The Taj Mahal [Image: UNESCO]

India is full of beautiful historic monuments, but it would be tough to see them all – it’s a big country. How convenient would it be if you could put several of them in one place? Convenient, sure, but not exactly feasible – or right. But with 3D technology, people can soon go to Delhi and explore 20 of India’s monuments for themselves, without ever leaving the city.

“By 3D printing we can create Taj Mahal, Ghats of Benares, Buddhist circuit and any heritage or any monument. So tourists coming in can see and decide what they like and where they want to go,” said Professor Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology (DST) while inaugurating an ASSOCHAM International Conference on Artificial Intelligence.

Along with 3D printing, which will allow visitors to see reproductions of the monuments, artificial intelligence and virtual reality will allow them to actually explore inside of them as though they were there in person. With help from a laser, visitors will be able to choose their own paths and will be given information from a virtual tour guide.

“You can stop, climb up, can change the perspective, or the sky be it morning or night sky as it depends on how you are going to view it,” said Sharma.

The Ghats of Banaras [Image: Wikimedia Commons]

Since it’s not always feasible to travel to visit numerous monuments in person, the technology can serve as a replacement, allowing visitors and tourists to see and explore the monuments all in one place. However, there’s nothing quite like physically visiting a famous, historic and beautiful place, so having so many of these monuments reproduced and readily available can help visitors to decide which of them they’d like to make the effort to travel to in person.

3D printing and 3D scanning technology have been used to reproduce historic monuments and works of art before, such as the Palmyra Arch and other locations and items threatened or destroyed by terrorism and war. The monuments to be reproduced in Delhi aren’t under any particular threat, at least no more so than any other ancient creations still standing on Earth, but they’re being reproduced to make them more accessible and to give people as full an experience of actually visiting them as possible – without actually traveling to them. If those reproductions can inspire people to travel to the real locations, that’s even better – the project is being launched with the goal of drawing tourists to India.

Sharma also announced that the Indian government is going to be launching a three-layered mission on cyber physical systems that will involve 25 centers of excellence focused on each sector.

“This mission will cover from basic fundamental knowledge generation R&D to technology development, translational aspects, incubators, start-ups in this particular area thereby commercialising the technology which comes out of there,” he said. “When we started thinking about AI in the DST about two and a half years ago, we started in a modest way by putting in couple of hundred crores and now we are going to scale up those efforts on several thousand crores level in a very holistic way in the entire spectrum of AI that covers everything from theme knowledge generation in AI areas of deep learning, machine learning, contextual learning and all varieties of AI that one can think about.”

In addition, the DST has started a project involving smart sensors for air and water quality, and another involving infrared sensing to test soil and crop quality. The government has also committed to making the data gathered by the Survey of India available to every citizen so that they can better compare data on climate, environmental changes and other factors.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.

At this past week’s RAPID + TCT conference in Texas, California-based Formalloy highlighted its metal 3D printing technology. Formalloy has only been around since the beginning of 2016, but in those 2.5 short years, the award-winning metal 3D printing company has made quite a name for itself.

Headquartered in San Diego, Formalloy designs, researches, develops, manufactures, and integrates additive manufacturing systems, services, and components. At RAPID 2016 the company showed its open powder A222 3D printer, which uses laser metal deposition (LMD) technology to achieve mixed-metal printing; the company’s patented LMD technology uses a coaxial nozzle to blow powder onto a substrate in layers, which are then melted with a laser.

Less than a year after Formalloy showcased the A222 at Inside 3D Printing San Diego, the innovative company released a new deposition head for metal 3D printing last summer that can be integrated onto an existing robot or machine and used to repair, clad, and 3D print metal parts. This deposition head set the company up as a full-suite LMD provider.

But the Formax metal deposition head was only the first new product in Formalloy’s series of summer 2017 releases, and just a few months later, the advanced manufacturing technology company introduced its newest LMD L-series machine model, featuring Blue Laser technology from NUBURU Inc. in Colorado. The L stands for lab, and this release made Formalloy the first company to combine both LMD and Blue laser technologies.

Melanie Lang with rocket nozzle demostrator

Formalloy has attracted a pretty big customer in NASA, as its LMD technology can decrease production and material costs and expand a product’s design envelope. NASA has been working with Formalloy on a series of R&D projects, and using its LMD technology for development and feasibility studies to investigate if 3D printing is scalable for large, high-value components, like a rocket nozzle demonstrator.

Melanie Lang, Formalloy’s Co-Founder and Director of Business Development, recently shared more with us about the company’s work with NASA and an aerospace case study regarding the 3D printed rocket nozzle demonstrator.

At the time, she explained that Formalloy had delivered multiple rocket nozzle demonstrator parts to NASA’s Marshall Flight Space Center, and that the company was looking forward to further projects with the space agency “by enabling gradient-material and difficult-to-process materials such as copper, for rocket nozzle design & builds.”

This brings us back to RAPID + TCT, and the company’s new closed-loop metal deposition system, the X-series. During the company’s press conference, Lang explained that the new X-series LMD system features a fully customizable build volume, with up to 5 axes of motion, and works with the widest, most comprehensive range of metal alloys on the market.

The X-series LMD system has majorly improved quality with variable-wavelength lasers, closed-loop control, and offering 95% more powder efficiency, thanks to the company’s Formax Metal Deposition Head, which comes standard with each system and makes maintenance and component switches easy with built-in, quick-release features.

Formfeed powder feeders on the X-series make it possible to 3D print with gradient/bi-metallic structures, and the system monitors build quality and accuracy in real-time with the company’s scanning technology. Then, the 3D printer uses an auto-correct function for errors, to ensure 3D printed parts with no defects.

