3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing |
- BMW Creates Fully Automated Production Lines for 3D Printed Car Parts
- Jabil Captures Carbon with New PK 5000 3D Printing Material
- DED Metal 3D Printing Study Reduces Errors in Functionally Graded Materials
- 3D Printing News Briefs, May 26, 2022: Filaments & Ink, Cultural Artifacts, & More
- The Benefit of 3D Printing for Engines in Motorsports
| BMW Creates Fully Automated Production Lines for 3D Printed Car Parts Posted: 26 May 2022 06:30 AM PDT Three years ago, 12 companies and research institutions working at the intersection of the German automotive and additive manufacturing (AM) industries formed a consortium for the purpose of completing a project called IDAM: the Industrialization and Digitalization of Additive Manufacturing. The goal of the project — which was led by BMW Group, and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) — was nothing less than "to revolutionize metal 3D printing in standard production of cars."  BMW announced on Tuesday, May 24, that the project had been successfully implemented. Success in this case entails two fully automated, 3D printed automotive production lines now being ready for operation: one at the BMW Group AM Campus in Oberschleißheim, a suburb of Munich, and the other at the GKN Metallurgy division plant in Bonn, Switzerland, owned by the U.K.-based automotive and aerospace components multinational, GKN Ltd.
 By utilizing systems made up of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) platforms, combined with AI and robotics, that it has developed, the IDAM consortium can print 50,000 series parts a year, as well as 10,000 new and individual parts. Opened in 2020, BMW's campus at Oberschleißheim has 50 3D printers for both metal and plastics. Aside from investing in a variety of 3D printing startups, including Desktop Metal and Xometry, the company also employs HP MultiJet Fusion (MJF) and EOS machines, among other brands. BMW has been using 3D printing in its production lines for about 30 years, and prior to announcing the €15 million AM Campus in 2019, the company had already produced 1,000,000 3D printed parts. Considering that 3D printing for the automotive industry in general is moving towards series production, the IDAM consortium is obviously at the cutting edge of automation in car manufacturing. Given its being so ahead-of-the-curve on such a critical industry-wide shift, BMW is perfectly poised to continue meeting its financial expectations amidst recession worries and supply chain breakdowns.  According to BMW, the company ships "7,000 containers with a total of 31 million components" everyday. In that sense, then, 60,000 printed parts, in the scope of BMW's whole operations, doesn't seem like much. On the other hand, from the perspective of the AM sector, the IDAM project conveys a very clear message as to what "scale-up" — the main objective of the phase the industry has just entered — will truly look like. It's unlikely, for the near future, that any automotive company will 3D print a majority or even a significant minority of the new parts for any model. What is likely is that over the next five to ten years, BMW could put an AM Campus in every one of the 15 countries where it operates. It's similarly likely that an increasing number of critical parts, with long lead times and unreliable supply chains, will be produced with 3D printing.  Image courtesy of SmarTech Analysis. Thus, the success of this one project could realistically mean hundreds of machine orders over the next decade from BMW alone, not to mention the cost of service contracts and software and materials. Moreover, assuming the success of the project, it will likely have further positive impact on the AM sector, in the form of the emulation of what BMW is doing by other automakers. This would reflect the projections of SmarTech Analysis, which determined in the release of its most recent market data services report, that 3D printing for the auto industry will grow at a rate of 19.1 percent from 2021 to 2030. All of this begins to hint at how dependent the industry will be, if it's going to continue to successfully scale-up, on the successful long-term increase of AM's role in auto supply chains. Images courtesy of BMW Press The post BMW Creates Fully Automated Production Lines for 3D Printed Car Parts appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. |
| Jabil Captures Carbon with New PK 5000 3D Printing Material Posted: 26 May 2022 06:00 AM PDT Jabil (NYSE: JBL) has long been in the 3D printing space. In fact, it's probably been in additive manufacturing (AM) longer than many of us even know. That's because, as a manufacturing services provider, the $29.3 billion firm is involved in making the parts for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). It was not only one of the first development partners for HP's Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) technology, but it continues to produce parts for MJF systems today. But it was with the creation of MJF when Jabil really threw its hat in the ring. It now runs a fleet of over 100 industrial 3D printers for its manufacturing operations globally, performs research in a lab equipped with just about all of the cutting edge AM machines you can imagine, and operates a materials development facility that engineers additive feedstocks for customers "from beaker to box."  Six HP Jet Fusion 4210 3D printers at Jabil's Singapore facility being used for high-volume production, including making functional parts for HP's 300/500 printers Image courtesy of Jabil. All of this and more was discussed with 3DPrint.com at RAPID+TCT 2022, as Jabil launched a new 3D printing material: PK 5000. We sat down with Jabil Additive's Matt Torosian, Director of Product Management, and Luke Rodgers, Senior Research and Development Director, who not only discussed the latest product but elucidated the company's role in the 3D printing space. PK 5000As it stands, selective laser sintering (SLS) in particular is extremely limited to the variety of plastics that can be used. Typically, users are left with some form of polyamide (nylon/PA): PA12, 11, or six that may be mixed with another material, like carbon or glass fiber to provide additional capabilities. Pitched as an attractive alternative to PA, PK 5000 is the first polyketone product available for 3D printing. While it offers physical strength similar to the ubiquitous PA12, it has the toughness and elongation of PA11, the machinability and wear resistance of polyoxymethylene (acetal/POM), and the chemical resistance of polyolefin.  