Bourguet speak to TCT four weeks apart. Between them, they sum up the frustration that many a manufacturer has had with additive manufacturing (AM) technology.

“When I started, everybody was speaking about printing capabilities, printing resolution, but nobody was talking about the finished part. Nobody knew how you got there,” he told TCT. “It won’t be a massively adopted technology unless it is at least equivalent to the more traditional technologies in terms of traceability, repeatability, also sustainability.

When traditional technologies are used in the modern world, companies have got their act together and really optimized that. We need 3D printing at this level.”

The perception of AM is that of a digital technology, where a part is designed in a CAD program, a file uploaded to a printer and the part subsequently built-up layer by layer. What comes after – depowdering, support removal, surface treatment, surface sealing, part identification, transportation, sorting, packaging – is typically anything but digital.

“These processes take a significant amount of time, labor and can be harmful to operators’ health,” summarizes Benjamin Hlebec, Addiblast, AM Post-Processing Specialist at FerroEcoBlast.

“For these reasons, the automatization of postprocessing is a key factor for higher efficiency, cost reduction and [improving] the health and safety of operators.”

FerroEcoBlast is a supplier of AM postprocessing technology, offering solutions like the MARS 03 depowdering station, which is fully automated with an entirely closed loop atmosphere that protects powder from contamination, protects operators from harmful chemicals, and lowers costs while doing so. The company is not alone in seeing the value of such automated products.

Bourguet stepped into the AM space in 2018, bringing to PostProcess Technologies his experience from the mapping data sector to help combat the 'dirty little secret' tag. He was recruited to help bring to an international market an automated post-processing portfolio, which includes hardware for resin removal, support removal and surface finishing, and the Automat3D and Connect3D software tools. Automat3D

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Supporting Bourguet’s claim is Rösler UK’s Technical Sales Manager Charles Popp. Rösler, through its AM Solutions brand, is a provider of post-processing solutions built from its traditional automated vibratory finishing technology, as well as of select partners, such as PostProcess Technologies. Popp told TCT how, often, post-processing can be ‘a bit of an afterthought’ when purchasing a 3D printer; Hlebec too noted post-processing is often neglected or underestimated. This lack of consideration, as well as limited technology solutions, is why skilled engineers are pulled away from skilled work and deployed on the manual post-processing of printed parts.

AM Flow Commercial Director Carlos Zwikker saw this play out while working at one of the industry’s leading service providers. The oftencumbersome nature of AM post-processing led to the development of AM Flow’s range of connected hardware and software solutions that supplement what the likes of AMT and Rösler offer, tracking and tracing parts throughout the workflow. AM Vision, which uses underlying data to identify parts, is its kernel; AM Logic collects the relevant data that allows users to keep control of their AM process; AM Expert helps to optimize workflows; and there also products for picking, packaging and more.

SHOWN:

ENGINE COMPONENT FINISHED WITH AMT TECHNOLOGY [CREDIT: AMT]

SHOWN:

MITSUBISHI ROBOT LIVE IN ACTION AT FORMNEXT 2019 [CREDIT: AMT]

POST-PROCESSING

WORDS: SAM DAVIES

“AM is, by principle, a digital concept.

So, let’s start living up to that.”

While these products allow users insights throughout the lifecycle of their parts, which will support the certification of processes in aerospace and medical, Zwikker believes the biggest benefit of automated post-printing solutions is in shortening of innovation cycles.

a footwear midsole application. With EOS' P 500 platform, DyeMansion’s Print to Product workflow and Siemens’ software solutions generating a digital twin of the production line, the partners ensured the midsoles were manufactured first time right and reduced production costs by 50%.

“Innovations are going to be moved into production much more quickly,” he said. “If we have this fully digitized manufacturing process in place, that’s going to impact the way we produce. And that’s one of those big promises of additive manufacturing.”

While the shoe won’t always fit, the potential gains of automated postprocessing are clear. Bourguet looked at the wider picture, referencing much of the talk around on-demand and local manufacture over the last 12 months.

Reshoring manufacturing is fraught with complexity but is something that makes sense to ensure more efficient and sustainable methods of manufacture.

Having moved through the development of new parts quicker than before, manufacturers might then be in a position where the demand for this new product dictates the need to scale to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions. In a bid to resolve the inevitable issues those manufacturers would run into, companies like AMT have been working on concepts that can be integrated into Industry 4.0 factories. At Formnext 2019, the company demonstrated the Digital Manufacturing System, harnessing robotics systems and machine control systems from Mitsubishi Electric to add automatic loading, full traceability and monitoring to its postprocessing hardware.

Adding this automation capacity to its PostPro 3D vapour chemical smoothing system, the company announced in April 2021, would allow users to post-process hundreds of parts each hour per machine, compared with just a few parts manually.

Applying these capabilities, however, isn’t quite as simple as you can make it sound.

“The problem with 3D printing,” Crabtree outlined, “is that every part can be unique, and you potentially have a batch size of one. You’re not dealing with the automation of an injection molding line where two million pieces are all the same.

It’s very nuanced.”

“Automation is not a value in itself,” offered Siemens Vice President of AM Dr Karsten Heuser. “It’s always following a holistic cost, productivity and quality driven approach. And by that you define which is the right tailoring of automation to the needs of your problem.”

A year after AMT demonstrated its DMS concept, Siemens partnered with DyeMansion and EOS to present a virtual AM factory demonstrating an automated chain of coordinated production steps for

“And I don’t think you can [address this] by thinking that we are going to compete with low-cost labor that will still be around for decades,” Bourguet continued. “Our vision is a hands-off, lights out environment where machines speak to machines, where the staff are not doing that low level type of task which nobody wants to do, is not very sustainable, and will not always be economically viable. AM needs to be future proof and automated all the way.”

But how does the industry make it happen? Those quoted believe collaboration is pivotal; that listening to customer feedback and accepting there are challenges that need to be addressed is vital; and educating buyers about the back end of AM workflows is a must.

What else is clear is that the interviewees for this feature believe there are opportunities aplenty. Applications that can scale, costs that can be cut, skilled workers that can be better deployed.