[Image: Formalloy]

The company designs all of its own systems and components in order to make use of open standards for powder supply, so X-series users can provide their own metal 3D printing powders if they choose.

Formalloy implemented certain technology into the X-series, like closed loop control, in order to make the 3D printing process better. The system is scalable, so it’s possible to build full production parts with a much shorter lead time, and integrates both IR and blue wavelength lasers so customers have multiple options.

According to Lang, several high-profile customers are returning as news of the company’s high-quality metal 3D printing systems continues to spread. In addition, the new X-series LMD system starts at $200,000 – making it a cost-effective solution for producing, repairing, and cladding 3D printed metal parts for multiple applications and industries.

Stay tuned to 3DPrint.com for more of our coverage from RAPID + TCT.

To take a look at the new X-series LMD 3D printing in action at RAPID, check out 3DPrint.com’s video below.

VIDEO

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 

[All photos: Sarah Saunders unless otherwise credited]

Metal 3D printing is a delicate process that requires a lot of knowledge – not only about the process and 3D printers, but about the powder. The formulation of a metal powder is critical to getting viable 3D printed parts, and the right equipment is needed in order to characterize that powder and make sure that it is suitable for 3D printing. Thermo Fisher Scientific has announced that it is releasing a new scanning electron microscope called the Explorer 4 Additive – the first commercially available scanning electron microscope specifically designed to measure particle size, shape and composition in metal powders used in additive manufacturing. The microscope can also inspect finished parts for quality assurance.

“The use of additive manufacturing processes is growing rapidly in many industries, especially aerospace, automotive and medical, and the technology is quickly advancing,” said Trisha Rice, Vice President and General Manager, Materials Science, Thermo Fisher Scientific. “The Explorer 4 Additive provides critical visibility into these processes, which may lead to better understanding, tighter control, improved yields and higher quality.”

According to Thermo Fisher Scientific, the Explorer 4 Additive automatically and simultaneously analyzes three of the most critical characteristics of powders used in powder-bed and powder-fed AM processes:

• Particle size distribution – SEM can measure the entire size range of AM powders with better accuracy than competing techniques.
• Morphology – SEM has the resolution needed to distinguish subtle differences in shape that can greatly affect the flow and packing behavior of the powder.
• Impurities detection – Advanced energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrometry provides fast, elemental analysis that can automatically identify impurities. Suspect particles can then be easily relocated for more detailed examination.

The Explorer 4 Additive can examine and classify large sets of particles, inclusions, voids and cracks within only minutes, allowing for the use of statistical process control techniques and faster responses to process excursions. It has high resolution imaging and micro-analysis capabilities, enabling failure analysis and process engineers to quickly find the root causes of process and product failures.

Also important in industrial additive manufacturing is working with machinery and materials that are officially qualified and certified. Oerlikon AM has partnered with leading European science and technology provider IABG to accelerate equipment and process certification, as well as equipment testing for additively manufactured components.

Thanks to the new partnership, European manufacturers will be able to provide customers with AM-qualified components that have been produced through certified processes. The new qualification, inspection and testing methods for additive manufacturing could become new standards in additive manufacturing. The joint research and development of these procedures and methods will significantly advance the industrialization of additive manufacturing and lead to more reliable components, which should increase the adoption of the technology in sectors such as aerospace, power generation, automotive and more.

“Oerlikon AM is taking a collaborative approach to integrating the whole AM value chain,” said Florian Mauerer, Head of Oerlikon AM. “Partnering with IABG will allow us to accelerate certification of parts and original equipment manufacturers to introduce more AM components into the market earlier. “Leveraging our materials, manufacturing and R&D competencies in AM, customers can benefit from the advantages that AM brings, without having to invest heavily in AM equipment, training, people and infrastructure.”

“Additive manufacturing is gaining more and more importance for our customers,” added Dr. Oliver Kosing, Head of IABG’s Tests & Analyses department. “The partnership with Oerlikon, a global company with a clear and sustainable AM strategy, allows IABG to offer even more integrated solutions along the entire AM value chain.”

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 

Delving into the realm of romance does not come without a price. With dating comes an onslaught of expenses—from just the right clothes to dinners out to all those sweet little gifts you buy just to show your significant other you care. But when the time comes to put a ring on it, it can be a no-holds barred chain reaction of spending. Putting together a unique proposal may require a budget of its own, not to mention the ring, the wedding planning, and so on…and so on…into pre-connubial infinity of dollars signs and wallet emptying.

While many couples still go the traditional route, today it is definitely much cooler to put your own particular spin on getting engaged, getting married, and well—leading life overall. And as for that rule about three months’ gross salary going into the purchase of a wedding ring? Think again. And watch yet another industry being revolutionized by 3D printing—with companies like Holden leading the way.

The ‘Triangle’ model

Founded by Andrew Lim and Simon Zhang, the fledgling New York-headquartered business offers an alternative to couples who don’t want to break the bank before they even start their lives together, offering wedding bands directly for sale to consumers. The rings can be customized and are created out of recycled metals, featuring platinum alloy, gold, or platinum. And thanks to one of the greatest benefits of 3D printing, prices start at only $250.

Friends since college, both Lim and Zhang have prior marketing education, as well as the experience of owning another jewelry business called Mujo—both the precursor to and the source of funding for launching Holden. In fielding requests at Mujo, both entrepreneurs realized a need for engaged couples to shop jewelry options as well. They also realized they could offer much better deals in eliminating third party retailers and manufacturers—one of the greatest advantages offered by 3D printing.

