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All-Female Vehicle Builds and International Trade Anchor Women in 3D Printing Conference in Dreams and Reality

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Women in 3D Printing (Wi3DP) hosted its third annual Technology, Industry, People, Economics (TIPE) Conference and, from an attendee’s perspective, it seemed to go off without a hitch. We should have a better sense of the numbers as the event wraps up. However, it was a clear success based on the sheer number of panelists and speakers providing quality content across four tracks catering to all the world’s time zones easily.

As someone based in the U.S., I followed the primary time zone, meaning that the major keynote addresses were given at 9 am PST. These included a fireside chat between Wi3DP President Kristin Mulherin and Marisa Lago, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade at the White House, as well as a presentation by non-profit Girl Gang Garage. These two keynotes contrasted each other well in terms of content and style.

The Role of the International Trade Administration

Lago spoke to the role of the International Trade Administration (ITA), what it does domestically and internationally, as well as how this can apply to 3D printing businesses. Relying on a network of trade specialists around the country and the world, the ITA engages with counterparts in foreign nations to attract trade, specifically in terms of exports of U.S. goods and cultivating local environments that encourage U.S. trade.

“It can be things as straightforward as addressing corruption, but we also speak with [foreign counterparts] about enhancing protection for intellectual property, having a judicial system that can resolve commercial disputes,” Lago explained. “We also engage in what we call commercial advocacy when a U.S. business is bidding on a tender by a government outside of us, and this is both the national government, but it can also be state governments, municipal governments. We will then advocate on behalf of pre-cleared US companies emphasizing the fact that by going with a U.S. bid, it is a company that benefits from our reputation for innovation and, also, for integrity and business practices.”

Interestingly, Lago noted that the trade specialists in the ITA’s network “know the formal rules, but perhaps as importantly, they know the informal rules of how business gets done in these countries around the globe.” For anyone who has studied global trade to any degree, the idea of “informal rules” of business will conjure up things like the Al-Yamamah arms deal or the Bank of Credit and Commerce International.

Nevertheless, Lago said that the ITA focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), historically underserved communities, minority-owned businesses and woman-owned businesses. She went on to describe how SMEs can access the global market, such as speaking to a local US Export Assistance Center to assist in selling internationally, providing market intelligence, performing business-to-business matchmaking, and addressing trade obstacles an exporter has encountered. For businesses outside of the U.S., Lago suggested participation in the Select USA Conference, where companies and funds large and small meet economic development organizations from states and cities across the U.S., as well as governors, cabinet officials, and business leaders.

Specifically, for those in the 3D printing industry, Lago said that the ITA performs export promotion, which included an advanced manufacturing trade mission that went to Indonesia, Singapore, and Japan last October. As a result of the pandemic, the ITA also initiated virtual and hybrid trade missions, which can include business matchmaking. The ITA is also interested in working with additive experts on developing standards.

Lago’s Advice for Women in STEM

Other topics that Lago addressed were her own experiences as a woman in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). She suggested that progress in this area is slow, but that, since she first had a female boss at age 55, she has only had female bosses. Moving forward, Largo urged the following:

“Look out for the next generation of women, invite them to take a seat at the table, amplify their voices, especially if they’re being spoken over or if they’re being mansplained. Give them the stretch assignment that will give them exposure and can lead to a bigger job. And, to the extent that you’re able, be a mentor. Early on in my career, I wondered why these people that were so much more senior, were spending their time mentoring me. And, when I became a mentor, I realized it is the mentor who gets so much more out of the relationship because you’re investing in the future, you’re seeing the possibility.”

