PROCESS EQUIPMENT UPDATE
Magnifi ed image of part in Fig.1; a fl uid mixer fabricated out of PEEK material. Note the fi ne surface contrast created by the layer-on-layer deposition of PEEK material
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here persists some level of ambivalence in industry regarding the deployment of 3D printed parts for end-use applications. A key reason for this hesitation is the notion that 3D printing technology is still not
considered ripe as a manufacturing tool. Even for high- end metal processing systems, the industrial attitude is still one of caution; and that’s driven by diff erent factors including but not limited to media reports, material, metrology, quality assurance, access to the technology and the general lack of comprehensive data to support the technology. It therefore goes without saying that there is a need to provide industry with supportive data as well as demonstrated manufacturing ability to 3D print parts that meet design specifi cations. Industry needs to accept that additive manufacturing
tools such as 3D printing technologies are instruments technically endowed to handle mainly tasks involving low- volume rapid manufacturing and mass customisation. The key advantage of enterprise 3D printing is to produce the fi rst real parts at low cost - and also shorten the overall time from concept design to part deployment. In view of these facts, materials as well as part quality
must play a central role in our quest at persuading industry to embrace the manufacturing-preparedness of 3D printing technologies. The ability to 3D print materials – such as polyether
ether ketone (PEEK) – that meet extremely demanding engineering requirements (high mechanical toughness, corrosion resistance, wear resistance, chemical inertness and UV resistance) is a unique manufacturing opportunity. Functional and structural part designs that have geometries of complexities diffi cult to create using conventional manufacturing methods (such as injection moulding and CNC milling) can now be fabricated using 3D printers employing the barest minimum production steps.
PRACTICE-BASED EXAMPLES The diagram shown in Fig.1a, b illustrates a PEEK part fabricated using an Apium P 155 3D printer then fi tted with metallic connection nozzles in a post print step. This printer has been especially designed for processing high-temperature polymeric materials. Its mechanical performance together with the software that makes it possible to generate and precisely execute the printing plan have been extensively tested to guarantee PEEK parts of high quality. The part in Fig.1 is a prototype multi-channel mixing column printed in section to reveal internal features. It has a surface structure as well as internal walls characterised by fi ne interfaces created by the layer-on-layer deposition of PEEK melt on stress-free surfaces of solid PEEK. Edge zones of the part are well defi ned, confi rming the nature of fl uid mechanics that precedes the melt solidifi cation process. Clearly the phase
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