“The way it works right now is you can get a custom designer ring and pay an arm and a leg, or you can get something more affordable that is generic and out of the box. So when customers came up to us, and said, ‘Can I change this or that? Can I add an engraving?’ we said, ‘Yes,'” said Lim in a recent interview.

Zhang and Lim

The models are 3D printed in wax and then cast in the metal of the consumer’s choice. Options are available for:

• Width
• Metal material
• Finish
• Engraving

The ‘Faceted’ model

“Just four years ago, 3D printing would’ve been cost prohibitive for a lot of jewelry,” Zhang said.

Fast forward to 2018 though, and designers and jewelry makers around the world are enjoying the progressive technology of 3D design and 3D printing which allows them to come up with designs on any day at any hour and begin producing them directly from their own workshops. Inspiration is allowed to unfold in countless ways due to such latitude in creation, along with greater efficiency, speed, and affordability in production.

What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts; join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 

[Source:

 / Images: Holden]

[Photo: Sarah Goehrke]

Continuing with our

 this week’s busy 

in Fort Worth, Texas, the third

, sponsored by

 and held Wednesday morning, centered on point-of-care (POC) manufacturing, a topic we’ve been

more frequently in the 3D printing field as of late. However, this nontraditional form of manufacturing is not new, having been used in hospitals as far back as the late 1970s, and according to a recently published

by

, which hosts RAPID, over 95% of POC professionals are expecting POC manufacturing, enabled by just-in-time and 

, to grow.

Debbie Holton, SME’s Vice President of Events and Industry Strategy, said, “More growth is expected for medical and biomedical applications.”

Then Holton introduced SME’s Industry Manager Lauralyn McDaniel, an expert in her field who guides SME’s medical strategy. McDaniel, who conducted the organization’s first Medical Point-of-Care Manufacturing Survey, which is detailed in the white paper, also discussed a white paper onstage that was published last year regarding workforce development before announcing that SME had developed the first ever annual report to cover POC manufacturing, device manufacturers, and any medical professionals using additive manufacturing (AM) to impact their patients.

“97% of the responders expect an increase in the use of AM for medical applications,” McDaniel stated. “And they didn’t just expect an increase – over half expect more than a 10% increase in 2018. And they expect it across all the major categories of applications in medical.”

Challenges to this increase in adoption include funding and reimbursement, materials, a qualified workforce, and the regulatory environment. You can download the annual report for free on SME’s website.

Peter Leys, the Executive Chairman of Materialise, was on hand to introduce the keynote speakers, but first introduced the crowd “to somebody totally different – I would like you to meet Nathalie.”

3DPrint.com covered French citizen Nathalie Dufaut Danjon’s story in the fall, but it gave me chills to listen to Leys talk about how she, along with several members of her family, were attacked at a family wedding, and how Danjon moved past the tragedy with the help of 3D printing.

“What was supposed to be a lovely, long weekend gathering with family and friends turned into a nightmare,” Leys told the crowd. “The morning after the wedding, a heavily disturbed member of the bride’s family rushed into the hotel with a hunting rifle.”

Unlike some of her family members, Danjon escaped with her life, but spent six months in a coma before waking up to begin recovering after a bullet destroyed the anatomy of her shoulder joint and robbed her of mobility. Leys explained how Danjon visited roughly a dozen surgeons in six months in an effort to regain full mobility, and how she also “started studying.”

“She starts reading medical journals and papers…she becomes an expert,” Leys continued. “But every time she talks about these innovations she stumbles upon during her reading, and the potential of 3D printing to her surgeons, she gets the answer we’ve all heard before – 3D printing is at too early a stage, Nathalie. It’s too risky. It’s too expensive. Even 3D printing will not be able to help your complex case. It’s a gimmick.”

But Danjon persisted, and eventually Materialise Mimics 3D software was deployed to come up with a virtual, pre-surgical plan to fix her shattered shoulder. 3D printed surgical guides, and a custom 3D printed implant, were created and used, and Danjon has now regained “significant mobility” in her arm and shoulder. With the regained ability to do “simple but important” tasks again, like making the beds for her children, she also wrote and published a book, titled Shattered Dreams, about her journey.

[Photo: Sarah Goehrke]

“In some instances, probably rightfully so, patients sometimes accept a no. But in every instance, where a medical innovation is overlooked, a life is being destroyed,” Leys said. “That’s why we as an industry have to be as stubborn, strong, and determined as some of the patients that we can help – like Nathalie. That is what Mayo and Materialise are doing.”

With that, keynote speakers Jonathan Morris, MD and Amy Alexander, BME, MS, both from the nonprofit Mayo Clinic, walked onstage. The Mayo Clinic, which completes 75,000 surgeries a year and saw 1.3 million patients from 140 different countries last year, has become a major POC manufacturer for 3D printed anatomical models, and also uses virtual surgical planning (VSP) “as often as possible.”

Dr. Morris specializes in minimally invasive thermal ablation of tumors, and has used 3D printing for medical purposes since 2001, helping to develop the Mayo Clinic 3D Printing/Anatomic Modeling Laboratory, which he now co-directs, over a decade ago. Alexander, who converts 2D radiological images into 3D printed models in the Department of Radiology’s Anatomic Modeling Lab, designs and 3D prints custom surgical tools, such as cutting guides, to help improve surgical efficiency and accuracy.

“We 3D printed a lot of stuff over the years, but we really started small, and really complex,” Dr. Morris said. “Materialise has been a wonderful partner to us – we call them a lot and ask them, how can we do this, how can we make that happen?”