Crabtree told how, despite the industry’s growth flatlining, AMT’s revenue doubled through 2019/20. An indicator, he said, of the industry maturing. Zwikker agreed and emphasized that the need for automated post-processing solutions simply stems from the uptake and increasing capabilities of 3D printing technology.

“It’s a consequence of success,” Zwikker concluded. “It’s a consequence of growing volumes. But it’s not the desired consequence. And it’s basically a contradiction with a fully digitized principle of additive manufacturing. We’re not about breaking down jobs or putting people out of a job. This is, by principle, a digital concept. So, let’s start living up to that.”

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PERFORMANCE W

hen your first release turned out to be such a big hit, it’s only natural to experience classic second album nerves. It’s a feeling DyeMansion founders Felix Ewald and Philipp Kramer are now familiar with after the highly anticipated launch of their next-generation additive manufacturing (AM) post-processing technology.

“We have a reputation in the market and need to fulfil that,” says Kramer, DyeMansion’s CTO, of the extensive testing the new systems have undergone in preparation for the big reveal.

“Pilot testing is essential.”

That reputation has been built on a wealth of successful adoption stories from customers like Daimler, ic! Berlin and ProGlove which have used DyeMansion’s technology to add color and injection mold-like finish to their powderbased polymer parts. Even Oprah’s a fan. The Munich-based company is now building on that momentum with three new products, launched in March, including a new Powershot Performance series and the next generation of its classic Powershot C & S post-processing systems.

The centerpiece is the new Powershot DUAL Performance which, in a first for the company, provides both depowdering and surface treatment processes in a single system. It’s laser focused on industrialization according to Ewald, DyeMansion's CEO, built for the socalled “factory of the future” and high-volume production. Launching alongside it are the Powershot C Performance for cleaning and the Powershot S Performance for surfacing, which the company describes as the “next-level” in blasting technology.

The series is the first to feature DyeMansion’s integrated wide trough Multi Belt, which allows users to automate the loading and unloading of parts and is capable of processing full-sized build jobs with an increased load capacity of 150%. For reference, you could process around 500 eyewear frames in a single job. Despite this bigger capacity, DyeMansion says the DUAL actually takes up 60% less workspace compared to the current Powershot models, while efficiency has also increased with process times now up to 20% less than that of previous systems. Parts go in, excess powder is removed, surfacing automatically starts and once finished, parts can then be rolled out from the belt and onto a tray, ready for any additional post-processing steps.

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Also new are the “PolyShot Cleaning” process and plastic blasting medium, an alternative to the industry standard glass beads, which have been engineered to deliver the optimum shape, size and weight for powder removal without causing damage to parts. The process is expected to enable a wider range of process parameters and improve the depowdering of challenging materials such as TPU. PolyShot Cleaning is compatible with the next-generation Powershot and Performance series and can be used with all common powder-bed technologies.

AUTOMATION-READY

The primary focus for the Performance series is around the requirements of industrial production environments: quality assurance, traceability, connectivity and automation. With those factors in mind, DyeMansion says these new Performance models will enable traceability throughout the complete production chain through connectivity to MES and ERP systems, and full integration into automated production setups.

The series has been designed for flexibility, to allow machines to easily slot into real, dynamic manufacturing spaces and complement current automation setups.

Ewald explained: “There are different automation concepts and we want to make sure that our systems perfectly fit into all of those systems. So, it’s really about being automationready and our goal is just to have machines that customers can easily integrate into their automation concept.”

Building on an existing collaboration, the launch also sees DyeMansion working with Siemens to equip the new line-up with new features which aim to “set the stage” for automation in AM. Karsten Heuser, VP Additive Manufacturing Siemens Digital Industries described the Performance series as, “the next milestone in the strategic partnership between DyeMansion and Siemens towards industrialized additive manufacturing.”

FUTURE-READY

Ewald says the classic series is “a perfect entry level product” for the automation of manual post-printing steps, while the Performance series brings additional capabilities which

POST-PROCESSING

E MODE WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

make it “Industry 4.0 ready” and a step closer to industrialization.

Ewald elaborated: “When normal people come in from the classical manufacturing industry, they have certain expectations when it comes to automation, reproducibility and connectivity. And so far, when you look at how the factories look; [there’s powder everywhere], a lot of manual work, this has nothing to do with industrialization.

So, that’s our clear strategy and I think the industry is absolutely going into this direction.”

The Performance series, which includes the DUAL and separate C and S systems, will be rolled out with select pilot customers and DyeMansion has already shared that 3D printing service provider 3DPRINTUK will be one of them. The new generation of the classic Powershot C & S is readily available today while the Performance series systems will be ready to order in Q4 2021.

During its virtual launch event, DyeMansion also teased plans to build out its ‘Print-to-Product’ workflow even further with a low-cost, fully automated system for unpacking. It’s still in the early stages of development and Ewald tempered expectations by telling viewers not to expect a launch around this year’s Formnext where the company has historically launched its latest product iterations, but as pilot testing gets underway ready for orders of the Performance Series to begin later this year, there’ll be plenty to keep the team busy until then.

SHOWN: DYEMANSION’S NEXT-GENERATION PRINT-TO-PRODUCT WORKFLOW

“The industrialization phase of 3D printing has started.”

“We believe that the industrialization phase of 3D printing has started,” Ewald said. “Our goal is to be the key enabler of this era with the vision that 3D printed parts become part of our everyday lives.”

SHOWN: PHILIPP KRAMER, DYEMANSION CTO AT THE PERFORMANCE SERIES VIRTUAL LAUNCH

3 LEFT:

THE NEW POWERSHOT DUAL PERFORMANCE

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Advertorial 2021

MOSCA: BUILT TO LAST More than 100 series or spare parts can be 3D printed with the freeformer from ARBURG

SERIAL PRODUCTION WITH 3D PRINTING Mosca has considered Additive Manufacturing (AM) for low-volume production of small components and spare parts. When they approached ARBURG, it quickly became clear that the freeformer was capable of much more than expected. It marked the beginning of a new level of innovation with reduced storage requirements and unmanned production if required.

We have installed more than 100,000 strapping machines worldwide,“ explained Stefan Kessler, Innovation and Technology Manager responsible for developing process improvements at Mosca‘s German headquarters in Waldbrunn. Each machine is made from over 2,000 individual components. Many of them are difficult to reproduce using conventional methods. Against this background, Kessler began looking into additive manufacturing and the economic benefits it could bring to Mosca.

