REPORT: SPIE PHOTONICS WEST


CALIFORNIA BEAMING


Matthew Dale reports from an industry session on additive manufacturing, where a panel of experts discussed the technology’s potential for industrial production


A


dditive manufacturing (AM) is moving closer towards being used for industrial manufacturing, and several developments in 2018 have helped it move further in this


direction, panellists commented during Photonics West’s AM industry session in February. However, to improve uptake of the technology, certain challenges need to be addressed, such as training more engineers in digital design, getting companies to change their approach to design, and standardising processes across vendors.


Converging developments Te panellists pointed to a number of ongoing developments in 2018 that are helping drive the technology further towards industrialisation. Ralf Kimmel, general manager of the Trumpf


laser division in North America, commented that the use of multiple lasers in additive manufacturing, the increasing size of parts being manufactured, the rise in the number of materials being qualified for additive manufacturing, and the improved consistency in quality being achieved over the build plate, are all examples of development steps happening within the sector. For him though, one of the most important ongoing developments is that additive manufacturing is getting more and more mature as a technology. ‘We are finding additive manufacturing design engineers now, the market is able to think additive more and more,’ he said. Behrang Poorganji, director of materials technology at GE Additive, noted how existing


8 LASER SYSTEMS EUROPE ISSUE 42 • SPRING 2019 Metal additive manufacturing is now being used to produce parts with optimised structures in series


has not reached a level where it could be competitive in a wide range of applications


Cost per part


technology – such as sensors for in-situ monitoring, artificial intelligence and machine learning – is being applied more to improve the technology: ‘Now, we are realising more and more the reality and challenges of additive. Te good news is that technology has developed with a fast pace, which is helping us overcome these challenges.’ He also described that the number of parts now being certified for using in industries such as aviation, automotive and medical is increasing, which is helping the additive manufacturing sector grow. Both Poorganji and Lynn Sheehan


of Allagi – a start-up that develops metrology and inspection solutions for additive manufacturing – agreed that HP’s announcement of its Metal Jet technology towards the end of last year was a significant development in the field. HP claims that this new


technology is up to 50 times more productive than competitive binder jetting and selective laser melting solutions when producing up to 100,000 parts in series. Te new system is able to produce multiple parts simultaneously, or produce larger parts, with a binder jetting build size of 430 x 320 x 200mm. It builds in a 1,200 x 1,200 voxel grid with layer thicknesses between 50 and 100µm.


Sheehan added that another interesting


development he saw in 2018 was evidence of 3D printing entering the consumer market, referring to wholesale firm Costco offering shoppers the option of having their feet scanned and a pair of custom insoles printed by firm Resa Wearables in less than an hour. Examples such as this are evidence of how


developments in the additive sector are converging to drive the technology towards industrialisation. Melissa Orme, CTO of California-based additive firm Morf3D, added that converging can also be seen in the factories now being established by entities such as Siemens, which opened up its £27 million 3D printing facility for its subsidiary Materials Solutions last year, and in the mergers and acquisitions taking place, such as Carpenter Technologies’ $81 million acquisition of LPW Technology towards the end of last year. ‘Tere has been more investment capital into additive manufacturing this year than ever before,’ she commented.


Barriers against broader adoption While the evidence suggests that additive manufacturing is being driven towards industrialisation, a number of barriers to further technology adoption were identified by the panel.


@lasersystemsmag | www.lasersystemseurope.com


BMW


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