Merging a 1961 Volvo with a 2019 Volvo Hybrid

Lago’s chat provided a contrast with the next day’s keynote from members of Arizona-based Girl Gang Garage, a non-profit dedicated to educating and empowering women to participate in the trades and automotive industry through all-female vehicle builds. In addition to outlining the story of the organization, founder Bogi Lateiner, alongside members Anne Pauely and Pam Waterman, discussed one of their most recent projects, which relied heavily on 3D printing and 3D scanning, to combine the body of a 1961 Volvo PV544 with the chassis, drivetrain, and the modern electronics of a 2019 Volvo S60 hybrid. To promote TIPE ahead of the event, Pauley appeared on ASME’s AM News Live video podcast alongside myself earlier in the week.

The lively group showcased videos and photos to illustrate the impressive journey to create what came to be called the Iron Maiden. Encapsulating the challenge of this two-year build, Pauley described it as “integrating electronics and the chassis and everything from a much, much bigger vehicle into this teeny tiny little classic car body. Basically, think about squeezing a new Volvo sedan into a classic Volkswagen vehicle, and you’ll get the idea.”

Knowing that 3D printing would be integral to the project, Lateiner was connected with polymer printer manufacturer Stratasys early on. The company then tapped its southwestern distributor Phoenix Analysis and Design Technologies (PADT) to assist, with PADT Senior Application Engineer Pam Waterman learning how to use a handheld scanner essentially on-site to create a digital twin of the older vehicle and the small components from the newer one. Leveraging this scan data over the course of a week-and-a-half spent at the garage in Phoenix, Anne Pauley was able to use her CAD expertise to transform the data into what was necessary for the build.

Using a Stratasys F370 3D printer and an Origin One, the team was able to iterate and complete a number of 3D printed parts. All components were essentially custom, with no off-the-shelf elements available for such a novel project. This included: door handles, the antenna, camera mounting and casing for the exterior and, for the interior, an entirely custom cabin air duct and a suspension adapter, among other things.

Pauley explained just how unique some of the elements were in attempting to combine the classic aesthetic of the PV544 with the modern pieces of the S60:

“For the door handles, we created this custom component that not only fit this car style-wise, but it also fit this modern mechanism and integrated the lighting and proximity sensor. The PB 5 44 didn’t have this modern door mechanism. So, we combined the S 60 door mechanism with that body. The S 60 mechanism was much, much, much bigger scale-wise than what made sense for the PB 5 44. So, we took that mechanism and took a lot of that material off. In order to create this part, Pam 3D scanned that mechanism that had been modified and there were some really, really critical snap points that had to be perfect for this handle to snap onto the vehicle and not be too tight, not be too loose, and also fit those components inside of it. So, using this 3D scan, we were able to grab those mounting points out of the CAD and really quickly, with only a couple fit checks, get that perfect snap on fit.”

3D Printing to Extend Vehicle Life

Seeing the project, I was inspired by the possibilities for the resource scarcity humanity is in the process of creating. Nearly every year since it was created in 1971, Earth Overshoot Day has seen humanity’s demand for natural resources outpace the planet’s ability to regenerate those resources at a faster rate. When it comes to two crucial ingredients for electric vehicles, lithium and cobalt, virgin supplies seem to have near dwindled. For these reasons and more, recycling and 3D printing will play increasingly important roles in reusing these scarce materials. The Iron Maiden project is a demonstrator of just how such initiatives could result in completely unique solutions to this problem.

Lateiner spoke to this issue:

“There’s a lot of energy and buzz around putting hybrid and electric platforms into older vintage vehicles. And I think the excitement there is [related to[ how can we be better for our environment and yet still enjoy our love of old cars and appreciate the beauty of the artistry of old classic, vehicles without completely destroying the universe. One of the things we’re proud of on this particular build is that we used relatively little new material. The S 60 obviously was a new vehicle, but we didn’t really buy a lot of parts for it. We made what we needed. Even with the metalwork and customizing, we used as much of both of the cars as we could. We were constantly scavenging. It was very normal to hear me in the shop saying, ‘Reduce, reuse, recycle!’ as we went and pulled and scavenged things off of the S 60 or metal from the disposed part of the PV544 that we didn’t need. We were like, ‘Ooh, we need some metal for a patch. Well, can we steal this from there? We need a bracket. Can we steal this from there? Where can we take and reduce and readapt and repurpose?’