Mayo has partnered with big-name companies in the 3D printing industry, like Stratasys, Materialise, Formlabs, and 3D Systems, to bring 3D printing to the clinic.

“We had to figure out how to put industrial equipment inside a hospital…this requires a lot of facility work, and the vendors have been very good to us,” Dr. Morris said.

According to a 1977 study that was pivotal in developing what’s known as the Allee effect, the further away you are from your colleagues, the less productive you are as well, which is why Mayo Clinic decided to build the 3D printing center inside the hospital itself.

Dr. Morris said, “Even if it’s just three minutes down the street, to surgeons, that’s like another planet.”

The speakers asked for a show of hands in the keynote theatre to see how many people are currently working with medical 3D printing, and it was an impressive number of hands. Alexander then brought up the “long history of engineering” at Mayo, and how the multidisciplinary care already offered at the hospital “rolls right over into 3D printing….nothing changed about the type of care we were offering when adding 3D printing technology.”

“Having an engineer enroll in a clinical environment is just so different,” Alexander said. “The relationships I’m allowed to build with radiologists and surgeons are so valuable.”

Dr. Morris expounded on this, discussing the many different clinicians who were “coming and going” from the 3D printing center to pick up models for various surgeries.

The first case Mayo used 3D printing on was a difficult surgery involving conjoined twins and the need for a 3D printed liver model. A solid, well thought-out plan and ace surgical team were necessary to ensure no loss of life, and the team met and trained for months. While image processing has long been available at Mayo, and a lot of imaging was available for this particular surgery, it didn’t quite cut it.

“One of the questions we get a lot of the time in radiology is, ‘Why can’t you just look at the 2D images?’ The images are getting better, and available at the click of a button in 5 seconds,” Alexander said. “Why can’t you just use these great images?

“You can’t hold an image – you have no idea how big that is. A surgeon has to operate on this child with a severe deformity. Until the surgeon gets the life-size model in their hands, they don’t kow how to answer some of these questions.”

Dr. Morris said medical professionals are able to learn more about impending surgeries by holding and studying 3D printed models, as there are “lots of unknowns in the OR until you make an incision.”

Complex surgeries are successful because of entire groups of people working together to solve problems, and from anesthesiologists and radiologists to surgeons specializing in vascular and craniomaxillofacial, medical teams all speak different languages. That’s why 3D printed anatomical models are helpful to have, even of body parts and blood vessels nearby the surgery site, so teams can plan for both the expected and the unexpected.

“Once the doors opened on 3D printed tumor models, we never went back,” Dr. Morris said, noting that Mayo moved on with 3D printing from twins to spines to tumors.

He discussed how Mayo often works with Materialise, because its software is FDA approved, to figure out problems.

Dr. Morris said, “They’ve been an incredible partner – call them up and say, I’m stuck, can you help me?”

This is why it’s so important to collaborate with others, which the 3D printing industry does so well – we may not always know everything about  a specific topic, but we can call on someone we know who does know and can help.

Mayo first decided to bring virtual surgical planning in-house in the mid-90s, and turned to Alexander for engineering; one of the major benefits of moving to in-house clinical engineering includes operative efficiency. But there are also a lot of steps when it comes to VSP, which is “not push button,” and imaging is always the first one.

“Even showing segmentation is important, so surgeon can see differences,” Alexander explained.

“Surgeons come in and sit down, with coffee, and together we look at imaging and plan the surgery out in a low-stress environment. How is this surgeon going to resect this piece of bone and then reconstruct it in the best possible way for this patient?”

Completed parts must be properly sterilized, once they’ve been 3D printed with the proper material, and implants also have to be able to hold up under radiation.

As we’ve heard time and again, the less time spent in the operating room the better for patients, and this is why 3D printed guides are so useful during the surgery itself.

The KLS Martin Group, which often uses 3D printing for surgical purposes, also works with Mayo, manufacturing 3D printed surgical guides and plates. In one particular case study mentioned in the keynote, thoracic surgeons at Mayo used a 3D printed model from the company to help them figure out a minimally invasive surgical plan that would avoid having to cut through the patient’s ribs but would still allow them to remove all of the tumor. The patient left the hospital three days later, with no remnants of the tumor left and having spent no time in the ICU.

The hospital offers an array of different 3D printing technologies, and is currently investigating whether to add SLS to the list. Alexander also noted that their 3D printing processes include  instructions, which is “important for any clinic and surgical technology.”

“At Mayo, you’re allowed to work together with people who are all trying to do the same thing – it’s not about you, it’s only about the patient.”

That, in a nutshell, is the whole point of using 3D printing in POC manufacturing – it’s about the patient.

Stay tuned to 3DPrint.com for more of our coverage from RAPID + TCT.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 

[All photos: Sarah Saunders unless otherwise noted]

This week at the RAPID + TCT show, 3D Systems showcased its advanced Figure 4 technology and made a big announcement: Figure 4 has been selected for Air Force-sponsored research focused on integrating high-speed 3D printing into the aircraft maintenance supply chain. The initiative is being led by the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) and sponsored by America Makes. In addition to 3D Systems, the research also includes Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and Northrop Grumman.

3D Systems’ Figure 4 at RAPID + TCT 2018 [Photo: Sarah Goehrke]

The Air Force will investigate how 3D Systems’ Figure 4 Production System can be used to reproduce components for older planes – some of them decades old – that may no longer have reliable sources for replacement parts. This could eliminate the need for parts warehousing and reduce the amount of time that planes spend on the ground waiting for repairs.