First, Mosca identified over 100 different components or spare parts that were too costly to manufacture using conventional methods.It was quickly realized that the freeformer would meet the requirements for strength, dimensional stability, and speed.

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The move towards digital warehousing and spare parts on demand increases efficiency, improves the relationship with the customer and eliminates bottlenecks for the production team. Mosca could now manufacture overnight and ship the parts immediately instead of waiting weeks or months for components to be delivered. And the ability to produce complex, lighter components significantly helps reduce the energy costs.

In addition, the majority of the components in question used to be made of either aluminum or plastics such as POM and PE. Today, the components are 3D printed from PA10, which can be sourced from standard suppliers and at much lower prices.

Mosca, an international manufacturer of end-of-line packaging solutions, is one of the largest and most prominent suppliers of systems for strapping and securing goods for transportation.

i

Further information: www.mosca.com

EMERGING MARKETS

Sam Davies speaks to Harvard Professor Jennifer Lewis & Photocentric’s Dr Sarah Karmel about the use of 3D printing for battery products.

I

t always starts with a conversation. This particular one was between Shen J. Dillon and Jennifer A. Lewis, the latter recounts, and was an off the cuff suggestion that, having used 3D printing techniques to produce electronics with very fine features, perhaps they should do similar with lithiumion batteries.

They talked it through, decided that, in theory at least, it made sense that you could go ‘out of plane’ to pack more energy storage within the same footprint, and decided to get to work. This was almost a decade ago when Lewis was working alongside Dillon at the University of Illinois.

By the time the subsequent paper, ‘3D printing of interdigitated Li-Ion microbattery architectures’, was published in 2013, Lewis had moved to Harvard University where she would welcome the attention of several battery companies. During the research, Lewis and her team demonstrated a 3D printing technique which patterned functional inks in filamentary form with feature sizes as small as 1μm. The composition and rheology of the inks were optimized to ensure they could flow through the deposition nozzles – battery electrodes were printed at thicknesses of around 30 microns – while the materials also required the structural integrity to withstand drying and sintering without delamination or distortion. Having formulated such materials, they had broken new ground.

“We found that we could create a 3D printed battery,” she tells TCT, “that wasn’t a clear outcome from the start. Importantly, we also found the performance was akin to [that of] a bulk battery, so the ability of printing at the micro scale didn’t degrade the performance in any way, it just made it possible to create something that was small. We were printing a functional battery that can be recharged many times within the size of a single grain of sand. It doesn’t seem possible, but it was.”

Some years later, there was another conversation. This one took place in the UK between Dr Sarah Karmel and Paul Holt, the Head of R&D Chemistry and Managing Director of Photocentric, respectively. They too were discussing the energy density within batteries, pondering the efficacy of 3D printing for such an application and reaching out to industry partners. In September 2020, the company set up a division dedicated to 3D printed battery research, with several projects launched to explore the architecture, structure and manufacture of electrodes.

“The concept of thick electrodes has been there for a while; they’re the easiest way to get a battery with a higher energy density,” Dr Karmel says. “The problem is thick electrodes hinder the lithium-ion flow. But you can [address] that by designing porosity and channels for lithium ions to flow and what better way of doing that than by using 3D printing?”

Two years prior to Photocentric launching its own research unit, Lewis had co-authored a paper titled ‘3D printing of customized li-ion batteries with thick electrodes.’ Whereas in the 2013 research, Lewis’ team had proved the ability to print the anode and cathode of a battery, this time they had printed all the battery components. The motivation here was to open up application opportunities.

“With that capability, it goes beyond micro batteries,” Lewis explains.

“One of the drivers when we first did this work with 3D printing was thinking about, well you can get coin cell batteries, silt cylinders, thin film batteries, but you don’t have a lot of choices. Battery makers make them in certain form factors, and if you have something like a hearing aid,

SHOWN: PHOTOCENTRIC'S LC MAXIMUS MACHINE

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!"#$%

EMERGING MARKETS for example, and you want to have a cavity where you fill up every open space that’s not used for something else in the hearing aid, if you could print a three-dimensional battery that was a different shape, that could be more volumetrically efficient and open up the design space for batteries.”

This was also a key motivation for Photocentric’s step into the battery space.

The company is primarily leveraging its LCD Screen 3D printing technology to power its research efforts. While much of the technology is safeguarded by IP, Dr Karmel did outline the company’s LC Maximus machine, with its 920 x 510 x 800 mm build volume and 43-inch LCD screen, is being leaned on, while there is also a prototype machine with a 90-inch LCD screen and another prototype system called LC Nano which can deliver accuracies down to 20 microns. Photocentric will be teaming these machines with a ‘specific type of photopolymer matrix’ which is said to have a very high load of active electrode material.

The company is currently participating in three grant-funded projects, the first of which centers on the design of single, dense electrodes for solid-state batteries; the second focuses on electrode architecture and structuring; while the third will explore electrode manufacturing methods. As Photocentric completes these projects, it hopes to have its ‘first big demonstrator’ ready within six months, with small field trials following shortly after. The company’s aim is to develop batteries that can be launched commercially and used at scale. It sees the electric vehicle market as one that is crying out for the benefits that 3D printed batteries can bring.

“If you look into the weight of electric cars,” Dr Karmel says, “they’re two to three tons which is because of the battery pack, so if you can make

lighter batteries it’s a huge benefit. You want to have batteries which are better, which have a faster charging capacity, with a higher energy density that allow you a longer range. But it’s not only electric vehicles. If you look at drones, you want to have a battery that will make a much lighter drone which, again, will give it a much longer range. For these kinds of lightweight applications, battery shape would make a very big difference.”

“We've only just scratched the surface.”

Amid the climate crisis and government initiatives to reduce national carbon footprints, the electric vehicle market is growing fast. By 2030, the EU is targeting at least 30 million zero-emission vehicles on its roads, while the UK announced in October its intentions to phase out the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles by the same year. Photocentric believes its photopolymer 3D printing technology is capable of meeting the desired principles of battery design for markets like this, as well as the steep volumes likely to be required. Lewis, meanwhile, sees another key opportunity: hybrid functionality.

