US Air Force Chooses Essentium for Aerospace 3D Printing Repair and Maintenance https://ift.tt/3kyfPff Industrial 3D printer manufacturer Essentium has been awarded a four-year contract by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) to drive the development and deployment of advanced additive manufacturing (AM) solutions for applications in tooling, ground support, maintenance repair, and overhaul of an aging fleet, and flight-certified parts for military aircraft and ground vehicles. The project titled “Advanced Additive Manufacturing for the Airman” is part of an over $550 million Strategic Financing (STRATFi) initiative by the new USAF collaborative organization AFVentures, created to identify and advance “big bet” technologies that have the potential to protect and promote the future dominance of the USAF. The multi-year collaborative contract has the potential to save both the USAF and the National Guard Bureau (NGB) millions of dollars by ramping AM production and developing certified materials that will produce consistent quality AM parts at unparalleled speed and costs. The Essentium-USAF project team will test and develop new materials and processes using Essentium’s High-Speed Extrusion (HSE) 3D printing platform, to protect and advance the USAF’s competitive and strategic capabilities. With print speeds useful for both rapid part production and decreasing the time required to certify new materials for use in flight, Essentium’s HSE system was selected to innovatively address challenges in production, supply chain, and procurement. The Texas-based 3D printer provider was chosen along with 20 other companies ahead of the March 12, 2020, AFVentures launching event. At the time, Assistant Secretary of the USAF for Acquisition Will Roper announced the creation of AFVentures to serve as an “umbrella organization for the USAF’s efforts to work with small businesses to fund critical technologies for the warfighter.” According to a USAF report, these 21 “big bet” companies are slated to receive four-year, fixed-price contracts worth a combined $550+ million through AFVentures’ STRATFi. This amount includes more than $100 million in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funds, over $100 million in USAF funding, and $350 million in private investment, with a big chance these funding rounds will only get bigger in the next years. Speaking from Washington, D.C., Roper highlighted that the U.S. needs to invest in small businesses to expand its industrial base and maintain its edge over global competitors and adversaries due to their critical source of disruptive technology in today’s world. Also, he said small-business investment is key to widening the nation’s industrial base and maintaining its competitive edge.
The new contract will also help the NGB advance its ability to speed the production of parts for aging fleets of air and ground vehicles. Essentium suggested that the USAF is under constant pressure to accelerate aircraft repairs, reduce costs, and get aircraft back in the air quickly. Although it is the youngest of the U.S. military’s four branches – having been born out of the Army Signal Corps to become its own service in 1947 – the Air Force did not expand in numbers during the post-9/11 buildup. Instead, it grew smaller as acquisitions of new aircraft failed to offset programmed retirements of older aircraft. Extended use of many aircraft leads to increased maintenance and repair costs because of structural cracking and corrosion problems. Many of the Air Force’s more than 5,300 active duty aircraft are aging, and while replacement parts are scarce, it is also challenging to find manufacturers willing to resume the production of parts that may not be reordered for many years. Parts ordered one or two at a time are extremely expensive and entail exceptionally long waits, often forcing the USAF to cannibalize parts from the “aircraft boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, described Essentium. Moreover, replacing huge numbers of aging aircraft with newer models could become very expensive, up to $26 billion annually by the mid-2030s. Implementing technologies, like 3D printing, can extend the lives and reduce the costs of operating and maintaining these aging aircraft systems. Supplementing the capabilities of the hardware, Essentium engineers will use their expertise in materials science to offer drop-in replacements for military specification (MIL-spec) materials such as phenolics – a commonly used resin-based composite suitable for panels and armor of military vehicles and craft. The team claims it will aim to certify four times the number of materials in dramatically less time and cost compared with incumbent solutions currently available to the USAF.
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Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 27, 2020 at 07:31AM
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UK’s National Centre for Additive Manufacturing Invests in XJet Ceramics 3D Printing https://ift.tt/2JeKmRT This spring, the UK’s National Centre for Additive Manufacturing (NCAM), which is hosted by independent research and technology organization (RTO) the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), opened a new additive manufacturing facility at its home in Coventry. The MTC offers integrated manufacturing system solutions to large and small customers in many different fields, and its NCAM works to increase AM adoption by developing innovative systems that can further industrialize the technology. One of its main focus areas is ceramics additive manufacturing. According to the Ceramics Additive Manufacturing Part Production: 2019-2030 report from SmarTech Analysis, revenues for the ceramics 3D printing market will reach $4.8 billion by 2030.
The NCAM recently published a whitepaper that provides what it calls a “route to widespread adoption” of ceramics AM for the UK.
This is why the MTC has decided to invest in the NanoParticle Jetting (NPJ) technology developed by XJet Ltd, a provider of metal and ceramic additive manufacturing technologies and solutions.
Dr. Wasley says that because the Israeli company was able to successfully demonstrate the ability of its Carmel 1400C system to produce premium end-use ceramic parts with complex geometries, as well as scale up for production purposes, the ceramics printer will be “an ideal addition to its existing AM capability.”
The components that XJet’s ceramics NPJ technology can create feature, according to the company itself, excellent accuracy, superfine details, and smooth surfaces. These types of parts can be especially useful in the medical and dental fields, among others.
In order to reinforce the UK industry’s ceramics AM proficiency, MTC is adding the Carmel 1400C printer to its existing portfolio at NCAM’s additive manufacturing facility. XJet has already shipped the system out, and it will go live at the MTC soon.