The award was made as part of a multi-year Air Force program called “Maturation of Advanced Manufacturing for Low-cost Sustainment” (MAMLS), which is now advancing to Phase III. This isn’t the first time 3D Systems has been involved in the program; the company’s SLA and Direct Metal Printing technology has been used in prior MAMLS phases. This is the first time, however, that the Air Force is using DLP technology to supply low criticality components such as electrical connectors, knobs, elastomeric grommets, and spacers for legacy sustainment equipment.

Figure 4 [Image: 3D Systems]

Figure 4 technology was selected for the project due to its speed and high accuracy in 3D printing. It’s capable of part print speeds of up to 65 mm/h, and prototyping speeds of up to 100 mm/hr. The Figure 4 platform delivers part accuracy and repeatability, with Six Sigma repeatability (C

 > 2) across all materials.

“We were pleased with the speed, resolution, surface finish, and scalability that we achieved utilizing 3D Systems’ solution,” said Dr. Tim Osborn, Research Scientist: Additive Manufacturing, Multiscale Composites and Polymer Division, University of Dayton Research Institute. “Our goal is to further explore this technology and establish a clear development, vetting, and transition pathway for the emerging DLP technology in the Figure 4 machine for transition to the U.S. Air Force.”

[Image: University of Dayton Research Institute]

Legacy aircraft used by the Air Force may require parts that are out of production due to manufacturing obsolescence, costs to create, low-quantity requirements, poor documentation, or other issues of availability. 3D printing is ideal for replacing these types of components, as it can quickly create one-off or small-batch parts that exactly replicate the originals.

“Additive manufacturing is the perfect lean solution because it avoids the need for time-consuming and costly tooling,” said 3D Systems Co-Founder and CTO Chuck Hull. “We are pleased to support the Air Force in its effort to reduce production costs and delivery times through Figure 4, our novel additive manufacturing technology. We look forward to our continued collaboration with UDRI and other partners – helping expand their arsenal of Figure 4 applications.”

The MAMLS program, which is an America Makes program funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory, has announced several awards on three key topics that will have the most impact for defense maintenance, sustainment and logistics, as well as the overall strategic readiness of the US Air Force and Department of Defense.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.

Anticipation is always high for a major event, and RAPID + TCT draws great focus to 3D printing in North America. Several major themes were intentional as this year’s event curated programming centered around medical, metal, and aerospace innovation; others, as they always will, arose throughout the course of the show. This week, writer Sarah Saunders and I were on site in Fort Worth, Texas, as the 3D printing community came together to celebrate technological and business advances — and some friendly armadillo races — for a very busy four days in additive manufacturing.

From the keynotes to a plethora of interviews and opportunities for conversation, the week was nonstop. As always, the intense scheduling still didn’t leave room to see nearly everything nor to have time to catch up with more than a fraction of attendees. Personally, I didn’t have any time at all to walk the floor outside of dashing to scheduled meetings until the last morning of the show, creating an informed if disjointed impression of whirlwind introductions, showcase projects, and a contagious energy.

With 351 exhibitors and a wealth of workshops, presentations, networking events, and awards, RAPID + TCT 2018 did not leave attendees wanting for interaction. We’ve been following closely with the announcements made at the show, as new 3D printers, materials, and partnerships have been launched; seeing the newest technologies first-hand is invaluable to understanding their capabilities and place in the industry, while the opportunity to catch up with industry influencers is not to be missed.

“It’s always about potential,” Glynn Fletcher, President, EOS North America, told me as we discussed the company’s latest strategic approaches and the growth of the industry.

“Compare RAPID today to ten years ago; then it was more like a flea market, and now it is very important as a vehicle to present ourselves against our competitors. For me, the goal is not to beat the people in this room; the point is with the people in this room, we should be winning business from casting, from foundries, from subtractive manufacturing.”

In noting the necessary stages in collaboration and understanding, Strategic Account Manager Stephanie Kochbeck walked me through EOS’ Additive Mile to demonstrate the step-by-step attention the company pays to the path of scaling up additive manufacturing.

Applications shined large, and a major theme I noticed emerge through conversation and keynote alike was that hardware manufacturers are continually driven by unforeseen applications. As additive manufacturing begins to see a tangible increase in global adoption, real-world applications are driving the industry.

“We spent years in the lab, and it’s now time; the product is ready to move ahead,” XJet Founder and CEO Hanan Gothait said as we sat down to discuss the Israeli company’s latest announcements.

“The industry is at a unique stage in developing 3D strategies. Customers are approaching us with: this is what we want to do, these actual applications. I think it is new, that many companies know what they want to do. We are creating solutions so we can give them what they want exactly so they can do exactly what they want… We want to learn from customers — we always learn and improve, it’s a constant cycle. We listen and really improve on any aspect, printer, material, process, safety, then supply or improve solutions.”

As customers gain awareness of solutions, they are increasingly seeking specific technologies.

At DWS Systems, which had announced ahead of the event that they would be showcasing their latest 3D printer, Business Development and Key Account Manager Daniela Lavezzi told me that that awareness drew several interested visitors.

“People are very interested in this new printer; there have been a lot of visitors, a lot of interest from service centers, from Tiffany, and they came here because they knew we would have this system,” she told me.

In moving from R&D labs to actual customer installations, hardware suppliers are able to better understand real-world conditions and potential uses for their equipment — and what those realities mean for ongoing development.

“There are a lot of technologies out there, so we’re looking at where’s the right sweet spot for our systems. There’s a difference between producing in the lab and for manufacturable process. We’re working with customers on how best to turn the knobs,” Desktop Metal VP of Marketing Ilya Mirman noted.