Pauley contributed:

“3D printing has a lot of potential to make an impact from a sustainability perspective on these custom automotive parts because a traditionally manufactured, custom automotive part is made using permanent tooling, which probably already was made for the original vehicle. Then, after that, it’s taking up space in a warehouse for decades potentially before somebody actually uses it [again]. And then, even after that, you have your shipping costs and your logistics costs. So 3D printing doesn’t have the potential to have a sustainability impact just by reducing that warehousing and that shipping logistics.”

Girl Gang Unveils the Iron Maiden

The Iron Maiden was ultimately unveiled at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) event in Las Vegas in November 2022. About it, Lateiner said:

“The idea of these all female builds came around to display on a national stage—i.e. SEMA, which is… like the Super Bowl of car shows every year in Vegas. It was an opportunity to put all of these women on that stage and say, ‘Look what we can do. Look what we can build when given the opportunity—and eliminate those questions that so many men in the industry have, like ‘Well, are they really capable? Can they really do the work?’ The Iron Maiden is the third all-female build that we’ve done and completed just this past year. Definitely the most ambitious and the most challenging…Everything on this car is custom and it really was a celebration of old and new—a celebration of where we started and where we finished and where we’re going, right? The entire project was celebrating where women have started in the industry to where they’re at now, and what we hope for them for the future.”

As rewarding as the experience was, Girl Gang Garage is taking a break from large builds, according to Lateiner. Instead, it will spend 2023 focusing on educational opportunities, potentially with assistance from Stratasys and Autodesk.

Altogether, both Lago and Girl Gang Garage served to frame the entire TIPE event by showcasing how female actors—and specifically those with a feminist mindset—are serving to drive technology, industry, people, and economics forward, in 3D printing and everywhere. As we experienced other elements of the event (to be covered in subsequent posts), these important keynotes anchored them in the astounding accomplishments of players like Lago, Lateiner, and others. These presentations highlighted just what can be done by a group like Wi3DP when driven by a crucial and inspiring mission, such as bringing diversity, equity, and inclusion to the AM industry and beyond.

The post All-Female Vehicle Builds and International Trade Anchor Women in 3D Printing Conference in Dreams and Reality appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

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January 27, 2023 at 08:49AM

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Archipelago: Further Segmentation of the 3D Printing Industry

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A few weeks ago, I wrote an article spotting a future trend, first noticed by Autodesk´s Alexander Oster, towards a commoditization of the powder bed fusion portion of the additive manufacturing (AM) industry. But, there is more going on than just that. By interviewing original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), industrial users of 3D printers, large enterprise 3D printing users, and suppliers to the industry, I think that there is more segmentation ahead.

For the first time we’re truly starting to see differentiation and further divergence of needs from players in our industry. This is happening at a time when that divergence could lead to truly different segments that work more like interconnected vats than a truly global market. At the same time, we’re seeing a proliferation of materials, software, and services that are geared towards catering to these diverging segments. I thought that it would be a good exercise to describe the major trends to initiate some discussion in the industry because I believe that the implications could be profound.

The Four Stages of the 3D Printing Market

I see the AM industry as progressing through four stages: from local to global, continental, and finally a segmented, archipelago-style industry whereby there are many islands of expertise, materials, software, and machines. Initially, there were local players catering to very local markets. Peugeot made cars in France. If the company wanted a prototype in Belgium or the Netherlands, they would call Materialise. Then, we saw a globalized industry: Peugeot is French and would sell its cars mostly in France, but also in Algeria, Belgium, and Vietnam. Everyone used Materialise software, but could get a prototype in the Netherlands or California made by a local firm.