(Source/Images: XJet)
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Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 27, 2020 at 07:01AM
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3D Printing Versus Injection Molding https://ift.tt/3dZiMmG Most custom plastic parts are produced commercially via injection molding. This is because once the upfront costs are covered, injection molding can produce in quantities of thousands to hundreds of thousands with very low price points per item. However, those upfront costs can drive decisions on when to use injection molding, especially if the quantities needed for production are not very high. This is where 3D printing can have an advantage for production. 3D printers can make a part without the need for upfront tooling costs. Sometimes called direct digital manufacturing, a 3D printing service only requires a 3D CAD file to get started. With a low barrier to entry both in costs and minimum requirements, 3D printing can help everywhere from rapid prototyping to low volume production. 3D printing often has a break-even between 250 and 2,000 parts before injection molding becomes a more viable option. The major expense in injection molding is the upfront tooling required. Not only does it require a significant financial investment, but it also often takes weeks to months to have the tool produced for a production run. However, as quantities increase, or specific materials and surfacing requirements are absolutely critical, using an injection molding service is still the correct route. 3D printing and injection molding are not mutually exclusive. In fact, 3D printing often is a critical step in the prototype and validation of an injection mold part design. 3D printing is also being used to build molds or mold inserts and improve the process. Metal 3D printed mold cores can contain complex cooling channels which would be impossible to traditionally machine. These improvements can make the molding process faster or more reliable with less scrap. 3D printing processes like stereolithography (SLA) have commonly been used to fit check validations before moving to more costly tooling. This removes the risk of moving to a final production tool and finding the revision needs to change after tooling is produced. Beyond a substitute for low volume production, 3D printing is also a crucial step to ensure the molded project will be successful. Services like Xometry are able to take projects from prototype to production regardless of if they are 3D prints or molded parts. Xometry has an instant quoting tool and on-staff expertise to consult with clients on their projects to determine the best manufacturing route to match their requirements. More about Xometry’s capabilities can be found here. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 27, 2020 at 06:36AM
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One Strong Arm: Play It Fuckin’ Loud https://ift.tt/3ouCFa8 Play It Fuckin’ Loud is a brand new print responding to a brief about protest produced by Dave Darcy of Dublin-based letterpress print studio, One Strong Arm. The three colour print combines letterpress and linocut techniques, and is inspired by one of the most famous exchanges in Rock ‘n’ Roll history. In 1966, at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester during a Bob Dylan concert, a disgruntled fan shouted ‘Judas’ towards to the stage. After some back-and-forth, Dylan turned to his band and told them to ‘PLAY IT FUCKIN’ LOUD’; before launching into a blistering version of Like a Rolling Stone. “So, in a sense, it’s Dylan protesting a fan’s protest about Dylan not playing protest songs… protest cubed” explains Dave. The print is characteristic of Dave’s ethos at One Strong Arm; creating contemporary typography-led work using traditional methods. The studio’s output involves their ever-growing collection of antique wood and metal type, as well as more modern techniques and processes. Printed in a limited edition of 25, on 220 Gsm uncoated stock, the piece is available to purchase here. @itsonestrongarm Printing via People of Print https://ift.tt/2DhgcW7 October 27, 2020 at 05:59AM
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GetResponse vs AWeber: Which One Has a Better Deal? https://ift.tt/35BfJxb Picking the best email marketing service provider for your needs can determine success or failure with your campaigns. So let’s look at two email service providers: GetResponse vs AWeber. Which of these two has a better deal for you? It’s easy for us to say “GetResponse!” But that won’t be fair, as we’d naturally be biased. So instead, we’ll help you reach your own conclusion by breaking down 15 key features you should compare before choosing an email marketing service. From the essential parts of an email service provider, like email marketing and automation to surveys and social ads, we’ve compiled a detailed comparison between the two tools so you can choose which is best for your business. Here we go! Author’s note: This comparison is accurate on October 26th, 2020. We do our best to keep it as accurate as possible, and we check it on a regular basis, however, if you want to acquaint yourself with the offer of our competitors, you should check it at their official website or contact their representatives. Table Of Contents 1. Email marketing & marketing automationGetResponse: GetResponse’s bread and butter is email marketing software and marketing automation. First, you can bulk import contacts and leads by using either a CSV file, manually entering email addresses, or integrating with external services – even other email software providers. This action will create a database you can use to send targeted emails. From there, you can use GetResponse’s “quick actions” to build slick, quick email marketing campaigns or head over to the main navigation where you’ll have access to all our communication and growth tools. We will get into our easy-to-use templates & drag-and-drop email creator a little further down. Still, this step makes it super easy for even the busiest businesses to create professional email campaigns, forms, autoresponders, automation workflows, RSS-to-email messages, landing pages, and paid ads quickly. Our email marketing platform also makes it easy to put email campaigns and lead nurturing efforts on autopilot. All you have to do is create autoresponders (you may also know this as an email drip campaign) and adjust them to your needs. With ready-made templates and an intuitive calendar view, this process is super simple. If you want to create an automated list building process, you can do this by creating conversion funnels. These combine multiple elements like signup pages, webinars, lead magnets, paid ads, and emails in one simple view. Plus, they’re all part of the GetResponse platform, so you don’t need to buy any additional tools. Last but not least, if you’re not sure at what time you should send your email campaigns, GetResponse offers two features that’ll automatically adjust the send-time to your contact’s time-zone or using their past-behavior data. These are just a few examples that show why we label ourselves as the easiest and most comprehensive email marketing tool available. AWeber: AWeber’s email marketing and automation tools are simple and easy to use. Similarly to GetResponse, you can upload contacts and leads in bulk using a CSV file before launching any email campaigns. However, there’s no option to upload or migrate your list from external platforms. On the plus side, you can contact the AWeber Support Team to have them help you move your content to their platform. From there, you can use AWeber to create messages that you’ll later send as broadcasts, split tests, campaigns, follow up series, or blog broadcasts. If you’d like to automate your list building process, you’ll have to manually set up a landing page, then create a follow-up sequence, and connect the two elements together. This lets you create simple lead generation campaigns and follow up sequences with relatively little effort. But if you’d like to add more elements to your process (e.g. lead magnets, paid ads, webinars), then you’d need to integrate AWeber with external platforms. Verdict: In terms of a simple email campaign setup, AWeber and GetResponse go head to head. But if you’d like to achieve more with your marketing communication, e.g. schedule them using an advanced send-time optimization algorithm, GetResponse offers more features out of the box. 2. Drag-and-drop email creator and templatesGetResponse: With GetResponse you can choose whether you want to build your email campaigns using ready-made templates or create them by yourself, using the GetResponse Email Creator. The prebuilt templates are all responsive and work across any device. They are also very versatile & we regularly keep adding new ones to follow the latest design trends. Our email creator allows you to build templates in two ways: by using a drag and drop email builder or code them by hand using an HTML editor. With the creator, you can:
Since every template is responsive, you can also choose to hide parts so that they’re not visible on mobile devices. This not only makes it easier to optimize campaigns so they look perfect on every device but it also improves your subscribers’ engagement. GetResponse gives you the best of both worlds. You can make a professional-looking email in minutes using drag and drop email creator, or use HTML to customize for more complex projects. AWeber: AWeber also lets you create your messages by hand or using their set of pre-built templates. While you’ll have a big vault of templates to choose from, some of them are a bit outdated and may not fit the aesthetics of your brand. Luckily, the latest templates look good and can be easily customized to your liking. The email creator offers all the essential elements, like:
Similarly to GetResponse, AWeber’s image gallery includes thousands of free stock photos you can use in your marketing campaigns. The main difference is that there’s no prebuilt Giphy integration that’d let you add animated images to your message. Plus, there’s no built-in image editor so you have to make all the adjustments to your graphics outside of the tool. On the plus side, their email creator does offer an image carousel, which might be a useful solution that’ll help you drive your email engagement rates higher. Verdict: All in all, both email creators offer similar experience, but GetResponse has slightly more features like inbox preview, spam check, Giphy integration, and built-in image editor. More advanced email marketers will certainly appreciate these features as they can help you ensure your campaigns always look professional and reach your contact’s inbox. 3. Landing pagesGetResponse: GetResponse Landing Page Creator lets you build landing pages from scratch or using one of 100+ ready-made templates. In both cases, you’ll have access to our drag and drop editor and the option to paste in custom code where you can add your own HTML, CSS, or Javascript code. This lets you add or embed a variety of external content to your landing pages, including Twitter feed or custom count-down timers. With the landing page creator, you can:
Like other templates, the landing pages are also mobile responsive & you can adjust the elements that are visible only for desktop devices. You can also optimize your landing pages for SEO or connect them with many other analytical tools including Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Google Tag Manager, or CrazyEgg. There’s also a built-in A/B test functionality that lets you split test your landing pages to see, e.g. which call-to-action button or lead magnet is driving you more leads. What’s also useful is that landing page templates have matching designs with other elements created in GetResponse, including emails, forms, and social ads. Last but not least, GetResponse landing pages are fully integrated with our webinar software. That means you can use landing pages as webinar registration pages to speed your email list growth. AWeber: AWeber only recently launched landing page templates, which you can customize using the tool’s landing page builder. Similar to AWeber’s email templates, you can customize their landing pages by dragging and dropping text boxes, images, videos, and forms: Their landing pages are also mobile responsive. AWeber landing page builder offers all the essential elements that you’d want to include on your page, like:
While AWeber’s landing pages can be easily tracked with Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel, they don’t offer other solutions like A/B testing or integration with Google Tag Manager. Verdict: Both landing page builders are powerful and offer the essential elements you’ll need to run an effective campaign. The GetResponse landing page creator, however, offers more features out of the box, especially in terms of analytics, integration of the webinar software, and ability to use your own custom domain. The matching design of the templates is also important if you want to maintain the same visual identity across all your marketing channels. 4. Visual workflow builderGetResponse: One of the coolest tools GetResponse has in its toolkit is its visual workflow builder. The drag-and-drop builder allows you to map out an automation flowchart that triggers certain responses. For instance, you can set up a workflow to send different emails to contacts who open an email and those who don’t. Or for those who visit your page, reach a certain score, abandon their cart, and more. Here’s what the workflow builder looks like: An example of a simple workflow could be a new contact signing up to your email list. Inside GetResponse’s workflow creator, you can create a “trigger” to send a welcome message to your new contact: With the workflow, you can also add a “trigger” into the workflow for events like:
You can use these to create onboarding sequences, cart abandonment campaigns, reactivation campaigns, and many more. Creating workflows and email campaigns like this means that the emails that land in your contact’s inboxes are tailored to their needs. AWeber: Although AWeber doesn’t have a visual workflow builder, they offer a tool called ‘Campaigns.’ It lets you structure follow-ups and autoresponder emails using tags. You can also set tagging rules based on your contacts’ behavior, which will then be used to automate your email sequences. It also lets you create simple email sequences to send based on the timeline you set. So if you’re launching a product or welcoming new customers, you can create a simple sequence to send follow up emails, but you won’t be able to see it all visually: Verdict: For basic automation sequences, you can use either of the tools. They both will get the job done. If you’re interested in creating more advanced scenarios using various action types, filters, conditions or syncing them with your ecommerce store – you’re better off to use GetResponse. Our Marketing Automation workflows are also synced with our webinar solution, which lets you create automated scenarios based on your contacts’ participation or activity. 5. SegmentationGetResponse: Any email marketing tool worth its salt can segment followers — GetResponse is no different. You can use GetResponse to segment your subscribers into lists based on the links they click, the page they signed up through, and even the messages they’ve opened. Here’s an example of finding repeat customers for an ecommerce store by adding a search condition that segments based on purchase numbers: GetResponse also automatically assigns an engagement score (from 1 to 5) to all your subscribers by analyzing their open and click activity. This lets you segment your audience by their level of engagement and can serve as a great starting point for reactivation or VIP-client appreciation campaigns. Additionally, you can view each contact’s details and activity in a slick contact card that provides all the right information in a CRM-like fashion. AWeber: AWeber also has a tool that allows you to segment contacts based on the emails they’ve opened, the last activity date, and where they’re located geographically, among others. The process of setting up your segments is easy as the overall interface is intuitive. What’s useful here are some of the ready-made filters that give you quick access to those who unsubscribed or whom you couldn’t reach with your messages. This speeds things up if one of your clients calls you & tells you that they didn’t see your email in their inbox. Verdict: GetResponse and AWeber go head to head when it comes to segmentation, managing your contacts, and displaying your contacts’ information. 6. WebinarsGetResponse: GetResponse has a tool that no other major email service provider has — a webinar software. You can use it to launch and host webinars (both free and paid) from the GetResponse dashboard. So you don’t need to buy and integrate a third-party tool to have this capability like you would with other tools. Combining them means you can add webinars to GetResponse marketing funnels and track analytics like you would with any other part of a campaign like emails or landing pages. If you launch a webinar using GetResponse, you’ll have access to key features like:
Another useful feature you’ll get access to is the poll/survey tool. The webinar allows you to ask attendees questions or to fill out a survey in real-time which can boost engagement with them & provide you useful information for your future campaigns. In addition, GetResponse Webinars are fully integrated with our Marketing Automation and Segmentation. This lets you automate your post-webinar follow up sequences and tailor them based on whether the subscriber registered or also attended the webinar. AWeber Like a ton of other email service providers out there, AWeber doesn’t have any webinar tools. What it does have is integration with third-party webinar tools like GoToWebinar. So you can still promote webinars to build your email list with AWeber — but you’ll have to pay for another tool to actually host your webinar. Verdict: If you’re considering using webinars to engage and build your audience – and don’t want to pay for additional tools – GetResponse has got you covered. 7. EcommerceGetResponse: GetResponse has lots of features for freelancers, consultants, and small businesses in the ecommerce space. Not only do we integrate with 90+ ecommerce tools directly (and many more through Zapier), but we also have our very own App Center to help you get connected with ecommerce integrations: Some apps we integrate with include PayPal, Google Checkout, Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce just to name a few. Apart from integrations, our email templates and marketing automation workflows are also built with ecommerce businesses in mind. Once you’ve integrated your store with GetResponse, you can send abandoned cart sequences, product recommendations, and even transactional emails. Additionally, if you don’t own a store but would like to sell products online, you can do so via Conversion Funnels. There you can set up a store and sell physical and digital products (e.g. ebooks, webinars, online courses). The platform integrates easily with major payment processors, so you can get paid for your products and services in an instant. AWeber: AWeber has product pages that have been created specifically for ecommerce products. Like this one: The tool also integrates with most mainstream ecommerce tools like WooCommerce, Etsy, SamCart, and Shopify. Verdict: If you need a solution that does the basics, AWeber has you covered. But if you’d like to upsell your customers, retarget them with Facebook or Instagram Ads, or run cart abandonment email campaigns GetResponse has more to offer. 8. Conversion funnelGetResponse: Conversion Funnels are our latest step into making GetResponse a full-blown marketing machine. Using the feature, you can build a customized “conversion funnel” using all the tools in GetResponse’s toolbox, like:
Plus, it also comes with a number of templates for all the individual elements of your funnel – the social ad, the landing page, and the email sequences. With a conversion funnel, you can track the complete customer journey, from the moment a customer clicks on your ad to after they purchase. To track and optimize all these steps in the sales cycle before this, you would’ve had to integrate a bunch of third-party tools. Or, bounce from platform to platform as the customer journey progressed. But with GetResponse, you can do it all under one roof. AWeber: AWeber does not have any conversion funnel tool. However, it integrates with other conversion funnels like Deadline Funnel. Deadline Funnel creates unique funnels for subscribers on your list, so you can personalize how you communicate and nurture them along their customer journey. Verdict: If you want to automate your online campaigns or sell your products without having to pay for external tools, GetResponse is the clear winner here. 9. Facebook adsGetResponse: One of the biggest hurdles for freelancers and small businesses is finding the time to create highly-engaging ads for social media profiles that also match the theme on your landing page or emails. GetResponse offers two tools that can help you with this challenge. One is the GetResponse Social Ads Creator, a mobile app that lets you create visually-appealing and engaging social media posts for Facebook and Instagram. The other one is Facebook Ads creator that lets you create & publish image ads and video ads across Facebook, Instagram, and Facebook Audience Network. Like other GetResponse templates, all you need to do is use the drag-and-drop editor to customize a Facebook Ad template and then launch a campaign on Facebook. The best part? Not only can you optimize the ad instantly, but you can also track how much the campaign is costing and buy more ads if you need to. You can also add the Facebook Pixel to your landing pages, which you can use to retarget potential customers with your Facebook ads – also directly from the GetResponse dashboard! AWeber: Like GetResponse, you can add your Facebook pixel to AWeber landing pages which can help you retarget potential customers when you launch an advertising campaign. However, AWeber doesn’t have a Facebook Ads tool. You can combine AWeber with one of its chosen Facebook Ads tools, like Facebook Lead Ads, to send contacts to AWeber. But you’ll need a third-party integrator like Zapier to connect the two tools together and Facebook Ads Manager to set up the actual ad campaign. Verdict: If you want to run paid ad campaigns without having to work through the Facebook Ads Manager and connecting it with your tool for every individual campaign, GetResponse takes the pie here. 10. Google adsGetResponse: Keeping with the theme of bringing everything under one roof, GetResponse also now offers Google Search Ads as one of the features. Thanks to this, you’ll be able to easily fill up your funnel with new leads who are actively searching for your solution. All you have to do is specify the target audience whom you’re trying to reach, choose the appropriate keywords you want to include or exclude from your targeting, set the budget, and start driving the leads to your sales pages. Naturally, on top of integrating with Google Ads, GetResponse offers Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager integrations. AWeber: There are no direct integrations between AWeber and Google Ads. Verdict: If you want to run paid ad campaigns on Google and reach people who are actively searching for your solution, you’ll want to go with GetResponse. 11. SurveysGetResponse: You can use GetResponse to create quick and simple surveys to send out to clients. The drag and drop editor allows you to create surveys and customize them by adding:
So you can create surveys for asking customers for everything from simple website feedback to product reviews and even suggestions on additional features they would like to see. And if you’d like to use an external surveying tool, GetResponse integrates with most of them via Zapier. AWeber: You can only get access to surveys on AWeber using integrations. The tool integrates with three free survey options: Google Documents, Survey Monkey, and SurveyGizmo. Unlike other integrations, adding a survey to an email using one of these third-party tools only requires adding in a URL. Verdict: If you want to run occasional polls and survey your audience then GetResponse has got you covered. If you’re looking to connect your existing survey tool, both platforms will let you integrate seamlessly. 12. Signup formsGetResponse: GetResponse has sign up forms for every situation — from newsletters to product launches to exit popups. First, you can create sign up forms to match your branding and style with templates and a drag and drop editor. Then, it’s just a matter of embedding those forms on your blog and website. If you want to capture leads as they scroll down your pages or through popups, you can do that too. Each signup form can be customized through the GetResponse dashboard, where you can set a form to appear if a visitor shows exit intent or interest in certain products! Another good news is that the signup forms you create in GetResponse are mobile-optimized. That means they’ll look good both on desktop and mobile devices. AWeber: AWeber signup form creator has one aim: to get a visitor’s name and email address into your database. The tool’s sign up templates give you enough options to add simple, user-friendly opt-in forms to your website: However, you can also use the HTML editor to customize the forms if you need to. Like GetResponse, you can change up the form’s colors to match your branding and customize the form’s fields. And if you want more from a client than their name and email address, all you need to do is add in extra fields. Then you can tag these fields so new subscribers are segmented into certain lists in your database — ready to be targeted through email campaigns. Verdict: For simple, embedded signup forms – both platforms will do the work. But if you’d like to use pop-up forms, exit pop-ups, and other more interactive forms then GetResponse is the right choice. And if you want to connect your existing pop-up tool, both platforms will let you do that via an existing integration or Zapier. 13. Auto-taggingGetResponse: With GetResponse you can automatically tag and score your leads based on their behavior towards your communications. So if a lead is interacting with certain content more than others, you can program GetResponse to tag or score them to enhance your email follow-ups automatically. Or if they are regularly opening emails or clicking on links, GetResponse can tag them as an engaged subscriber so that you can tailor your email campaigns accordingly. You can achieve all of this through GetResponse Marketing Automation workflow builder we’ve previously discussed. AWeber: AWeber’s tagging tool can automatically tag someone if they open a certain email or engage with specific links in your emails. So if you send out a newsletter and a subscriber clicks on a link about a specific offer, you can tag them and follow up with more offers around a similar product. This means you can use their auto-tagging feature for basic campaigns, but if you’d need a more robust process based on contact-behavior and interactions with your content, you’re better off with GetResponse. Verdict: Both platforms offer auto-tagging features and dynamic segments, however GetResponse Visual Workflow builder gives you more advanced use-cases. 14. Push notificationsGetResponse: GetResponse Web Push Notifications let you run your marketing campaigns on yet another channel. These are great for ecommerce businesses and publishers who want an alternative communication method that’ll work even if the user’s not actively checking their email inbox. Their response rate is high and definitely something you want to ignore, especially that most of the marketers aren’t using them just yet. Aweber: Aweber doesn’t offer web push notification solutions. Verdict: If you’d like to use web push notifications to keep your audience engaged and updated then GetResponse is the right choice. 15. PricingGetResponse: GetResponse has three different pricing tiers plus an Enterprise plan, making it easier to find a solution that fits your needs. The Plus plan is the most popular. But you can choose the one that’s best for you based on how many people are on your list and how many features you need: You can also save a big chunk of money if you decide to buy a one or two year plan. A one year plan will get you 18% off, while a two-year plan will cut 30% off of your bill. The best part? You can try GetResponse before you buy with our 30-day free trial. AWeber: AWeber has two different pricing plans. They offer a “Free plan” that gives you limited access (like having a single list) for your first 500 subscribers free. Their lowest pricing tier starts at $19/month for up to only 500 subscribers. As your number of subscribers grows, the prices increase in increments: Verdict: AWeber’s pricing is based purely on the size of your email list. So in their Pro plan, you have access to all their features. GetResponse’s pricing is based on the size of your email list, but is also divided by the variety of features you want to have access to. However, if you’re interested in sending emails and even more, such as building an engaged contact base through the use of landing pages, list building funnels, or Facebook Ads – the GetResponse Basic plan is more affordable and provides more value. The GetResponse Plus and Professional plans come packed with many more features and tools, like unlimited sales funnels, paid webinars, and on-demand webinars, yet those plans are still only slightly more expensive than AWeber while providing a ton more value. Since GetResponse eliminates the need to have many additional tools for your webinars, paid ads, social ads, web push notifications, or conversion funnels – it offers a better deal than AWeber. GetResponse vs AWeber full feature comparison
AWeber vs GetResponse: ConclusionLike any tool comparison, picking the right one comes down to what you need for your business. But before making an investment, compare each tool’s functions and select the email marketing provider that best fits your needs. That’s why we’ve put this comparison together — to make it easy for you to make an informed decision and pick the right email marketing software for your specific needs. So take your time making the right choice. Printing via GetResponse Blog https://ift.tt/2Xap2TD October 27, 2020 at 12:20AM
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LinkedIn Lead Generation: How To Get Leads And Boost Revenue https://ift.tt/2Tr3Ap4 Here’s one critical point to know about LinkedIn lead generation: The 690 million monthly users on the network are not your ideal customers. In reality, only a few thousands of them are. For example, if you’re an agency or a consultant, there are companies you can’t work with because your team doesn’t have resources, know-how, or services to handle their projects. And there are other companies/industries that you have the capacity to serve really well; those are the ones you need to go after and convert into leads. So how do you do this? Here are two key strategies to get quality leads on LinkedIn: Strategy #1: Build an engaged following and get leads for free Strategy #2: Run LinkedIn lead generation ads targeted at your ideal customers You may also like: Beginner’s guide to lead generation Table Of Contents Strategy #1: Build an engaged following to get leads for freeThe more engagement your LinkedIn posts get, the more opportunities you have to get leads from the platform. And LinkedIn engagement is hot right now. Each of your posts can reach thousands of potential customers within a few hours or days of posting. For example… But it’s not always easy to get this type of engagement. For example, Dailius in the screenshot above has over 150,000 followers — and these followers are the reason he gets a lot of engagements per post. Building this type of audience takes time and effort. But it’s not impossible either. To build an audience of potential customers, you need to be doing two things at the same time:
Let’s dig deeper into these two: I. Building “targeted” connections every dayIf you’re already engaging on LinkedIn, you know how this works already. The more connections you have, the more people in your network who would be seeing your content. Consequently, the more engagement and leads you’ll get. And building LinkedIn connections is as simple as:
That simple? Yep. The key factor to pay attention to here is the people you’re connecting with — since your goal is to get quality leads. For example, if your target customers are in-house marketing managers in financial services companies, they’re the people you need to be connecting with. And finding them is easy. Simply use the search filters on LinkedIn to search “marketing manager” (still following our example above). There are over 22M marketing managers on LinkedIn, so you need to narrow down your search: To find your specific prospects, use the All Filters feature to get more specific about the people you’re looking for — which is marketing managers in financial services in our example here: Once you click the filters section, you can select your ideal customers’ industry, language, countries, connection degrees, and many more. What’s more? LinkedIn Sales Navigator is another brilliant feature on LinkedIn that’ll help you further in reaching your target prospects. It’s not free, but it does offer more targeting options so you can find connections by their years in current position, years at current company, and many more. So with this, you can have a list of highly targeted connections who you can convert into leads. All these filter options in LinkedIn and LinkedIn Sales Navigator allow you to reach your ideal customers and connect with them. But for the best results, there are some basic guidelines to follow. Basic guidelines to follow when building connections on LinkedIn
Now that we’ve covered how to build an audience, let’s look at how to engage your connections and convert them into leads — by posting every day or at least thrice per week. And keep in mind to continue engaging your prospects by sending them non-promotional DMs and commenting on their posts. II. Posting every day or at least three times per weekNow get this: Posting frequently doesn’t guarantee you’ll get engagement and leads on LinkedIn. For the most part, your success on the platform depends on the type of content you’re posting. If your content is really helpful to your target customers (assuming they’re the people you have as connections), you’ll be getting engagement and inbound leads. There are several ways to get massive engagement on LinkedIn, but the most popular method is one where you’d ask people to leave a comment to get a resource or guide. It looks something like this: In the screenshot above, Ricardo tells his connections he has a Google sheet with the complete overview of all the targeting options they need on LinkedIn. And then asks them to comment “Ads” to get it. How much engagement did he get: But it’s not only this type of posts that get engagements; you can also share how-to posts and stories and they work well too. Read more: How to promote content on LinkedIn So how do you convert all this engagement to leads?Well, a couple of ways:
In his videos, he’ll go round asking them how they using Drift to run marketing and sales campaigns and then put a link in the post — driving people to go to the site and sign up.
What we’ve covered above is what you need to build an engaged following on LinkedIn and convert them into leads. Now let’s look at how you can take a faster approach to LinkedIn lead generation: running ads targeted at your ideal customers. Strategy #2: Run LinkedIn lead generation ads targeted at your ideal customersThis one is pretty straightforward: run ads, get leads. Period. It’s not that simple, of course. But it’s how LinkedIn ads work. And — for the most part — when it comes to getting leads, LinkedIn ads are a shortcut to everything we’ve covered in strategy #1 above. You don’t have to wait till you have engaged followers to start generating quality leads. Simply create ads and target your ideal customers, enticing them with offers they won’t want to refuse. But again, it’s not that simple. For best results with your LinkedIn lead generation ads, you need to first:
These three important factors will determine how successful your LinkedIn lead generation ad would be. Let’s address them one after the other:
Your ideal customers are businesses or people who are a perfect fit for your product/service and can afford it. This worksheet from Terminus shows what an ICP looks like: Once you’ve nailed your ICP, sign in to your LinkedIn Ads dashboard, create your campaign, targeting the people who match your ICP. And more than any other advertising platform, LinkedIn excels at providing audience targeting options that help to make sure your ads reach the right people. Next, you need to show them the right offers in your ads.
There are two main types of offers you can present in your ads to generate leads: Offer #1: Content or lead magnets OR Offer #2: A free tool Either of these two works really well — because they help you build trust with prospects. And trust makes them comfortable buying from you. But what types of content or free tool should you offer in your LinkedIn ads? This is where customer research comes in.Through customer research, you get to understand your prospects’ needs and create content that addresses those needs. And there are several ways to do customer research. If you have an existing email list, you can do a survey using the GetResponse online survey tool. But if you don’t have an email list, go into any industry community where your target customers are and ask a question like this (or any variation of it): “[Enter target customers’ name], what’s your #1 struggle with [enter specific topic]?” When you start seeing certain topics pop up frequently in their answers, note them down; those are the ideal topics you should create content or tool about. And once you’re done with your content creation, your next step is to ascertain the types of ad creatives you’ll be using to run your LinkedIn lead generation ads.
After you’ve nailed your ICP and decided on your offer, it’s time to select your ad type and build your ad creatives. If you’re not sure what these are, LinkedIn offers different types of ads — so your ad format is the ad type you prefer. This could be text ads, conversational ads, InMails, sponsored ads, display ads, conversational ads, etc. What about ad creatives? Your ad creative is your ad design, and it can look and feel however you want it — as long as your preferred ad type supports your style. You can make a video Sponsored Content ad creative… Or a single image Sponsored Content ad… Whatever ad format and creative you use, make sure you’re targeting the right people with offers (content, a demo, or a free tool) that are relevant to them. And how do you know what’s relevant to them? Again, customer research is your best buddy to knowing what offers to present your target customers. Bonus tip: Build your sales conversion funnelAt the end of the day, the reason you’re doing LinkedIn lead generation is to net sales. So you need to make sure you’ve built out your sales conversion funnel properly. If you’re not sure what it is, a sales conversion funnel is the process you set up to attract prospects from LinkedIn and convert them into leads. You can build your entire funnel and guide prospects to sales using the GetResponse Conversion Funnel. Check out the image below to see how it works: (P.S. You can replace Facebook Ads in the image below with LinkedIn Ads) So this funnel helps you manage the entire process of a prospect going from your ad to becoming a customer. And sometimes, their journeys aren’t even this long. It’s why our Conversion Funnel tool is fully customizable. You can build it for a short or long customer journey — depending on your type of business and service. You’ll get 40+ conversion-optimized scenarios written and designed by industry experts to sell, build contact lists, showcase your offers, and help you grow. Conversion Funnels are perfect for local businesses, ecommerce shop owners, ebook writers, coaches, designers, photographers, event planners, and more. There’s a free trial you can grab now, get it here. ConclusionThere’s a lot to take away from this guide, but here are a few major ones:
Printing via GetResponse Blog https://ift.tt/2Xap2TD October 27, 2020 at 12:20AM Eaton Vehicle Group Launches Automotive Metal 3D Printing Program https://ift.tt/3mmbc8L Power management giant Eaton is increasing its 3D printing investment with the launch of a new metal 3D printing program with its Vehicle Group. The program is meant to improve the company’s efficiency and cut development times. The first metal 3D printer was installed at its Kings Mountain, N.C. facility, with the intention to deploy polymer 3D printing throughout the company by the first quarter of 2021. Eaton is a $21.4 billion company with about 92,000 workers dispersed across 175 countries. Under its Aerospace Group, the firm has already worked with GE Additive, adding one Concept Laser metal 3D printer to its Innovation Center in Michigan and another to in the R&D lab at its India-based Global Innovation Center. The partnership included consulting with GE Additive’s AddWorks for how to deploy metal additive manufacturing to its aerospace operations. Through a relationship with Bremen Castings, Inc., Eaton has also explored 3D printing sand molds. The company is already 3D printing parts for Airbus, as well. The company already uses metal and polymer 3D printers across the Vehicle Group for tooling applications, such as poke-yokes and gauges. This latest announcement signals further dedication to the technology. Under its Vehicle Group, Eaton will use AM to produce fixtures, safety devices, robotic grippers for assembly and handling, as well as replacement parts for equipment. Eaton plans to utilize 3D scanning to reverse engineer parts that can then be improved with 3D printing, such as through the use of topology optimization and part consolidation. While the company was not specific as to what metal 3D printers it will be installing, it has said that it is a type of bound metal printing, perhaps from Markforged or Desktop Metal. In a press release, Eaton described metal 3D printing as follows:
The metal 3D printing program is a part of the Vehicle Group’s larger Industry 4.0 strategy, which includes other technologies such as augmented reality (AR), autonomous robots, and digital simulation. Microsoft’s HoloLens 2, for instance, is being used for remote assistance amid the COVID-19 pandemic. AR is also being used for training purposes. Equipment for auto production are also being networked in order to collect and analyze real time information for plant management. Automated guided vehicles are utilized to transport materials throughout production facilities, while COBOTs are performing complex, repetitive tasks. Simulation are allowing the company to design or redesign manufacturing cells and assembly lines, leading to a reported 10 to 30 percent increase in productivity. Given Eaton’s stature as a company, it’s important to note that AM is now spreading from its Aerospace to its Vehicle Group. As the technology is now widely deployed in aircraft production, we may now see it further leveraged in the automotive industry. In this case, Eaton seems to be using it primarily to aid in production, rather than to manufacture end parts, but that will only serve to educate its workers about the technology and ultimately lead to final production applications. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 26, 2020 at 09:02AM
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3D Printed LED Domes Shed Light on Scientific Research https://ift.tt/2G0grLT Exemplifying the wide-ranging versatility of 3D printing, researchers have integrated the technology for accompanying scientific photography, detailing their recent study in “Illuminating nature’s beauty: modular, scalable and low-cost LED dome illumination system using 3D printing technology.” Research may be vital to scientific advancement, but without a suitable presentation, it could mean very little to anyone. This begins with excellence in photography but also relies heavily on lighting. Currently, dome-style illumination systems are most commonly preferred by scientists showing their work—whether in taxonomy, morphology, systematics, natural history collections, or more. There are drawbacks though, due to lack of affordability and ease in use, leading the authors to explore 3D printing for a less expensive, modular LED dome design with the following features:
Samples were 3D printed on the Prusa i3 MK3S using PLA. After discarding and re-working several iterations for the dome, the authors added an LED strip for lighting that was flexible, adhesive, and fitted to the baseplate. Much less assembly was required, and “little to no” soldering was necessary. Ultimately, one SMD LED ring (40 mm diameter) was used for lighting, powered by a DC coaxial connector:
In comparison to similar lighting created in recent, previous research, this technique for creating a 3D printed dome provides the necessary affordability, accessibility, and reproducibility. The researchers expect it to be helpful for students and labs, and especially when there is an emphasis on budget. FDM 3D printing is recommended, with printer settings provided by the researchers; however, users engaged in 3D printing these parts may need to adjust the temperature for the printer bed or extruder, as well as experimenting with settings for the extrusion multiplier to control the amount of filament used. Layer thickness must be taken into consideration too: while higher thickness means decreased resolution, 3D printing is faster. Lower layer thickness means better resolution but more time in production.
[Source / Images: “ Illuminating nature’s beauty: modular, scalable and low-cost LED dome illumination system using 3D printing technology”] Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 26, 2020 at 08:32AM Researchers 3D Print Tunable Ferroelectric Metamaterials https://ift.tt/35wJeAw Researchers from the University of Buffalo (UB) have developed a unique method for 3D printing ferroelectric materials, that is materials that can have their polarization switched through the use of electric fields. With results published in the paper “A 3D-printed molecular ferroelectric metamaterial” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study yields interesting possibilities for metamaterials and electronic devices. Before we can get into the paper itself, we’ll need a little background on ferroelectricity. Just as some materials are naturally ferromagnetic, exhibiting magnetic capabilities, other materials are ferroelectric, meaning that they exhibit electrical polarization. They are pyroelectric and piezoelectric. While most ferroelectric materials do not contain iron, despite the “ferro” prefix, the magnitude and direction of their electrical polarization can be changed in response to changes in temperature, pressure or electric fields. This makes them ideal for specific electronic or biomedical applications, such as random-access memory, ultrasound imaging, data storage, displays and more. In the UB study, the research team employs imidazolium perchlorate (ImClO4), “a transparent molecular ferroelectric with superior electromechanical coupling and reprogrammable stiffness.” Because the material is water-soluble and transparent, it lends itself to digital light processing (DLP) and stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing. The low diffraction index of the material makes it possible for UV light to penetrate the material without light scattering. The team, therefore, mixed ImClO4 powder with UV-sensitive resin and a DLP 3D printer from Anycubic. Once a complex lattice structure was printed with the concoction, the part was dehydrated, allowing it to maintain its shape. Moreover, due to the “reprogrammable stiffness” properties of the material, the team was able to record the printed object perform self-healing of cracks by dissolving the damaged part in ImClO4 solution. The researchers demonstrated that the ferroelectric properties of the printed material were close to those of nonprinted