Metals suppliers, abundant throughout RAPID + TCT as new processes and materials capabilities pick up, frequently brought up the broadening of applications, many of them unanticipated. SPEE3D, which developed its supersonic technology to target full-density commodity metal parts using low-cost materials to compete with casting, has seen global interest in its process.

“We have shipped and are shipping to Germany, Singapore, the US, and Australia; our focus now is to get more machines onto the market,” company CEO and Co-Founder Byron Kennedy told me. “Some are going into research and new markets that we hadn’t thought of. The focus now is getting them into people’s hands and letting them get into uses we hadn’t thought of because we’re a machine manufacturer.”

While manufacturers certainly test for a broad set of applications, they are aware that it will be users’ needs ultimately driving further application development, often in unexpected ways.

“We learn very quickly and test everything we can think of — and that’s only a fraction of what customers will think to do with our systems,” Markforged VP of Product Jon Reilly said, as the company has recently begun shipping its Metal X systems. “We have sensors on everything, so we can learn and get better and better… We’re embarking on that with metal. We’re sharpening focus on best-fit applications.”

Metal solutions were very much in focus as product introductions are increasingly targeted to respond to the needs of customers. After detailing the keys of materials, productivity, and the system (not only machine) focus of the new Arcam EBM Spectra H, Annika Ölme, VP Product Management, Arcam, noted that these factors all show that “we take into account our customer needs” as I spoke with her and Arcam CEO Karl Lindblom.

“Additive manufacturing going forward is really about production; the future is not about prototyping. This is why we are launching this now… It is all growing from a technological standpoint, which is interesting to me as an engineer… There are so many opportunities now to drive the future; the world opens up as we see so much with GE that we can use… It shows that we, and GE Additive, are very serious about driving the additive revolution.”

The emphasis on applications and a growing marketplace was widespread, and Materialise Executive Chairman Peter Leys underscored the importance of showcasing meaningful applications during the morning keynote and in our conversation as well.

“It’s interesting; there are new technologies year after year, and many new players. On one hand this is exciting, and on the other it shows that it is not mature enough. We hear from customers at a show like this that they are even more confused, with so many technologies. What we need is a few technologies that really prove, really showcase technology that makes a meaningful difference. This is not to discourage newcomers; quite the contrary. It is tough to do this without meaningful applications. Hopefully in five years this show will only have booths with reliable, proven technologies that have shown success on the market,” he said before moving on to areas of great importance to Materialise’s strategic focus.

“We have been investing in the medical vertical for a long time now, and every year we are confident we are moving in the right direction as we gain more traction with key partners like J&J.”

Leys also pointed out that a big part of Materialise’s focus in additive manufacturing is to “build a bridge for the gap” as digital solutions bring about more opportunity for advanced solutions.

“We have never said it was easy; it is our job to make it easy, to build a bridge for the gap, to create solutions. There is a gap. There is a solution, and we make that seamless,” he said.

Awareness of that gap between need and solution is critical for this industry. As a nascent technology, additive manufacturing holds great potential, but awareness does not necessarily lead to adoption. Damage done during previous years of hype left many potential users disheartened at the lack of ease of use; 3D printing is not a just-hit-print solution. More providers are becoming ever more focused on helping to create solutions acknowledging and bridging that gap.

“All that matters, from our perspective, is that there is a huge gap between ideas and prototyping and production. It’s a change for people to learn, to develop,” Greg Ojeda, Co-Founder and CCO of Essentium Materials, told me.

“We use a lot of flowery words, buzzwords like ‘gamechanging,’ but we have real solutions,” Essentium Co-Founder and President Blake Teipel added.

One use case for functional 3D printing showcasing solutions targeted for real-world conditions gaining increasing visibility is HP’s production of more than 140 parts for its Jet Fusion 3D printers that are themselves 3D printed. In Thursday morning’s keynote session dedicated to the future of 3D printing, HP 3D Printing President Stephen Nigro noted that “every part makes business sense” as the team rethought structures to create better components through their own technology.

“We had to be aware and learning,” David Tucker, 3D Print Market Development, Plstics Engineering and Design, HP noted as I caught up on the show floor with HP and Jabil.

“The mindset before had been that there could be no change once a design was locked down,” John Dulchinos, VP Digital Manufacturing, Jabil, added. “3D printing allows us to integrate learning, which is very valuable to manufacturing, to create a better finished part. It’s a powerful journey.”

Scott Schiller, Global Head of Customer and Market Development, HP 3D Printing, continued, “This has been a journey we had to go on to get a population of engineers to think differently, and there are a lot of facets to that. We are definitely still on that journey.”

The journey enabled through agile manufacturing and digital technologies requires an ongoing learning curve, and industry participants are well aware of — and increasingly vocal about — the path toward adoption and maturity. The narrative structure of adoption is compelling in itself, with a journey and monumental gaps to bridge, and it seems to be one leading to a powerful hero’s journey for additive manufacturing.

Throughout RAPID + TCT, emphasis was strong on real-world applications and implications of adopting 3D printing. The technology is growing up and growing in use in terms of both sheer number and breadth of applications.

Also as promised, a quick look into the armadillo races. Winners took home armadillo milk, which is apparently a thing. Races took place during the delightful Texas-themed networking night on the first full day of RAPID + TCT.

Networking was a major focus as well and, armadillos aside, opportunities were plentiful and appreciated.