“Right now, all your battery packs are in the floor of your car, they’re not serving any mechanical function. They’re

just providing the energy to power but wonder if in the door panels you could have batteries that both had the capability of being energy storage devices and of providing the structural features that you need. That’s one example but there’s a lot of opportunity. If you can replace some structural elements with functional elements that still have mechanical properties, that can be very helpful [in lightweight applications].”

There is research being carried out on this hybrid functionality concept elsewhere. One would think there would certainly be an appetite for such a concept. But through her own experiences, Lewis estimates that the industry is ten years behind academia when it comes to 3D printed batteries and, as with all disruptive technologies, uptake is slow. Yet, Addionics is a commercial battery firm embracing the technology, as are Blackstone and KeraCel. Then, of course, there’s Photocentric with a roadmap in place and capacity – it says – to scale.

There is still work to be done, more conversations to be had, but Lewis believes there is plenty of scope for commercial 3D printed batteries. “[3D printing] opens up the design space in terms of the shape or form factor of the battery. It affords much more architectural complexity and, if we started to think about using them not only for energy storage but also for a structural element, it allows you to co-print multiple materials together and that even further opens up the design space. There’s the potential benefit for these micro batteries to go out of plane, packing more energy in a small volume. From what I’ve seen not only in my lab but broadly, we’ve only just scratched the surface.”

5A BOVE:

ELECTRIC CAR BATTERY WITH LITIO PARTICLES

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T

he world is experiencing an ongoing shortage of semiconductors; essential components which live inside all of our electronic devices.

The scarcity of chips has arisen from an accumulation of factors ranging from pandemic-related backlogs, a growing demand for smart and connected devices, and the launch of next-generation products like electric vehicles, games consoles and mobile phones. If you tried to get your hands on a Nintendo Switch to escape the boredom of another lockdown, for example, your supply issues likely ran much deeper than the stock levels at your local Amazon warehouse.

It follows months of discussion on supply chain, covered from the perspective of the AM industry in the last issue of TCT Magazine, triggered by the pandemic and the disruption it caused to traditional manufacturing operations. As AM stepped up to the plate in temporarily plugging critical supply chain gaps, it begs the question of whether the technology could have a similar part to play in solving the semiconductor supply challenge.

“It’s an undiscovered, really interesting area for additive manufacturing that has the opportunity to affect everybody today because we all use smartphones, computers and drive cars,” Scott Green, Principal Solutions Leader at 3D Systems, tells TCT. “With the global semiconductor supply shortage, it’s going to be really interesting for a couple of years because there’s going to be a lot more machines produced than any of the major manufacturers thought, and they’re going to have to work a lot better, they’re going to have to work a lot faster to catch up to meet the demand.”

While opportunities are indeed emerging, it’s not necessarily a new market for additive. At the 3D printing pioneer’s Leuven office in Belgium, major semiconductor equipment manufacturers are said to have been leveraging its direct metal printing for well over a decade. What

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began as a “secret metal printer” used to print parts as a service has matured to what Green described as “a couple of hundred” successful production projects.

“There’s maybe ten areas in semiconductor capital equipment where we’re contributing regularly,” says Green, citing opportunities in lithography, wafer handling and metrology. Green also pointed to examples of recent large-format EUV (Extreme ultraviolet lithography) machines which can contain well over 100,000 parts.

“The needs and challenges of the semiconductor fabrication industry today are directly aligned with what a direct metal solution offers,” Green says. “They have challenges where, in order to really push the limits of physics, you’ve got to totally eliminate uncertainty and noise inside of a system and really optimize all the parts of handling, cooling, fluid distribution, light collimation. It’s a very complex machine.”

The design freedoms and part consolidation afforded by additive could offer a solution for parts like heat exchangers, gas manifolds and nozzles.

Instead of having tens of components vibrating against each other in an assembly, you could potentially reduce the number of moving parts and links in your supply chain down to one.

Benny Buller, however, CEO at VELO3D where a recent collaboration with Lam Research Corporation is seeing the company’s support-free metal AM technology used for the development of novel materials and applications, believes there are benefits to using additive in semiconductor machinery before you even get to design for AM (DFAM). In fact, for these applications, Buller argues, oftentimes it makes sense not to redesign at all.

“When you are doing legacy parts that you are already producing in one way and just want

an identical replacement by additive, the barrier for qualification is much lower.

When you have a lot of parts, it makes a big difference,” says Buller. “When you are consolidating an assembly, you have an opportunity to remove features that are not needed anymore and by doing so you can remove costs, you can reduce weight, you can make things better, that’s fine. But when you start having to redesign the system or the assembly so that you can manufacture, well that’s not fine, because now you’re driving yourself into a lot of risk.”

When dealing with the precise chemistries, gases and temperatures expected by the semiconductor industry, those risks simply cannot be afforded.

Those same complexities, however, Buller believes suit the capabilities of additive well.

“These are the classical problems additive manufacturing is really good at,” Buller explains. “Control of heat, control of flow, whether it’s flow in gases, form of chemicals, whether it’s forming liquid flow, these are the places where additive manufacturing is really powerful.”

One crucial area where AM does present a challenge, however, is cleanliness, a field Buller is familiar with having spent the early years of his career on the inspection side of the semiconductor space.

EMERGING MARKETS

WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

“It’s an undiscovered area for additive manufacturing.”

“Additive manufacturing, compared to some other manufacturing technologies, has struggled delivering this level of surface cleanliness and this level of surface control,” Buller says of the intense cleanliness levels required at each layer on the semiconductor fabrication process. “When we are doing gas turbines or jet engines, they also care about surface finish but we are talking literally orders of magnitude difference ...

[The semiconductor industry] cares about particles that are two nanometres in size. It’s

a completely different level of cleanliness that they have to deal with.”

Current opportunities for AM lie primarily in semiconductor capital equipment. It’s “the ultimate high volume manufacturing technology” according to Buller, with billions of parts produced every month, but per a recent report in the Harvard Business Review, funding and building out a new semiconductor fab can take at least five years. AM could offer a solution.