ImClO4, with polarization responding appropriately to an electric field and dielectric properties responding appropriately to changes in temperature. Moreover, the self-healing, 3D printed part was able to recover its ferroelectric properties compared to a ImClO4 part that was allowed to degrade. Whereas manufacturing of parts with ferroelectric properties typically takes hours, the UB team was able to make parts in just minutes due to the speed of a continuous DLP process. Lead author Shenqiang Ren, PhD, professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, said of the study, “The sky is the limit when it comes to ferroelectric metamaterials.” The study was partially funded by the U.S. Army Research Office (ARO), which sees potential applications for aircraft soundproofing, shock absorbers and elastic cloaks. Evan Runnerstrom, PhD, program manager at ARO elaborated: “One of the reasons ARO is funding professor Ren’s project is that molecular ferroelectrics are amenable to bottom-up processing methods — like 3D printing — that would otherwise be challenging to use with traditional ceramic ferroelectrics. This paves the way for tunable metamaterials for vibration damping or reconfigurable electronics, which could allow future Army platforms to adapt to changing conditions.” This is just one of the latest examples of metamaterials being developed with 3D printing. Some research is directed at soft robots that react to their environments. Others incorporate nanoscale geometries to impact the behavior of objects at the macroscale. All of the above may make 3D printing in the future virtually unrecognizable from how we understand it today. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 26, 2020 at 08:02AM DoD Awards $1M to 6K to Recycle Scrap for Metal 3D Printing https://ift.tt/2HrTP7S The United States Department of Defense (DoD)’s combat logistics support, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), has awarded a Phase two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to 6K, a leading developer of microwave plasma technology for advanced materials engineering, and its business division 6K Additive. The near $1 million award will support 6K’s development and commercialization of high-performance metal powders for additive manufacturing (AM) from scrap sources. Looking to reduce the extraction of raw metals by recycling material closer to its users, 6K is sustainably turning scrap metal, shavings, used parts, and even used powders into high-quality metal powder. The new materials will be applied towards additively manufacturing real-world, discrete printed parts that will demonstrate functionality in testbeds or systems. Using 6K’s proprietary UniMelt microwave plasma platform, the program will demonstrate the company’s capability to source, process, and reclaim nickel superalloy scrap components, shop scrap, and used powders for conversion into aerospace-grade powders. The UniMelt production system is capable of converting high-value metal scrap of numerous forms into high-performance metal powders for AM, metal injection molding, and other powder metallurgy production techniques. The technology is critical because it provides access to a vast domestic supply of strategically important metals and alloys such as nickel and titanium from machine shops, boneyards, and sources of other used materials that are required by the DLA’s military personnel throughout the world. 6K intends to offer the US military a secure, traceable domestic supply of critical materials while eliminating unexpected performance anomalies due to questionable sourcing from foreign supply. According to the company, its patented process cleans, prepares, and spheroidizes scrap alloys into high-quality powders with superior performance to metal atomization technologies. The 6K Additive team is already processing and selling over 500 tons of titanium alloy spherical powder Ti-64 per year into the aluminum alloying industry for aerospace, medical, and automotive production. The business’s ability to reclaim materials and process almost any type of metal, alloy, or ceramic feedstock into premium powders means it can even create new AM powders previously not possible.
AM technology is already considered to be environmentally friendly when compared to conventional manufacturing processes. Metal AM in particular reduces the overall amount of metal materials consumed compared to traditional machining. Still, there is a growing demand for sustainable feedstock. As virgin metals become increasingly difficult to mine and carry associated environmental costs, leveraging technology to recycle scrap reduces pollution and waste, saves resources, and prevents the destruction of habitats from mining new ore. In the US alone, the recycling of scrap metal is a $32 billion business – according to the latest IBIS World report – that uses at least 50% less energy than mining new metal and contributes to the country’s circular economy. In line with this, creating a closed-loop supply chain where certified scrap materials are turned into powder by 6K, which can then be additively manufactured, sounds like an ideal solution for the DoD. Especially since metal powder superalloys are used in critical propulsion and heat mitigation components in the hottest, most corrosive, most demanding components in aircraft and rocket engines, gas turbines, oil and gas equipment, and heat exchangers. Having a control system can enhance security and reduce the risk of dependence on foreign supply, even avoiding any unexpected performance anomalies due to questionable sourcing about the quality and consistency of foreign-sourced materials. According to 6K, there is a constrained domestic availability of strategic metals such as superalloys, so utilizing materials from the nation’s boneyards and machine shops to convert into high-quality materials provides the US military with a secure domestic supply of critical metal. Moreover, there is a chance to recycle previously qualified DoD parts, shop scrap, and used powders that result in material quality that is known and traceable. The Massachusetts-based company also revealed that it has worked with several members of Congress to gain support for the company’s efforts in utilizing defense scrap material as feedstock for the UniMelt process, in support of reducing the dependence on foreign supply. 6K considers that using already certified scrap as raw material dramatically reduces the material cost of goods for manufactured parts and ensures they meet the desired specification. Powders from scrap will leverage DoD investments by reducing the cost of end-system part production with a compelling rate of return.
Furthermore, in early September 2020, the representative introduced a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permanently allow a tax deduction for investments in property used for mining, reclaiming, or recycling of critical minerals and metals from deposits in the United States. If the bill passes, companies like 6K will certainly benefit from a tax deduction for sustainably recycling metal scrap. Particularly, since 6K has recently commissioned the first two commercial UniMelt systems for its new 40,000 square foot state-of-the-art metal powder production facility on the company’s 45-acre site at Burgettstown, Pennsylvania. The new facility, which is said to be near 100% completion, is expected to develop, commercialize and begin shipping traditional powder products in the fall of 2020. Both the UniMelt process and high-quality materials are expected to help the DoD develop and adopt advanced AM, metal injection molding, and powder forging processes more quickly, creating parts with totally novel functionality, reducing engineering cycles, and accelerating “make-to-fly” cycles. Creating a circular economy to turn manufacturing scrap into usable metal powder for AM, can reduce virgin metal production by recycling existing material closer to its source, decreasing the environmental footprint. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 26, 2020 at 07:32AM |
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