Globalized, in this sense, means that the designers of globalization, e.g. the West sells to everyone. In Germany, German cars predominate, but there are also Peugeots and Fords. Ford is strong in the U.S., but everywhere else, as well. This is the globalized stage whereby local strengths parlay into limited but truly global competition. Later we saw true Globalization where ¨they sell to us too¨ which has put western governments into a sudden reverse gear about globalization and its discontents. Or in other terms, it is efficient markets that cause unemployment over there, it is a dumping, unfair competition, a national security worry, if it causes unemployment in Western Europe or the US.

The Continental Stage

Later on, the car industry became segmented and we saw the emergence of a stronger, consolidated continental industry. There is still global competition, but acting from strongly consolidated local markets: e.g., the big three in Detroit or the intensely Japanese, domestic market.

This continental stage looks a lot like globalization but smacks of mercantilism and it is the step that 3D printing occupies right now. We can get a prototype made everywhere pretty much, but if we need AM for production, there are precious few partners. No one is surprised if the French government opts for a French machine. By and large, everyone covers the market within their own technology silos.

We have conglomerates that sell everywhere and dominate the market. They are strong in their countries, less strong yet still powerful in their regions, and project their sales outward from a strong capital base. Think Stratasys, EOS, 3D Systems, SLM, GE, Materialise. Meanwhile, there are smaller players emerging that flourish in niches. There is also further consolidation afoot, as players seek to become players of note by rolling up fragmented parts of the AM sector, See American Industrial Partners and CORE Industrial Partners attempts to bring order to the fragmented U.S. manufacturing service market. Generally, however, we’re not seeing the full effects of consolidation across the industry yet.

Confusion about Consolidation

This is because, up and until a few months ago, anyone with half-a-brain and a quarter-of-an-idea could get $5 million to try out starting a 3D printing business. This meant that there was a lot of air and silliness in our industry, as products were created without market fit or competitors emerged that really didn’t compete. From Tulip Mania to now this is what always happens, alas.

In our industry, we saw that many startups were just too optimistic. If there are 500 true 3D printing production sites out there, with four designers per site, then what is the market for a given type of software or service? If they’re growing their revenue at 30 per per annum, how will a firm outpace them if it isn’t actually making the market bigger?

These businesses are increasingly failing now that capital is tight. Optimism breeds optimists and the optimists are having to think grimly of the future. So, these businesses are not being taken over because they have too little revenue or instal base to be meaningful for companies many times their size. Or they’re being bought for IP. The fossil record of the Cambrian explosion details all the creature designs that didn’t work, plus an increasing prevalence of those that did.

An Automotive Industry Allegory

So, the 3D printing market is consolidating but growth has been sorely lacking from underperforming public players, especially of the frothy, SPAC kind. We know that consolidation is happening, but it will take more than a few Google searches to verify this. For a parallel we can look at the automotive industry in the 1930s, where over half of U.S.-based automakers went out of business. This article showcases GM’s response to the recession by offering many more models in many verticals and markets (e.g., Stratasys) and Chrysler´s response, which was to increase efficiency (e.g., what most others are doing).

More dramatically still, the U.S. automotive industry had over 2,000 firms in the early period of 1900 to 1920. Yes, some of these were acquired or merged, but the vast majority ceased to exist or pivoted. Was there consolidation over the period? Of course! But, that doesn’t mean that every company had to be subsumed by others that still exist. Then, in the 1940s, “Chrysler, Ford and GM accounted for 90 percent of all U.S. car sales, with the rest divided between Packard, Hudson, Nash-Kelvinator, Studebaker, Checker, Crosley and Willys-Overland/Jeep.¨

The U.S. automotive market since is a very different story, with the smaller firms disappearing. Now, Toyota has the largest market share in the U.S. (around 14%) followed by GM and Ford. The top five have around 50% and this includes the ostensibly Dutch Stellantis and Hyundai/Kia. Whereas Stellantis has been a noted consolidator, the top Japanese and Korean firms are not really known for acquisitions.

