Wednesday, April 20, 2022

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3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing

3D Printing News Briefs, April 20, 2022: Funding, Spare Parts, & More

Posted: 20 Apr 2022 06:30 AM PDT

Additive Marking has reported a successful investment round, while PharmE3D Labs received federal funding for 3D printed contraception research. This starts off today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, and then we’ll move right into the VA’s work pioneering new medical 3D printing uses for prosthetics care. Together, Starfleet Innotech and Luyten will make their entrance into the $19 million global 3D printed construction market. Finally, a glass manufacturer is 3D printing spare parts using Sintratec’s solution.

Additive Marking Speeds Up Growth with Investment Round

Startup Additive Marking GmbH, together with the HAVER Business Angel Group and Archimedes New Ventures GmbH, announced the closing of a successful six-digit financing round to help accelerate its growth. Speaking of growth, the market for 3D printed products isn’t slowing down, which means that the need for secure solutions to protect and identify components is also growing. Additive Marking offers a patent-pending process that can generate machine-readable codes on a product during the 3D printing process, which makes it traceable and tamper-proof. Additionally, helpful information can be linked to the component as well. This method is more reliable and economical, and faster, than other direct marking methods like engraving, needle embossing, and laser marking. With this additional investment, the company will be able to increase its sales activities and grow its project and consulting capacities.

Additive Marking CEO & Founder Dr. Ulrich Jahnke said, “In addition to the fresh capital, which enables us to open up new markets, we benefit in particular from the know-how within the circle of shareholders.”

UT Austin’s PharmE3D Labs Receive Federal Grant for 3D Printed IUDs

Some members of the IUD project team: Dr. Jaidev Chakka, Anqi Lu, Jiawei Wang, and Dr. Niloofar Heshmati.

The Pharmaceutical Engineering and 3D Printing Labs (PharmE3D) at the University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy announced that it will be developing personalized 3D printed non-hormonal intrauterine devices, or IUDs, thanks to a federal grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project is in collaboration with Contraceptive Research and Development (CONRAD), which was set up under a cooperative agreement with Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) and USAID, and the goal is to increase global access to effective, long-term contraception, while at the same time reducing some its bad side effects. Commercial IUDs, while extremely effective against pregnancy, can increase cramping and menstrual flow, which results in roughly 10-13% of users having them removed within a year. That’s why PharmE3D Labs wants to use an optimized 3D printing process its researchers developed to produce personalized IUDs, which will hopefully get past some of these issues.

“This USAID grant has potential to make a significant impact on women's reproductive health in the developing world. Our collaboration with CONRAD and EVMS has been fruitful at the further development of 3D printing technologies to tackle global health issues and healthcare access,” said Dr. Mo Maniruzzaman, an assistant professor in the college's Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery and the leader of PharmE3D.

VA Announces New Medical 3D Printing Applications for Prosthetics

Photo Credit: Department of Veterans Affairs

Development teams in the Department of Veterans Affairs have introduced new medical 3D printing applications that will help provide advanced prosthetics care. This has long been a priority in the agency’s medical device research, and represents one of the earliest examples of the VA merging research goals with its 3D printing network. At the recent FDA 3D Printing Virtual Workshop, technologists from the Veterans Health Administration and joint Defense Department/VA 3D Printing Consortium showcased some 3D printed prosthetic device prototypes, many of which were designed for veterans who suffered either partial or total limb loss at a younger age but still want to remain active and mobile, doing physically demanding things like lifting weights. Continuity of care was also considered, as these veterans will continue to need prosthetics help as they age, as well as customized and adaptable prosthetics.

“In the military, you’re dealing with a different type of patient. You have these young, active individuals that want to take part in complex activities. They just don’t want to be able to walk down the street. They want to be able to run, they want to be able to climb mountains, climb rock walls, play ice hockey, play sled hockey, whatever they want to do,” explained Peter Liacouras, director of the joint VA-DOD 3D Medical Applications Center at Walter Reed.

“These amputees within the DOD then go on to the Veterans Affairs health care system, and you want to care for these amputees over time. It’s not just a one-day event, you have to care for these amputees for the rest of their lives. Some of these individuals are very young — 20s or 30s — and they want to take place in these complex activities for many more years. So you have to look at all these different applications.”

Starfleet Innotech & Luyten Partner to Enter 3D Printing Construction

Moving on, global investment holding company Starfleet Innotech, Inc. (SFIO) is partnering with additive construction equipment and technology manufacturing startup Luyten in an exclusive agreement to enter the $19 million global 3D printing construction market together. Premiere wellness tourism brand Moraya leads SFIO’s real estate division, and Luyten will now be a big part of championing its mission of wellness through innovation. As part of this strategic partnership, the startup will provide the necessary materials and construction machinery to grow SFIO’s real estate developments in the Philippines—where many Moraya developments will go—in order to build a more equitable, sustainable future for community living. SIFO will have exclusive distribution rights to Luyten’s 3D printing systems in the Philippines, and projects that it will sell at least 50 units of concrete 3D printers to other organizations and developers in the next year. Another result of the partnership will be 500 low-cost housing units built across the Philippines in the next two years.

