the material hugely reduce the number of options. He said that for the MX6-R project the team needed a material that ‘needs to be light, so that’s all the steel’s gone; it’s got to take certain stresses, so that’s all the aluminium gone. It’s still in its infancy and they [AM manufacturers] are still developing the materials and their understanding of the machines.’ Williams noted that there’s a lack
very high-performance, so the geometries may have to be thicker. Also the heat treatments are potentially problematic.’ However, titanium is expensive
and the AM machines aren’t cheap either. Williams said: ‘The major drawback is the cost of the machine that grows the components, and the cost of the materials. Post processing costs are relatively low; the fixturing is often low in cost as well. The big thing to get over is the length of time that the machine needs to build the part, and the amount of material used to do so. These are inherently linked. I don’t think that anybody today knows the answer to get around these issues.’ Williams said that the number of
materials that can be processed is quoted to be around 400. He said that, realistically, when designing a functional piece, that this is not the case because the requirements of
of standardisation in additive manufacturing – since, often, the powder materials are developed for particular AM machines. He commented: ‘Everybody is trying to develop machines that are commercially viable, but a lot of it is still quite cloak and dagger. A lot of the stuff they are manufacturing is covered by disclosure agreements and the components are sensitive. This is part of why we have been so successful with the marketing of this project, because we have been so open.’ He continued: ‘Doing the bike project has allowed everyone to see what can be done. That’s not to say that this is the best way to do it, we are just having a go.’ The other hurdle that needs to be
materials that can be processed is quoted to be around 400
The number of
overcome, in Williams’ opinion, is in the design process, as components should be designed specifically for additive manufacturing. ‘They [parts] are often designed in the traditional way, but grown on an AM machine, and you don’t really want to do that,’ he said. ‘Sections need to be very thin wherever possible because of the heat stresses, you need to try and use small
radiuses so that it will self-support, and you need to try and grow the part without overhangs so you don’t need support structures.’ With AM in its infancy, there is a lot
of testing and research needed to realise the full potential of the technology. It is projects like these though that
will further AM and show the potential for making metal parts with additive machines.
www.lasersystemseurope.com | @lasersystemsmag
NEXT LASER SAFETY TRAINING COURSE: 8-9 October 2014 (Milton Keynes)
Empire Cycles/Renishaw
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57