A fluid connector and dovetail 3D printed with PK 5000 from Jabil. Image courtesy of Jabil. Unlike nylon, the material remains stable across many environments, humid or dry. So, it won't absorb the moisture from the air and become soft or overly brittle in dry air. And it maintains its size, as well, so that it doesn't lose the dimensional accuracy with which it was originally printed once it's in operation. Additionally, it can resist acids and other chemicals that might negatively affect a polyamide. The Jabil team used sodas as an example.
For clarity, polyketone is not to be confused with the polyaryletherketone (PAEK) family of plastics, such as polyether ketone ketone (PEKK) and polyether ether ketone (PEEK). Those in the additive community are familiar with these for their use in aerospace and oil and gas, due to their high strength and chemical resistance. PAEK materials are a bit like PK on steroids, in that they are stronger and more chemical resistant, with inherent flame retardant properties. However, PAEK is also extremely expensive. PK is cheaper than both the PAEK polymers and polyamides. Designing Materials with Sustainability in MindInterestingly, the product also plays a small role in carbon sequestration. To make its polymer, Jabil relies on carbon monoxide(CO) captured via industrial processes, such as the manufacturing of steel, and polymerizes that CO into the polymer backbone, thereby sequestering the CO into a solid form. As a result, PK 5000 can reduce carbon footprint by up to 60% when compared to PA12.  Tensile strength testing a coupon at Jabil. The material fits into larger sustainability initiatives the company engages in with customers. Within materials engineering, Jabil will look at either side of the material pipeline: resource management and waste management, the beginning and end of a material's life. The former relates to where a feedstock comes from: a renewable source, fossil fuels, or both. The latter is associated with whether the material can be recycled, potentially composted—either in an industrial facility (like PLA) or in a consumer's home—or fully biodegradable so that, in the event that the product winds up in the environment, it will safely decompose.
As an example, Rodgers described an electronics product that might be made out of a traditionally recyclable plastic, like ABS. However, if a company incorporates something like silicone padding into it, it immediately becomes difficult to recycle. By designing with the product's end of life in mind, more responsible and sustainable decisions can be made.
Jabil as Solutions ProviderWhereas, in the past, Jabil may have been described as a contract manufacturer, the company is now presenting itself as something more. Contract manufacturing almost has a subservient connotation, wherein the company is working for an OEM to make their product. In reality, Jabil is a solutions partner that collaborates with a customer along every step of the production workflow. The firm's Materials Innovation Center is a good demonstration of this. With its "beaker to box" concept, Jabil is working on a product at its most basic, chemical level. The company engineers a formulation for the manufacturing process deemed most appropriate for a given application. However, Jabil can also help design components and then manufacture them, as is the case with HP's MJF systems. As for PK 5000, this is an interesting move by the company, given the fact that it is not inherently a materials company. Nonetheless, it does dovetail with its mission as a solutions provider. Several OEMs, including EOS, Farsoon and 3D Systems, are already taking on the new material, as are internal Jabil customers. Depending on its success, it's likely that there will be even wider adoption and, in turn, we'll see even more materials coming from Jabil in the future. The post Jabil Captures Carbon with New PK 5000 3D Printing Material appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. |
| DED Metal 3D Printing Study Reduces Errors in Functionally Graded Materials Posted: 26 May 2022 05:30 AM PDT In a new paper ¨Defect of functionally graded material of inconel 718 and STS 316L fabricated by directed energy deposition and its effect on mechanical properties,” researchers from the Korea Maritime & Ocean University in Busan looked at how to reduce defects in functionally graded materials (FGMs). FGMs are used to make parts properties that change throughout their geometries by mixing different materials, changing how they crystallize or how they are arranged. This means that, within a single printed object, you could create an iPhone case which is rigid, soft, hard, and flexible at different points. We’re not really sure right now what FGMs can do for us or how widely they will be used in 3D printing going forward. However, we can be sure that this will lead to new applications, if all the kinks are ironed out. One of these kinks is the lack of process control generally and errors in components. The Korean team has now looked into controlling the mixture of different materials at different ratios to see where errors occur. What’s really cool is that they did this for directed energy deposition (DED) which has seen a lot less attention than powder bed fusion (PBF) in research circles. In this case, they looked at the interface layers between different materials, 316 (L) stainless steel and Inconel 718. Between layers, cracks and defects can appear and, ideally, the right mix of materials relative to one another can reduce this. 