“Our partnership with Luyten stems from our commitment to invest in the futures of the industries we operate in. Joining Moraya's divisional ecosystem, Luyten will play a key role as an enabler for our various real estate initiatives. Their affordable, sustainable offerings will allow us to build exciting projects that champion both the new communities we hope to build, as well as the existing communities we hope to serve,” said Starfleet Innotech’s CEO Jeths Lacson.

LiSEC Using 3D Printing to Advance its Glass Processing

A bending test rig 3D printed on the S2

Finally, all-in-one flat glass processing and finishing solutions provider LiSEC is using 3D printing to produce its machinery, including components, prototypes, and spare parts. Last year, the Austria-based company invested in an S2 selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D printer from Sintratec, with its better surface finish, in order to meet increasing demands at the company’s factory. The company uses the S2 almost daily to print medium-sized production parts and prototypes out of PA12; one example is a bending test rig, which is used to measure the force needed to deform an aluminum frame. Benjamin Kaubeck, who leads the apprentice workshop at LiSEC’s headquarters, and his team of instructors are convinced that the industrial 3D printing solution is a great idea.

Kaubeck said, “Our vision is to stay at the cutting edge of technology with apprentice training and to establish a department with ever new technologies.

“With the SLS process, we produce a lot of spare parts, which allows us to support our customers faster – and that is our main goal.

“We are positively surprised by the Sintratec technology and very enthusiastic about the cylindrical build volume as well as the handling of the machine.”

The post 3D Printing News Briefs, April 20, 2022: Funding, Spare Parts, & More appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

French DARPA to Drive Automated 2D-to-3D 3D Printing Software

Posted: 20 Apr 2022 06:00 AM PDT

The French Defense Innovation Agency, along with Spare Parts 3D and the University for Research in Automated Production (LURPA) at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) Paris-Sarclay, have announced that they've begun a joint R&D project. The three-year project is named "RAPID", not to be confused with North America's largest 3D printing event. The goal of RAPID will be to use Spare Parts' proprietary DigiPART platform to create a software solution capable of automated reconstruction of 2D drawings, combined with brief written product descriptions, into printable 3D models.

In a press release, the deputy director of LURPA, Nabil Anwer, explained, "The reconstruction of 3D models from technical drawings is a real challenge for which the combination of digital geometry processing techniques, expert and deep learning algorithms will pave the way for considerable breakthrough in the creation of digital inventories." Christophe Migliorini, Spare Parts 3D's chief technology officer (CTO), noted, "Thanks to this program, we have set up a team at the forefront of technology for the development of this fundamental software module. This will strengthen the attractiveness of our DigiPART solution and consolidate our leadership in the identification of parts for additive manufacturing."

Image courtesy of Spare Parts 3D

Based in Singapore with offices in Paris, Spare Parts 3D was founded in 2015. The company's aforementioned in-house software, DigiPART, employs algorithms to combine semantic recognition and the reading of 2D plans, with material databases and AM techniques, in order to help customers create the most economical and effective digital supply chains. On the user-end, DigiPART has three main components: IDENTIFY, CATALOG, and PRINT. As the labels suggest, "IDENTIFY" assesses the potential for 3D-printing customers' parts, "CATALOG" creates a digital inventory for those parts, and "PRINT" connects customers with the best matches for local 3D-printing services.

Image courtesy of Spare Parts 3D.

The French Defense Innovation Agency was created in 2018, became operational in 2019, and has an expected 2022 budget of €1 billion (currently about $1.079 billion). The agency considers itself something of a "French DARPA" — referring of course to the U.S. military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — and was created after the EU scuttled French President Macron's pet project of creating a European DARPA. It is headed by Emmanuel Chiva, a specialist in AI and military simulation.

LURPA, founded at ENS Paris-Sarclay in 1981, has two main divisions, both of which do work highly relevant to the RAPID project. The Geo3D team researches "the three-dimensional geometry of parts and mechanisms", while the Automated Systems Engineering team studies Discrete Event Dynamics Systems (DEDS). DEDS modeling and simulation is increasingly important to the field of industrial engineering — among other reasons, because it's crucial to the development and optimization of workflow management software platforms.

Various software tools that transform 2D drawings into printable 3D models have existed for some time. For instance, ZVerse, one of the most well-known company in this space, launched an earlier version of its LAYR software in 2015. In recent years, the evolution of these tools, as with the industry as a whole, has been towards greater automation, as discussed in the "Automation, Additive Manufacturing and the Factory of the Future” report from SmarTech Analysis. Like the 3D-printing sector overall, this type of software has improved in recent years. A project like this could be coming along at exactly the right time to push the tech even further. Finally, it also shows how serious all the world's militaries — and not just those of the U.S. and China — are about taking control of their nations' critical emerging technologies (CETs).