“Additive manufacturing has a lot of value to this industry, both in the ability to make better processes and to make equipment that is capable of more uniform, more controllable processes, new ways to make things that were not possible before,” Buller says. “It allows for a more agile supply chain and it helps with shorter lead times.”

There are however also specific opportunities in semiconductor devices themselves as Valentin

Storz, General Manager of EMEA at Nano Dimension told TCT. Nano Dimension, a manufacturer of additive electronics systems, known for its DragonFly LDM technology which simultaneously deposits a dielectric polymer and nano-silver for circuitry, is said to operate between the worlds of PCB and semiconductor integrated circuits.

Storz says: “The whole story about IoT, Industry 4.0; everything will have an IP address and communicate. That means every part will become at some place connected and needs some circuitry, some antenna in it and with parts getting smaller and having new form factors, that’s a place for us.”

New opportunities, Storz offers, are those in 3D stacking of chips on top of each other or heterogeneous integration where different components such as circuitry, RF components, optics and potentially even cooling channels are integrated into one package.

Throughout these conversations, Moore’s Law, the notion that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles about every two years, was a common thread. While the trend appears to be flattening in the semiconductor space, innovation continues apace as manufacturers strive to add more complexity to smaller chips and demand for new devices flourishes.

It’s here, looking at that five-year roadmap towards next-generation semiconductor fabrication, better geometries and more uniform processes, where AM could find its sweet spot.

“Additive manufacturing allows [manufacturers] to innovate in directions that they couldn’t innovate before,” Buller concludes. “The moment this is demonstrated, that you can get to the cleanliness and you can get to the manufacturing quality that is required to support that, this will be a floodgate.”

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WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

I

’m sure you’re familiar with those early iterations of Google Glass; Matrix-style smart glasses we were all supposed to be wearing, talking to and receiving instant messages on in 2013? Perhaps a little before their time, in a recent conversation with TCT, Avi Cohen, Executive VP at Nanofabrica remembers those original prototypes as “bulky and clumsy.” And yet, while Glass eventually found itself a niche audience amongst industrial users for hands-free labour, had a technology like micro 3D printing been around, Cohen reckons it could have been a different story.

The ability to 3D print miniature parts like connectors and lens holders in the case of Glass, are just some of the examples Cohen offered during a conversation about why the Tel Aviv company’s Micro Adaptive Projection technology might be more relevant than ever.

“The world is getting smaller,” Cohen told TCT. “It’s surprising, so many people

SHOWN: AVI COHEN, EXECUTIVE VP AT NANOFABRICA WITH THE TERA 250 PLATFORM

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approach us from so many different industries, so many small parts sometimes you think you’ve seen it all and then you see something smaller and smaller.”

For Cohen, who has spent more than two decades in the AM industry, 16 of which were at Stratasys, followed by five years at XJet focusing on the healthcare market, micro 3D printing represents a stark contrast to the trend to print bigger parts he had been witnessing since the ‘90s. Now, as laptops get thinner, mobile phones get smaller, and smart devices are compact enough to be worn around your wrist, the demand for micro parts is palpable.

“Back then, and during the years, people were looking to always print bigger,” Cohen said of AM’s early days.

“Nobody stopped for a second and said, ‘What happens if you try to go smaller and smaller?’ At Nanofabrica, this is what we are doing. We are printing such tiny parts

SHOWN: MICRO 3D PRINTED MODEL OF HOGWARTS SCHOOL

SHOWN: PART PRINTED USING MICRO ADAPTIVE PROJECTION TECHNOLOGY

EMERGING MARKETS

“There is a huge market [for micro 3D printing].”

area. With a print volume of 50 x 50 x 100 mm, the machine is said to enable the mass manufacture of over 10,000 1 mm sized parts in a single job.

As Cohen suggests, those tiny parts represent a huge potential market. Nanofabrica estimates there’s an even split between customers using the technology to make small parts for production and those creating small molds to inject their own end use materials.

In terms of industries, Cohen says Nanofabrica is being approached by all of the key markets you would expect like medical devices, consumer goods and aerospace, while interest from more specialist industries like watchmaking, where tiny precision parts are paramount, has also been piqued.

Applications include casings for microelectronics, micro springs, micro actuators and micro sensors, and there are numerous opportunities for medical components such as micro valves, syringes, and micro implantable or surgical devices. Recently, infrared inspection company Unispectral deployed the technology to produce adapter components for a miniature spectral camera filter which will be embedded into mobile phones.

Whether it’s printing molds or direct parts, Cohen says, predominantly, it’s all about mass production.

I could never have believed were even possible. It’s also a question of, what do you do with small parts?

Who needs [them]? There is a huge market.”

Nanofabrica was established in 2016 by CEO Jon Donner and CTO Eyal Shelef with a foundation in optics and a vision to combine micro DLP projection with an adaptive optics system to deliver high volume, high precision digital manufacturing. Launched commercially in 2019 after scooping up that year’s TCT Hardware Polymers Award, Nanofabrica’s patented process was officially packaged up last year into the Tera 250 platform, so-called due to the 250 trillion voxel capacity of its build

“In 3D printing, you have the freedom of design. People approach from different applications; jigs and fixtures to final parts. Just recently, I had a medical company that developed a very small insulin pump and they needed everything to be printed very, very small. Lenses or lens holders that people would like to print in the mobile industry and surprisingly also, the fibre optics industry, they would like to use [the technology] for micro-sized fibers to run through the parts.”

While Cohen emphasizes his confidence in the technology’s abilities, the challenges around micro 3D printing are what you might expect. Parts are so small that handling them usually calls for a microscope to inspect and ensure no runaways. The second is market

education. Parts that may have not been possible to produce with traditional methods, such as complex components or those too small to accommodate any postprocessing steps like drilling, can now be designed for and made via additive. The next challenge is materials.

Nanofabrica is developing proprietary materials in-house, the first of which is Precision N-800, a strong and flexible ABSlike material that’s said to be ideal for structural applications across various industries. When asked if there’s scope for metals, Cohen said direct printing is unlikely but he did share that the technology allows for printing in composite materials, like glass and ceramics, and the company is open to conversations with external partners to explore this further. So far, Nanofabrica has been working on a ceramic loaded material called Performance N-900 with loadings of up to 80%, and the team is now building on that in the hopes of reaching near 100% with a 1-micron resolution.