One milestone event that brought in a fantastic crowd was Wednesday night’s Women in 3D Printing happy hour, co-sponsored by MatterHackers and HP. The event drew more than 40 conference attendees together to a speakeasy-like setting to engage in spirited conversation. Many familiar faces were present, women and men alike, and the next morning several attendees made it a point to note that the introductions gained through the evening were enlightening — and that the mix of attendees provided a nice counterpart to the more typical male-dominated events. More photos from the event can be found here.

With a wealth of excellent conversations from a very busy week, we look forward to continuing to share insights gleaned from RAPID 2018.

Discuss RAPID + TCT and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 

[All photos: Sarah Goehrke]

While 3D printing is becoming more entrenched in the aerospace industry, some aircraft manufacturers and airliners have embraced the technology more enthusiastically and for a longer time than others. Boeing has been on board with 3D printing for years, and since 2015 has been relying on a company called Morf3D to produce 3D printed aluminum and titanium components for its satellites and helicopters. Morf3D was formed in 2015 and has been working for Boeing since its beginning, and now Boeing has responded by investing in the startup.

The investment will allow Morf3D to collaborate with Boeing to further develop manufacturing processes and engineering capabilities. Morf3D’s technology involves the creation of lighter, stronger 3D printed aerospace components.

“Developing standard additive manufacturing processes for aerospace components benefits both companies and empowers us to fully unleash the value of this transformative technology,” said Kim Smith, Vice President and General Manager of Fabrication for Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Boeing Additive Manufacturing leader.

[Image: Boeing]

Morf3D is full of metallurgy experts who use a new set of additive manufacturing design rules to

and accelerate its commercialization. The company’s software, combined with engineering expertise, significantly reduces mass and increases the performance and functionality of manufactured parts.

“We are excited to be a distinguished and trusted partner of Boeing’s additive manufacturing supplier base, as we continue to industrialize our processes for the high-rate production of flight-worthy additively manufactured components,” said Ivan Madera, CEO of Morf3D. “This investment will enable us to increase our engineering staff and expand our technology footprint of EOS M400-4 DMLS systems to better serve the growing demands of our aerospace customers.”

The Series A funding round was co-led by Boeing HorizonX Ventures, the company’s venture capital arm. The HorizonX Ventures investment portfolio consists of companies specializing in technologies for aerospace and manufacturing innovations, including autonomous systems, energy storage, advanced materials, augmented reality systems and software, machine learning, hybrid-electric and hypersonic propulsion, and Internet of Things connectivity.

“As innovative companies continue to revolutionize technologies and methods, we are proud to invest in the rapidly growing and competitive additive manufacturing landscape,” said Steve Nordlund, vice president of Boeing HorizonX.

In other investment news this week, Chromatic 3D Materials, a provider of next-generation 3D printing materials, announced the closing of Series A funding led by DSM Venturing. Chromatic 3D Materials’ patented technology involves the use of reactive liquids to form a 3D printed part that is flexible, durable, unmeltable and meets the requirements for finished industrial manufactured goods. This technology makes the industrial use of additive manufacturing available to many markets and applications for the first time. Its development was supported by the National Science Foundation’s SBIR program.

In addition to the investment, DSM will also partner with Chromatic 3D Materials to introduce its technology to new markets. The first product family includes flexible polyurethane elastomers for a range of applications in the apparel, tooling, automotive, and healthcare markets.

“DSM is an established material supplier in the additive manufacturing market,” said Dr. Cora Leibig, CEO of Chromatic 3D Materials. “Together, we share a commitment to deliver the materials and technologies necessary for 3D Printing to transform manufacturing. With this investment, and with our partnership, we will accelerate our market introduction.”

For its part, DSM has been partnering with enterprises and investing in additive manufacturing as the company places strategic priority on the development of this area.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 

GE Additive booth, RAPID 2018

Metal 3D printing is gaining momentum, as technology continues to advance for making strong, solid parts with unique geometries for a wide variety of applications, ranging from medical and aerospace to construction, automotive, and even art. However, it is not without its issues, which is why many companies and researchers are constantly hard at work to improve the materials and the processes when it comes to additive manufacturing with metals.

At this year’s RAPID + TCT, which came to a close yesterday in Fort Worth, Texas, metal 3D printing received top billing, with companies releasing new metal 3D printers and software for metal 3D printing. In addition, the top two finalists for the Innovation Auditions at the conference this year were both introducing new metal additive manufacturing innovations.

Each year at RAPID, the Innovation Auditions recognize innovative new services or products exhibited at the conference. Qualified innovators, selected by a panel of industry experts and investors, have the opportunity to share, in five minutes or less, why their innovations could make a difference. Two finalists then present during the morning keynote and the audience selects the winner… and this year, I was lucky enough to be in the room when the final presentations were given.

Innovations were presented from Additive Industries, Eurocoating s.p.a., FibreTuff Medical Biopolymers LLC, LPW Technology, Inc., NanoSteel, Roboze Inc, SPEE3D, and the University of Michigan. Battling for first place this year were Additive Industries and NanoSteel.

Debbie Holton, the Vice President of Events and Industry Strategy for SME, took the RAPID stage first on Wednesday morning, ahead of the third keynote. After announcing a quick poll regarding medical 3D printing, which was the keynote topic that day, Holton introduced the two finalist presenters for the Innovation Award.

“Additive manufacturing is truly changing lives every day,” Holton said.

First up was Harry Kleijnen with Netherlands-based Additive Industries, talking about the Product Removal Module for the company’s customizable MetalFAB1 3D printer. The new 404 x 404 x 400 mm module allows for the integrated removal of 3D printed parts, post-heat treatment, from the build plate, along with resurfacing the build plate without any human operator intervention.