The post French DARPA to Drive Automated 2D-to-3D 3D Printing Software appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

The Top 10 3D Printing Venture Capital Funds and Investors

Posted: 20 Apr 2022 05:30 AM PDT

If you're anything like me, then you endlessly come up with business ideas that you think could really be worthwhile. For instance, what about an advanced AI that will create any media you dictate on command (e.g., "Siri, please curate an episode of Friends in which all of the characters are played by the cast of Seinfeld!")? All that's missing to bring your amazing concept into the real world is the necessary funding.

To help you get your idea off the ground, we are exploring the world of capital funding, specifically with a focus on additive manufacturing (AM). With that in mind, we will begin our series with 3D printing-specific venture capital funds. Not all of the players on this list are entirely dedicated to the technology, but they either have enough of a role in the AM industry or dedicate enough funds to 3D printing that they're worth including.

The post The Top 10 3D Printing Venture Capital Funds and Investors appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Hypersonics Take Flight: NASA’s New Metal 3D Printing Alloy Takes 1000°C Heat

Posted: 20 Apr 2022 05:00 AM PDT

Key to the function of proposed hypersonic vehicles, which have proven challenging to the U.S., are high-temperature materials, such as metals oxygen dispersion strengthened (ODS) metals and ceramics. ODS materials are able to withstand reentry forces and hypersonic speeds very well compared to other materials, making them important for space capsules, reusable rockets and hypersonic glide vehicles. But even beyond hypersonics, heat-resistant materials are key to rocket and jet engine performance, as running the engine hotter in order to gain fuel efficiency.

Therefore, it’s more than timely that NASA has released an ODS alloy it calls GRX-810 that can withstand temperatures over 1000°C. The malleable metal has been created for rocket and turbine engines, with applications in launch vehicles, ICBMs, missiles, commercial jet engines, hypersonics and much more. It also follows on from other groundbreaking work at NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory, such as GRCo-84 copper alloy, for engines, as well.

NASA points out that GRX-810 has,

  • ¨Twice the strength to resist fracturing
  • Three and a half times the flexibility to stretch/bend prior to fracturing
  • More than 1,000 times the durability under stress at high temperatures”

"The nanoscale oxide particles convey the incredible performance benefits of this alloy. This breakthrough is revolutionary for materials development. New types of stronger and more lightweight materials play a key role as NASA aims to change the future of flight. Previously, an increase in tensile strength usually lowered a material's ability to stretch and bend before breaking, which is why our new alloy is remarkable,” said Dale Hopkins, deputy project manager of NASA's Transformational Tools and Technologies project at NASA Glenn.

The news is doubly interesting for the additive manufacturing (AM) industry due to the fact that not only is the alloy an interesting candidate for 3D printing but it was created with AM, as well. NASA used 3D printing to “uniformly disperse nanoscale oxides throughout the alloy, which provides improved high-temperature properties and durable performance.”

Based on target calculations, this allows NASA to make GRX-810 in a manner that is lower cost and more controllable than normally possible. Traditionally, ball milling is used to make ODS materials. However, with 3D printing and methods like electrostatic deposition, it’s possible to design ODS feedstock that have a higher performance than those made with other methods. In effect, 3D printing can render these materials more versatile and make it easier for an engineer to design them as the engineer wishes them to be.

What’s more the agency was able to do this quickly. Hopkins said, “What used to take years through a trial-and-error process, now takes a matter of weeks or months to make discoveries.” In addition to 3D printing, what really accelerated NASA’s creation of GRX-810 was thermodynamic modeling, in which computational thermodynamics is used to model and predict energy systems, combustion, and the development of suitable alloys. This development has been underway for many decades now and NASA is sure to have used it extensively, as would other government agencies such as Sandia National Laboratory.

"Applying these two processes has drastically accelerated the rate of our materials development. We can now produce new materials faster and with better performance than before," said NASA material scientist Tim Smith.

What NASA is demonstrating is a material that fulfills what a number of researchers have been dreaming about for a while now. What’s more, the agency could very well have come up with a method to develop many more tailored materials much more quickly than it has before.

3D printing again comes to the rescue in a key area of the hypersonics race: trying to develop the right materials for hypersonic glide vehicles, particular for engine and skin components. However, rather than just being a production technology, AM is acting as a materials discovery tool. 3D printing had previously been used to create unique microstructures and macrostructures, but now it can design the material itself before designing the structure and part later on. This could mean that AM could become a materials development platform and that the design of a precise material for a precise application could go much further than many of us thought that it would.

The post Hypersonics Take Flight: NASA’s New Metal 3D Printing Alloy Takes 1000°C Heat appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

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