If we’d be silly enough to look at only how many companies of the initial 2,000 were acquired or only see this through the lease of market share consolidation by a few players at one point, we’d miss the bigger picture of volatility and new market entrants. Also, check out this list of, U.S. carmakers and when they went bust. Do also look at the calculus on average company age, now down from 58 years to 18. S&P companies also spend less than 24 years on the index, down from 33 years in 1964. Creative destruction still propagates and the invisible hand is not clapping for you.

Conclusion

As for our market, my theory here is that we are actually entering an archipelago stage. Here, local competition worldwide partially displaces previous consolidators. Increasingly, people will have local options in many more markets from materials, to software, and machines. National champions will emerge and a few key players will dominate different areas of our industry. This includes a few global OEMs, some local strong OEMs in China and other countries, and others with a mix of international and Chinese firms. There will be more focus on verticals and more industry- and application-specific verticals, startups and services.

Far from a big tent industry where everyone knows everyone, 3D printing will have dental startups that only focus on dentists and won’t really known to the rest of the sector. We will see specialization and localization as well as a more granular approach by specialized players in each area. This will, I believe, lead us to an archipelago whereby offerings, competitiveness and markets will be split.

Images: erikwestrum, Adrian Scottow, Antony Carr, RichardBH.

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January 27, 2023 at 08:49AM

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£6M UK Grant Boosts 3D Printed Medicine and More

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Researchers at the University of Nottingham‘s Centre for Additive Manufacturing (CfAM) in the UK received a £6 million ($7.4 million) grant from the British government to develop a toolkit that will allow 3D printed medicines to be manufactured more effectively. The project aims to create “smart products” on demand that are personalized and bespoke, driving innovations closer to commercial production. Examples include prosthetic limbs, bio drugs containing active ingredients like biological molecules, and living plasters or wound patches that can rebuild tissues damaged from chronic disease.

Led by CfAM professor and additive manufacturing expert Ricky Wildman, the project will see participation from fellow researchers from the University of Nottingham’s Faculty of Engineering and School of Pharmacy, as well as the Universities of Cambridge, Reading, and Strathclyde, and project partners like Boston Micro Fabrication, AstraZeneca, Formlabs, Pfizer and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Together, the teams will work to develop a toolkit platform that acts as an instruction manual allowing the industry to identify, select and process the correct materials to 3D print into new regenerative medicines and pharmaceuticals.

Formulating 3D printable materials ready for advanced function. Image courtesy of CfAM/University of Nottingham.

3D printing for healthcare

Hoping to give healthcare professionals access to the latest cutting-edge science faster, the researchers aim to improve the pathway from research to development and clinical adoption, which faces major obstacles. Towards this end, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), which offers federal grants to UK universities, decided to fund Wildman’s five-year project.

Commenting on the proposal, Wildman said the proposal aims to improve the adoption of 3D printing, particularly in healthcare technologies. He further explains: “There is currently a lack of agility in UK manufacturing preventing 3D printing being developed in certain areas of industry. Manufacturing needs the capability to quickly, predictably, and reliably ‘dial up’ performance to produce products embedded with advanced functionality. Many pharmaceutical firms don’t know how to go from concept to reality with 3D printing. They aren’t sure what materials are 3D-printable, which order to combine the materials, or what function different geometric profiles have. This new project aims to provide all this information to enable commercial applications.”

Using computational modeling and machine learning, the team will develop instructions for use by the industry to accelerate the development cycle of new drugs, which could reduce timescales from two years to six months. Moreover, as part of the project, three test pharmaceutical products will be developed and tested, all of which rely on incorporating proteins or enzymes to promote cell growth and have customizable, complex, and multi-material requirements.

Solid dosage tablets for oral delivery of biotherapeutics. Image courtesy of CfAM/University of Nottingham.