The module has features such as integrated heat treatment, automatic powder removal, and reduced inventory of the build plate; additionally, the automation built right in to the solution eliminates manual labor, as a robot transports the 3D printer’s part collection bin.

“Additive Industries believes that integration in additive manufacturing really expedites productivity,” Kleijnen said.

As the manual labor is gone, lead time has been majorly reduced, along with costs – down to less than €200 per cut.

“We need to bring this reduced cost into the additive manufacturing chain and automate this process,” Kleijnen explained. “That’s why we developed the product.”

The company identified a total of 15 different steps that were previously being completed in order to resurface the plate, and removed 10 of these MetalFAB1 Product Removal Module that weren’t adding any value.

With new sub-modules including trapped powder removal, surface milling with an integrated tool changer, an Atex grade vacuum cleaner, band saw technology product removal, and a separate bin for safe parts transportation, the company was able to integrate all of the steps into just its one module.

Then, Dr. Jonathan Trenkle from NanoSteel, which has been developing steel alloys for 15 years, walked onto the RAPID stage for the company’s finalist presentation on its new 3D Printable Tool Steel for Powder Bed Fusion.

Dr. Trenkle said, “We’re really revolutionizing the tool, die, and mold industry.”

He explained that the challenge is “printable, high-performance tool steels” that are easy to work with – namely due to being crack free and working at room temperature. Last summer, NanoSteel introduced the case-hardening BLDRmetal L-40 steel powder, which has, according to the company, “unique properties and capabilities within the 3D printing space for powder bed fusion.”

The ferrous alloy powder can be 3D printed with powder bed fusion technology at room temperature to achieve components that have no cracks, and, as Dr. Trenkle explained,”excellent as-printed hardness and toughness and compatible with industry standard surface hardening treatments.”

[Image: NanoSteel]

L-40 material can be used in multiple applications, like tool and die, due to its excellent physical properties and lack of processing limitations. Dr. Trenkle said that the other values and benefits provided by the material include free parameters for major brands, affordability, and fast innovation – now, tools, dies, and molds can be 3D printed in just hours, as opposed to months.

Dr. Trenkle also explained that the NanoSteel team plans to start looking into cobalt materials next, in terms of health and safety.

The work from NanoSteel, as well as the other organizations participating in this year’s Innovation Auditions, is an exemplary showcase of the innovative spirit striding forward in additive manufacturing. Congratulations to these impressive innovators!

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 

[All photos: Sarah Saunders for 3DPrint.com unless otherwise noted]

For the millions of people diagnosed with heart valve disease every year, there are a few options for treatment. These include open heart surgery, but some people are considered too high-risk for such a procedure. For these people, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has become the go-to treatment. This less-invasive procedure involves inserting a prosthetic valve to replace the damaged one, but there are still complications that can occur. If the valve doesn’t fit perfectly, it can leak. Paravalvular leak (PVL) can lead to higher mortality rates among these patients, and doctors and researchers are working to find ways to prevent this from happening.

One way to keep PVL from occurring is to make sure that the patient has a valve that fits. This can be difficult as there have been a limited number of sizes in which the valves are available, but some medical professionals have begun using 3D printing and 3D modeling to better customize the procedure to the patient. A new study has been published that examines the effectiveness in using these technologies to treat patients.

“Although we’ve made huge improvements in reducing PVL… there are still significant barriers with some of the self-expandable valves,” lead author Sergey Gurevich, MD, Cardiovascular Fellow at the University of Minnesota, told TCTMD.

“Right now, we rely on valve technology to assist us. But it would be nice to know what to expect, before we go in, to help us with valve selection.”

The study examined six patients who had developed PVL after TAVR for severe calcific aortic stenosis. The researchers used pre-procedure CT scans to create 3D printed models of each patient’s aortic root. The CT scans allowed them to see the location of the calcium build-up, while the 3D printed models allowed them to further evaluate the poorly fitting valves. The 3D printed models were implanted with the valves the patients had received; five patients received a 26 mm valve while one received a 23 mm valve.

The 3D printed models were then re-scanned with CT, and the images were compared with echocardiograms taken from the patients after TAVR. In every case, the fit of the 3D printed model predicted the leak seen on echo, suggesting that if the 3D modeling had been done prior to the initial procedure, the leakage could potentially have been prevented.

The study confirms that 3D modeling and 3D printing are effective ways to personalize valve size, location and placement to lower calcium build-up and prevent leaks.

[Image: Yael L. Maxwell, TCTMD]

“We are very encouraged to see such positive outcomes for the feasibility of 3D printing in patients with heart valve disease,” said Dr. Gurevich. “These patients are at a high risk of developing a leak after TAVR, and anything we can do to identify and prevent these leaks from happening is certainly helpful. Like any other new technology, as 3D printing evolves, we hope to see an increase in accessibility and opportunity for the use of this technology to help improve patient care.”

Dr. Gurevich and his colleagues are working on building a library of aortic valve geometries that will be analyzed by computational flow dynamics, in hopes of quantifying the amount of leak anticipated. Once enough data has been compiled, most pre-TAVR modeling can probably be done on a computer, he said, without even requiring 3D printed models. According to Dr. Gurevich, this research may even lead to the development of custom aortic valves for a perfect, patient-specific fit without risk of leakage.

Dr. Gurevich also said that it may be possible to use this type of personalized approach for other structural interventions, including left atrial appendage closure devices and mitral valves. The research was presented this week at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) Scientific Sessions.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 

[Sources:

,

]