“I’m a big believer in materials,” Cohen said. “Materials open up applications, new customers, show innovation, open up new markets, increase sales and answer customer demands. We are very closely listening to our customers, hearing their needs about materials and definitely [making] a lot of effort to make more materials available.”

Perhaps Google Glass could have found a different fate had Nanofabrica been around a decade earlier. For those micro applications emerging today, spurred by a world that’s getting smaller, and as the company scales up backed by multimillion dollar investments [Ed: As this issue went to print, Nano Dimension announced a deal to acquire Nanofabrica] Cohen says the tech is more than ready.

“Micro 3D printing is possible,” he assures. “It’s here, and it’s here to stay.”

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A

dditive manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing technology are moving beyond their decadeslong role as a prototyping tool, to a legitimate, holy grail manufacturing sector in solving supply chain crises and disruption.

Not only has AM emerged as an integral part of modern manufacturing because of its unique, rapid manufacturing capabilities in various sectors, but the AM industry itself has made significant strides over the past few years to become more industrialized as evident in the existing use cases of AM technology—from airplanes to medical applications like hip and knee replacements, and to a lesser extent, custom automobiles.

By adopting AM, the manufacturing industry has saved millions of dollars in production costs while building stronger businesses that can withstand an even a once-in-a-century crisis such as COVID-19.

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING AS A NATIONAL STRATEGY The White House administration has created more opportunities for small and medium-sized manufacturers to become suppliers for the federal government, furthering the mission of ensuring future products will be made by American manufacturers. This priority by the administration was exemplified when President Biden signed a "Made in America" Executive Order (EO) in late January to direct more spending of the federal government’s 600 billion USD procurement budget on American-made products— rethinking the existing regulatory framework.

By narrowing the loopholes that allow government purchases of foreign products, increasing agency accountability, and directing agencies to seek out US suppliers, this Build Back Better Recovery Plan is set to invest in American workers, unions and businesses up and down the supply chain to revitalize American manufacturing and secure a “Made in America” future.

Another effort underscoring the emerging importance of 3D printing technology, was the Department of Defense releasing its first-ever Additive Manufacturing Strategy to set national standards for digital manufacturing products and processes. The strategy further called out a requirement for the development of policies to integrate the use of AM into weapon systems, material readiness

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and warfighter capabilities. The DOD created the strategy with the intention on “bringing together” all stakeholders inside and outside the military in the supply chain and academia. The strategy serves as a prime example of ways in which the military is attempting to make AM easier to use, and the barriers they break down will set a tone across other industries and help to foster even bigger changes for the rest of society and the manufacturing community.

COVID-19 PROMPTS EXECUTIVE ACTION FOR U.S. SUPPLY CHAINS AM’s role is paramount in reinvigorating America’s supply chain. The pandemic has revealed our nation’s untenable overdependence on external imports and that having the capacity to respond quickly in the face of challenges prompts further need for security in our supply chain to ensure our nation’s continued safety, health, and prosperity.

In response to these needs, the administration released a critical executive order to secure and strengthen the supply chains vital to America’s

Business Case

WORDS: John Wilczynski, Executive Director of America Makes

continued progress. The administration's order places emphasis on the crucial role that America's advanced manufacturing community has played in closing supply chain gaps during the pandemic and ways it continues to drive the U.S. innovation ecosystem by supporting U.S. technological competitiveness.

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING’S ROLE IN CRISIS PRODUCTION RESPONSE With AM at the forefront of our innovation ecosystem, America has the potential to become a country where crisis response is automatic, with systems in place to “surge” critical supplies into a crisis zone – local, regional, national, or global – regardless of what those supplies are, or who has historically produced them.

Companies like America Makes, a National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, have served as a catalyst for change in helping to ensure our country is using digitally distributed manufacturing to address today’s most critical needs.

As an example, during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, America Makes coordinated and mobilized the AM community to work to address medical

and personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages by matching healthcare communities in need with non-traditional manufacturers who provided 3D-printed medical accessories such as face shields and masks. By transitioning COVID-19 relief response to a distributed supply chain and enabling digitally distributed manufacturing work, additive manufacturing has proven to have the potential to reinvigorate America’s supply chain during a crisis.

Due to varying degrees of intensity and demand across U.S. cities and states, there is a further need for government and this administration to continue taking action to ensure that America is prepared to tackle any crisis or challenge, whether the issue is related to defense, medical or transportation issues. Additive manufacturing is especially positioned to respond to such surges and offer customized solutions given its ability to create an environment where the technology is closer to the point of use.

As the current pandemic slowly subsides, America Makes is working to instate a digitally distributed manufacturing platform and network, the Advanced Manufacturing Crisis Production Response (AMCPR), to ensure that communities in need can receive safe, effective solutions from vetted manufacturers. This platform also creates a structure for AM to be the national solution for future manufacturing crises and enhances overall national economic competitiveness and security by addressing critical needs using other advanced manufacturing technologies.

By revolutionizing the domestic supply chain and reconsidering the nation’s stockpiling strategy, there is an opportunity to accelerate the manufacturing of products and to leave behind an enduring infrastructure to serve in the future. In building this capacity, America Makes is serving as a convener in raising awareness of the ways in which AM can add value at a national scale.

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING’S ABILITY TO CREATE INDUSTRIAL CHANGE Overall, advanced manufacturing is reinventing possibilities in the American supply chain by using American-made products and materials to address critical needs and modernize national infrastructures. AM’s innovative capabilities are poised to proliferate across multiple industries including healthcare, electronics, defense, aerospace, energy and more sectors.

Governments and organizations must consider AM as they discuss national supply chain readiness and leverage this ground-breaking technology’s potential to create industrial change.

VOL 7 ISSUE 2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 027

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EXECUTIVE Q&A

“WE’RE MISSING DIVERSITY”

Nora Toure, Director for Sales and Service Factory Operations at Fast Radius and founder of Women in 3D Printing, on supply chain and the importance of diverse teams and perspectives in AM. TCT: Fast Radius has been recognized as a world leading ‘digital factory’ for its on-demand manufacturing services.