The team used an Optomec LENS system for its experiment, building a series of parts and playing with the gradients, as well as laser power and feed rate. They created components whereby the steel was printed on the Inconel, with graded variants mixed in at 10% and 25%. In the sample without a gradient, cracks formed between the two materials. In contrast, the graded samples “had cracks only in specific regions due to 'columnar-to-equitaxial transition' (a transition in the microstructure of the FGM), precipitation, or the inclusion of titanium, aluminium or chromium impurities.” Meanwhile, the 25% graded sample “showed the highest tensile strength and elongation.” 
 Now, the team will look at geometries and how they affect their results. DED is always seen as a very rough technology. I half jokingly call it metal Cheez Whiz. Lack of control over temperatures and airflows, as well as rough layers, mean the process often needs a lot of machining and cannot build the most complex parts. However, PBF is limited by chamber size, making large, meter-long parts very expensive. Meanwhile, large binder jet parts warp or collapse under their own weight in their green state. DED is really our best bet for creating very large structural parts of several meters or more. The kind of work performed by the Korean team could advance DED to the point where it becomes a more viable production technology. The post DED Metal 3D Printing Study Reduces Errors in Functionally Graded Materials appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. |
| 3D Printing News Briefs, May 26, 2022: Filaments & Ink, Cultural Artifacts, & More Posted: 26 May 2022 05:00 AM PDT In 3D Printing News Briefs today, we’ll be sharing some material news, followed by a new 3D printing-focused product line, and finally onto cultural heritage. First, Braskem has released three new sustainable 3D printing filaments, and Mapei Corp. branded and released a cement-based 3D printing ink with partner Black Buffalo. Nippon Gases has a new AM-focused gas product line. Finally, 3D printing is being used to help return cultural artifacts to a southern Alaska tribe. Braskem’s First Sustainable 3D Printing Filament Lineup Recycled Polyolefin Filament with Carbon Fiber Biopolymer producer Braskem released a line of new sustainable 3D printing filament products, all three of which were displayed at last week’s RAPID + TCT in Detroit. According to Jason Vagnozzi, the company’s Global Commercial Director of Additive Manufacturing, these new filaments confirm Braskem’s “commitment to a more circular, carbon neutral future.” All three come in diameters of 1.75 mm and 2.85 mm. The first of these three new materials is FL600EVA-BIO, a bio-based ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) filament that’s derived from raw sugarcane and can be used to print flexible, lightweight parts for consumer, packaging, and industrial applications. It features 94 Shore A hardness, low density and warpage, excellent surface finish and bed adhesion, and high dimensional stability. FL600R is a recycled, environmentally-friendly polyolefin filament that’s mainly sourced from recycled bottle caps, but has the same low density and high resistance to chemicals, impact, and water that virgin polyethylene and polypropylene-based materials offer. The lightweight, recycled PE/PP blend features high ductility and dimensional stability, low warpage and great surface finish, and is compatible with Creality, Ultimaker, and other similar AM equipment. It also offers great bed adhesion, and can be used for rapid prototyping and mass customization, in addition to automotive, packaging, consumer, and industrial applications. Finally, the engineering-grade FL605R-CF polymer, also consisting mainly of recycled bottle caps, is an environmentally-friendly PE/PP blend that offers extra strength and durability thanks to recycled carbon fiber. With its high strength and stiffness, this filament features high dimensional stability and surface finish, low density and warpage, and high chemical resistance, and is good for designing rigid, lightweight parts. Mapei & Black Buffalo Release Cement-Based 3D Printing Ink/Mortar
3D construction company Black Buffalo 3D and admixture supplier Mapei Corp. recently formed a strategic research, development, and manufacturing partnership, and as a result, have branded and released a packaged, cement-based ink/mortar for 3D construction printing together. Part of Mapei’s Planitop product line, the new Planitop 3D meets acceptance criteria of the ICC-ES AC509 – 3D Automated Construction Technology for 3D Concrete Walls standard, and its fresh and cured properties were tested by Black Buffalo’s Nexcon printers, which fabricated demonstration structures during 13-hour cycles. The material launch comes soon after the announcement of a major project, as additive construction company Alquist 3D will use a Nexcon printer and the new Planitop 3D ink to create a 200-unit housing community in Virginia.