Have you seen much evidence of this increased demand for supply chain flexibility through your customers since the pandemic?

NT: Absolutely. If anything, it accelerated the adoption for flexible manufacturing solutions and that includes additive manufacturing obviously but not only. I think it’s also the idea of being able to have a one-stop shop where we can have additive but also CNC and injection and cast urethane in the same place.

But not only at Fast Radius, I could already see that at [ondemand AM company] Ivaldi because I made this switch last year in the middle of all of this, so I got to see two different companies. But even the people who are reaching out to me through Women in 3D Printing, the questions they have are more oriented towards on-demand manufacturing and flexible manufacturing solutions.

TCT: You’ve worked across many different areas of AM. From your experience, are there any additional challenges you think we face in the industry in order for the technology to reach its potential?

NT: I still think we’re missing diversity but not only diversity in terms of gender diversity, I think also missing diversity in representation of any group and also in terms of backgrounds. We all have very different backgrounds and we should embrace that more. I do see some sort of a trend to close the industry sometimes and I don’t like it. I would rather see us opening it more. It’s okay if you don’t have an engineering background, it’s okay if you don’t have 10 years’ experience in additive manufacturing for you to get started because none of us who are where we are now had that experience when we first started.

That’s what made this industry and this

technology move forward so quickly [...] because we innovate and we have diversity of thought in the same room.

TCT: Women in 3D Printing has grown into a truly global outfit. What’s your take on how the gender gap in the industry has evolved in that time?

We’re starting now to gather data but it’s only been a few years. We don’t have enough background and history to really compare. What we can say, though, is that we probably increased the visibility of the women in the industry but I’m not exactly sure that we increased the number of women joining the industry. And those are two different things. So, our goal is really to promote the women who are already in the industry to encourage more women to join this industry. This is now going through some of the initiatives we’re putting together this year, [like] Women in 3D Printing Next Gen. I think we still have a long way to go with encouraging more women to join the industry and for that also, we need to be able to capture data better. We’re not suited for that just yet. Neither are we as an industry. So this is ongoing work with quite a few partners to make that happen.

TCT: You recently hosted your first TIPE conference with an all-female line-up. What lasting message do you hope the success of this first conference has on the industry?

NT: We have perfectly capable women in the industry who are innovating and who have a lot to say. We had a lot of positive feedback on the quality of the talks and the diversity of backgrounds because, I know it was female only but, we had women from all over the world and with different backgrounds. That was refreshing. The key message is we have over 150 women who are here, available and more than happy to share their work on stage.

Listen to the interview in full: mytct.co/NoraToure

Interview has been edited for length and clarity.

VOL 7 ISSUE 2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 029

PRINT ROE WORDS: SAM DAVIES

B

J Kowalski is walking through one of ROE Dental’s three facilities. He wanders past a shelf of trays full to the top with crown impressions, into an office where some of his 200 employees are modeling dental parts in CAD software, pushes open a door with a combination of hip and shoulder, saying hello to a Christine on his way through. Finally, he arrives in the 3D printing laboratory. He slowly manoeuvres in a circular motion to capture a fleet of Formlabs 3D printing systems installed in all four corners of the room before returning to his desk and flipping his laptop around. This is a tour of a ROE Dental lab, done virtually.

It is a sign of the times.

Those times saw ROE Dental significantly expand its 3D printing capacity, initially to supply a million nasopharyngeal swabs as COVID-19 swept the globe, but now to significantly enhance its dental services.

The company has been using 3D printing since the early ‘90s, starting out with wax printers from 3D Systems that didn’t yield very many usable parts, and then adopting a 3Shape platform that performed better but still some way away from what can be achieved today. Kowalski says that a love/hate relationship developed with suppliers of 3D printers because, while the company has always been a big fan of the concept, the inconsistencies in the printing processes have often frustrated.

But it has never stopped ROE using the technology, and today it leans on 3D printing to produce dental models, denture bases and soft tissue applications. The company’s production of bite splints has also recently moved over to 3D printing, while ROE is experimenting with permanent crown applications too. Powering such applications are platforms like the J5 from Stratasys, M2 from Carbon and the Form 3B from Formlabs.

As with 3D Systems’ first 3D printing offerings, ROE Dental was quick to adopt Formlabs’ early products when they launched ten years ago. While the Form One machines were perhaps not cut out for

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the throughput ROE desired, Formlabs’ portfolio has always been appealing to the company.

“It was attractive at the price point that they were coming to market,” Kowalski summaries. “We have dates on our deliveries for our products and patients have appointments; we have to meet those deadlines, and when equipment like that goes down it was hard for us.

We have a full building, UPS system, backup generators as big as a tractor trailer because when that equipment goes down it’s real hardship for us. With Formlabs, I saw that the price point is more economical; with their technology we could have more printers and have more redundancy in place due to lower capital cost expenditure.”

After increasing its investment in Formlabs technology amid the outbreak of COVID-19, the company now has 50 active Formlabs machines, with more than 20 Form 3B systems. In contrast to the early printers Formlabs was bringing to market, its Form 3 series of machines reflect the company’s drive to support more professional and industrial users. The Form 3B is the company’s dental-specific model, boasting a build volume of 145 x 145 x 185 mm, an XY resolution of 25 microns and nearly a dozen materials. These materials include a fast-print Draft Resin, a Surgical Guide Resin, a Custom Tray Resin and a Digital Dentures grade.

“3D printing adds a lot of consistency to what we do.”

SHOWN: ORTHODONTIC APPLICATION PRODUCED ON FORM 3B

“It’s evolving nicely,” Kowalski says of 3D printing technology, using Formlabs as an example. “The reliability of the Form 3B printers that we have is significantly better than the initial version of the Form One printers. And the material choices continue to expand and that's significant because, at this point, we buy 3D printers based on what materials they can produce, not necessarily what the equipment is.”

The materials that ROE can’t currently print, it mills. But its investment in

SHOWN: FORMLABS' DENTAL OFFERING

THROUGH THE DOORS

3 LEFT:

DENTAL PARTS PRINTED ON THE FORMLABS FORM 3B

3D printing keeps coming. ROE Dental’s J5 was being installed just days after Kowalski hosted this tour, and the company is not afraid to spend money on using 3D printing technology even when there are cheaper alternatives available.