Nippon Gases Offering AM-Focused Gas Product Line Nippon Gases' 3DPro product offering Leading industrial and medical gas company Nippon Gases has introduced a new gas and equipment line for the AM industry through its 3DPro family of products. This new line is critically important for large batch part production, as companies can lose a lot of money if an entire build is ruined due to powder impurities. The new 3DPro Gas Line includes nitrogen, which is often used in PBF processes; argon; helium for EBM printing; and the Sanarc H3 mixture, which is required for binder jet and bound metal extrusion processes during post-print sintering. The 3DPro Dry Gas Tube offers three-layer protection—combining heat resistance, durability, and toughness—from air impurities, while 3DPro Link helps with the control management of gasses. The 3DPro Purifier consists of absorbent cartridges that retain pollutants and are installed in the machine gas inlet to prevent contamination in the distribution line. The 3DPro Cabinet helps protect and preserve metal powder from atmospheric contamination by getting rid of moisture and oxygen, and the 3DPro Recirc for PBF printing is a recirculation purification system that gets rid of laser-generated impurities.
3D Printed Replicas of Culturally Sensitive Tribal Artifacts L-R: A 3D printed model of a Tlingit frog clan helmet created by the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center sits next to the real Tlingit helmet. (Courtesy of the University of Maine) Finally, a team of artists and engineers from the University of Maine, along with the on-campus Hudson Museum, are creating and refining a 3D printed display replica of a cultural artifact—specifically the Tlingit Frog Clan Helmet—so the original can be returned to the Tlingit tribe in southern Alaska. The tribe’s central council filed a request for repatriation of the helmet, and seven other donated objects, and museum director Gretchen Faulkner worked with the Tlingit to gain approval for 3D printing the replica. Alex Cole and Jonathan Roy, research engineers at UMaine's Advanced Structures and Composites Center, have prior experience fabricating cultural objects, and scanned the original helmet to print a replica, complete with “all of its little flaws and details.” Later this summer, the Hudson Museum will hold a temporary exhibit that showcases how the 3D printed replica was created, and, after returning the original helmet, hopefully work to create replicas of the other Tlingit artifacts.
The post 3D Printing News Briefs, May 26, 2022: Filaments & Ink, Cultural Artifacts, & More appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. |
| The Benefit of 3D Printing for Engines in Motorsports Posted: 26 May 2022 04:30 AM PDT Probably most associated with Formula 1, auto racing is the fastest and one of the most technologically advanced sports in the world. Production technology for motorsports, in particular, is at the forefront of innovation in manufacturing techniques. In the course of joint development with motor racing manufacturers, industrial 3D printer manufacturer INTAMSYS has also become involved in advanced manufacturing processes, thus further confirming its competitive position in the additive market. Hartley Engines and Motorsport from New Zealand is a leading company designing, developing, and manufacturing high-end engines and components for motorsports and small car companies. Some of their achievements include many championship wins with their motorsports customers all over New Zealand and Australia, multiple land speed records at Bonneville (in a 1000cc Mini, of all things), and plenty of awards for innovation in motorsport engineering. Their flagship engines include their 10,000rpm, 1,000+HP V12, and their high RPM 'Formula 1 Inspired' quad-cam V8. In the past, their main business had always been the production of engines for top teams in high-level competitions, with most of their development being incredibly secretive and only for select customers. Recently, they made the move into supplying engine kits and development to other engine developers. They have also just started retailing more of their components to general consumers all over the world for use in their own projects. "We came to realize that we simply couldn't—or didn't want to build engines for every competitor. There simply aren't enough hours in a day. But we found we could supply a better service to everyone by making our range of components and development available to everybody," said Nelson Hartley, owner of Hartley Engines. One of Hartley Engines' strengths is its ability to very quickly design and develop products and get them ready for production. Their factory consists of 5-axis CNC mills, CNC lathes, Engine Dynos, and airflow testing equipment, just to name a few pieces of machinery. Recently, they made the move to the next level with the additive manufacturing of production parts.  Nelson Hartley (Right) discusses design ideas in the FUNMAT HT workshop Nelson and his team have been developing the use of 3D printed parts in their engines for several years, and although successful in testing, had a lot of trouble getting them to a point of being "production ready." "Very early on, I identified some serious benefits of using 3D printing. The material properties of some of the high-end polymers are seriously impressive and perfect for things like our intake manifolds and induction parts." Being designers and engineers, they have found novel ways of using printed parts alongside billet parts and carbon composite parts in what Nelson refers to as a "hybrid manufacturing method." While the COVID pandemic had an effect on their in-house production, one job on the list of Hartley Engines and Motorsport was to redesign the throttle bodies that were used on their intakes. The individual throttle bodies are a billet aluminum part, machined in-house, but the secret to their intakes are the 3D printed intake runners and trumpets. "The material we are using for our intake runners is a high-temperature nylon (PA), with 25% carbon fiber… The way PA-CF deals with temperature outperforms aluminum, it transfers heat very slowly, keeping our intake path very cool, aiding combustion once the cool air gets into the engine." "The added bonus of 3D printing our runners and trumpets is the design flexibility. We take the intake shape very seriously. It is not simply just a round hole machined into a piece of plate. We can 3D print extremely intricate curves and shapes that line up with the CAD models of our cylinder heads." Before receiving their first INTAMSYS FUNMAT HT, Hartley Engines' success rate of printing high-temperature polymers was about 15-20%. "We were wasting more prints than we could afford, and when some of the plastics cost upwards of $500/kg (plus freight to NZ), it was getting to the point of not being viable to print the parts. I knew it could be successful, but we just couldn't get it to work every time" "Since we took delivery of our first INTAMSYS FUNMAT HT, we have had a 95% success rate with our prints… I had a lot of people in the industry tell me that there was no way we could make production parts on a 3D printer, but the INTAMSYS has proven that wrong!"  Race engine using a hybrid of 3D printed parts, billet parts, & pre-preg carbon fiber parts Since purchasing their first INTAMSYS FUNMAT HT, Hartley Engines have since received its second machine, and are now building a dedicated additive manufacturing department in their workshop with intention of installing two to four more INTAMSYS FUNMAT HTs once it is ready. As their business grows, Hartley Engines and Motorsport is always facing the problem of getting parts to market as quickly as possible. Everything they make is unique and requires new approaches to solving problems. "Anyone who says that 3D printers are going to replace all CNC machines is lying, but, likewise, anyone who says you can't do production work on a cost-effective 3D printer like our INTAMSYS FUNMAT HT is being short-sighted" "Our INTAMSYS FUNMAT HT was literally 1/30th the cost of our 5-axis CNC machine, and the parts we are making on it are just as valuable to the consumer… So, even if the per-part time is much slower on the printer, I can afford to have multiple printers running at the same time in batch work. It actually becomes more efficient in some cases than setting up the CNC machines. Our return on investment has been extremely high!" As anybody who has worked in traditional manufacturing methods knows, setup and tooling are both expensive and time-consuming. "We used to spend hours setting up our machines and making tooling just to machine or fabricate one part. Now, all I have to do is heat up the INTAMSYS FUNMAT HT and press start. No tooling or setup required." 3D printing is also used for making the plenum for a turbo engine. Seen on the left of the below pictures is composite tooling for the part, first printed in a few segments, then joined together with the entire surface carefully polished. The one on the right is a final, high-performance product made out of the composite tooling after it went through the whole carbon fiber process of laying and curing. After using the INTAMSYS FUNMAT HT, Hartley Engines and Motorsport said they were already confident that the printed part would be very good but were amazed at the performance of it. Nelson said, "The quality of our high-temperature parts is amazing, and we are just starting to get into production with the parts we sell … We have been developing this for about 3-4 years, and since we got the INTAMSYS FUNMAT HT we have been able to solve 99% of the problems we were having before." Now with a bigger range of sizes, more space for linkages, and with faster production in mind, the next step is to get through the large list of intake manifolds and plena Hartley Engines and Motorsport is designing, using this new lean-manufacturing method they have developed. ABOUT INTAMSYSINTAMSYS 3D Printing All-in-One Solutions bear the ambition to make future lives fully customizable due to the infinity of possibilities the Additive Manufacturing Industry offers. Meeting the most demanding industrial standards, INTAMSYS 3D Printers are optimized for applications in industries as diverse as Automotive, Aerospace, Oil & Gas, Medical sector or even Education.
Contact: info@intamsys.com The post The Benefit of 3D Printing for Engines in Motorsports appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. |
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