“The cost of the custom tray is actually more through 3D printing,” he says, “I could do it cheaper by hand but in my perspective it's a better product, it's cleaner, it's neater, it's more dimensional.

Even though it costs us a little more, that's a better product going out. I find that many of the things we're doing like splints, and dentures, when you're mixing powder liquid together you can inherently induce bubbles, flaws, inflections into those material. I find the materials that come out of 3D printing tend to be a little cleaner, pure, more pristine, and have more consistency. I think 3D printing adds a lot of consistency to what we do.”

ROE also counts the increased speed of delivering products to clients and the versatility to experiment with different designs as key benefits to its implementation of 3D printing technology. Often, the company will iterate two or three times internally before sending products out to customers, while leveraging 3D scanning to capture data from patient’s mouths allows them to model parts much quicker before heading to the printing step. A further advantage, as Kowalski noted earlier, by embracing 3D printing and deploying a more digital workflow is redundancy.

This, Formlabs’ Global Business Development Lead Dan Recht believes, makes ROE a front runner when it comes to AM adoption.

“I think they're leaders, both in the dental industry and in manufacturing as a whole,” he says. “These concepts that BJ is describing, like modularity for reliability, are concepts that we're still teaching executives in other industries. We have this concept of Formlabs Factory Solution, where

we really try to go in and advise manufacturers on how to get all of the benefits from 3D printing. But we don't have to go to ROE Dental and tell them how to do that, they already know, and they just come to us and say, here's what we need.

I think that one of the drivers for that is the dental industry is so tied to the human body, everything needs to be custom. So, they were forced to adopt 3D printing pretty early. And they have then gone on this journey to capture all the other benefits.”

Kowalski hosts TCT at ROE Dental’s Independence, Ohio facility, which is one of two of the company’s locations that has integrated 3D printing. Having worked with the technology for around three decades, it is likely that ROE will one day look to extend its adoption of the technology to their third facility.

They’ve done it once before, and such is Kowalski’s enthusiasm for 3D printing, it will be no surprise to see them do it again.

“The benefit of it in a smaller facility is they don't have as much personnel redundancy. If we're doing something digital, and there's somebody in there overwhelmed with work, we can just take on the design, send them the design, they print it in their facility. If they have absentees, vacations, we can handle their overflow with no time lapse, no shipping things back and forth. So, it's a tremendous advantage to be digital across all our platforms,” Kowalski finishes.

“The other facilities were complete analogue facilities. It’s been a long road, they have maybe three or four of our printers there for printing splints, custom trays, denture bases. The challenge is, you have these technicians that aren't used to using this technology, and then you have to integrate it. [But] we drank the Kool Aid here, we're all in corporate wide. And people are excited about it, they know that's how we do things, it's part of our culture.”

VOL 7 ISSUE 2 / www.tctmagazine.com / 031

Expert Column

COULD MATERIAL JETTING PROVIDE A PATHWAY TO PLASTIC IMPLANTABLE DEVICES? WORDS: Dr Craig Sturgess, Added ScientifiC

M

aterial jetting technology offers a promising way of overcoming technical and commercial barriers in the 3D printing of medical devices using polymers. But how can this relatively immature 3D printing technology compete with established vat photo-polymerization techniques, and what are the barriers that can be addressed?

There is a demand for custom fitting, optimized and functional geometries within healthcare. AM provides the perfect solution to manufacture these geometries and is already being used to fabricate devices, including hip, knee and spinal implants that are custom-designed and made to stock.

Other healthcare examples of 3D printing include patient-specific personalized hearing aids, dental implants, orthotic insoles, and custom prosthetics. However, on closer analysis, almost all Class 3 invitro applications of 3D Printing use metallic AM processes, with polymer processes typically being used for Class I and II devices. The limited use of polymeric 3D printing for invitro devices is both a function of the available material and the medical certification process.

To be certified, a medical device must gain ISO10993 approval. ISO10993 has 23 parts, and though the level of rigor varies according to the device involved, even the least stringent tests are expensive and timeconsuming. Moreover, for a medical device to be certified, it must be manufactured against Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), using guidelines laid down by a recognized regulatory body. This is where material jetting could provide advantages over open vat photocurable processes.

In open vat SLA and DLP, the use of finely controlled, low power light sources tends to lead to a lower degree of cure, requiring a post-curing irradiation phase. In this phase, there is a limit to how far light can penetrate the part and guarantee curing. This means that toxic and unwanted uncured material can remain in the part, which could then

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SHOWN: COMMERCIAL MATERIAL JETTING 3D PRINTING SYSTEM @ ADDED SCIENTIFIC LTD, NOTTINGHAM

leach into the body. Post-curing also adds a secondary manufacturing step, which must be controlled, monitored and documented within the GMP. By contrast, in material jetting, each layer is irradiated with a non-specific and powerful light source. This leads to a high degree of cure throughout the part, independent of geometry.

Material jetting solutions also have a material handling architecture that is closed and less prone to contamination from foreign bodies. Unlike open vat SLA and DLP systems, jetting systems rely on a material being supplied in a sealed cartridge. This approach provides both an increased level of material traceability and a significantly lower chance of contamination. Again, simplifying the GMP process.

However, the most compelling advantage of material jetting for healthcare applications is the promise of multimaterial 3D printing. Multiple jetting heads can be added to a printer to incorporate different active polymers or functional compounds. These multi-materials can make mechanically graded structures, electrically conductive devices, and even pharmaceutical products with improved drug delivery. Imagine incorporating

[COPYRIGHT: ADDED SCIENTIFIC]

“These step changes in innovation can only be achieved using material jetting.” electrical heaters or sensors into the printed device or simply the ability to vary the hardness and softness of a device through its geometry. Moreover, imagine being able to add pharmaceuticals into a medical device, with the drug being slowly released into the body after the device has been implanted. These step changes in innovation can only be achieved using material jetting.

As more companies bring material jetting solutions to market, we can expect to see the technology finding some new and innovative healthcare applications. However, there will always be a requirement for many healthcare applications to develop and build bespoke hardware and materials solutions.

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