Accelerating the health revolution

As CfAM explains, this initiative aims to deliver the tools that will shorten the development time and production of functional 3D printed products, thereby enabling widespread uptake and competitive advantage within sectors key to the UK. To deliver this, the team will first demonstrate 3D printing capability to deliver advanced functional products to key, high-value sectors of the UK, particularly the pharma and biotechnology sectors, develop libraries of materials that extend the current functional capability of 3D printing bioinks, and develop a toolkit of connected synthesis, formulation, screening and deposition systems that allow for the rapid assessment and deployment of 3D printable functional materials.

According to the University of Nottingham, the project targets widespread uptake across hospitals, pharmacies, and the wider UK National Health Service (NHS). The collaborators are already working hard, testing a biological pill that could replace injected vaccines. If successful, the 3D-printed personalized pill could be easily taken by the patient, cutting out issues with logistics, delivery, and administering of the drug.

In addition, the group is developing an intestinal patch that could calm inflammation, potentially helping patients with Crohn’s, a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes swelling of the tissues in the digestive tract. The patch would be laid over the internal area and release active ingredients to help heal and support cell renewal.

NHS Consultant and University of Nottingham School of Medicine Professor Mohammad Ilyas said this is inspiring work that, through building cellular models, will “improve our understanding of how the gut functions.” If successful, it will lead to a paradigm shift in clinical management and launch the use of autologous tissue-engineered therapeutics for bowel disease treatment, added the expert.

Similarly, Clive Roberts, the Head of the School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham, indicated that “While these products are in their infancy, we are hoping to be able to develop these innovations to demonstrate the capabilities of the 3D printing tool kit and be able to show how we can combine materials to provide personalized medicines that are safe, effective and low cost.”

Using computational and algorithmic approaches to support materials identification and product design. Image courtesy of CfAM/CfAM

This is not the first time we heard from Professor Wildman and his 3D printing innovations. In 2021, the expert found a new way to design and manufacture custom medical devices to boost performance and bacterial resistance through a combination of multi-material inkjet 3D printing and genetic algorithms. Before that, he participated in a project to 3D print medicines with personalized doses. With Wildman at the helm of CfAM, 3D printing research could help advance next-generation on-demand healthcare devices that will improve patient care in the UK. This program, in particular, has the ambitious goal of realizing highly functional, smart products with the potential to transform key UK industries like biopharma, cell therapy, regenerative medicine, biocatalysis, and more.

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January 27, 2023 at 07:15AM

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Directed Energy Deposition: The Pathway to Large Format Metal 3D Printing – AMS Speaker Spotlight

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While AM has been dubbed as the 4^th industrial revolution, it has made minimal in-roads into the arena of large part manufacturing. Among all the metal AM technologies, Directed Energy Deposition (DED)technologies are more easily scalable than others. Therefore, DED is well suited for manufacturing large parts. Surprisingly, the adoption of DED technologies has been much slower than other well-known 3d printing technologies, such as Powder Bed Fusion (PBF), Material Jetting (MJ) or Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). However, this is changing. Aerospace and defense industries are leading the way in exploring and adapting large format metal printing.

DED has come a long way.  Baker’s 1935 patent on ‘Method of Making Decorative Articles’ is arguably the first known patent using a directed energy technique. While the process was not digitally driven, it, nonetheless, demonstrated the potential of tool-less manufacturing using a layer wise approach.  Today’s DED technologies are far more sophisticated and fully driven by digital manufacturing methodologies. However, there remains some significant barriers to its widespread adoption for large part manufacturing. Enhanced build rate, consistent build process, real time process monitoring and control, stress & distortion mitigation strategies are some of the essential requirements to reach the dream of producing large metal AM parts that can journey to outer space, fly in an aircraft around the earth, explore the deep seas or produce energy at a power station with 24/7 reliability.

DM3D Technology LLC, a leading DED technology and service provider, has taken on the mission to make large-scale metal AM parts a reality. DM3D’s proprietary Direct Metal Deposition (DMDâ) is one of the DED technologies that uses high power laser as a heat source and metal powder/wire as feedstock to 3D print metal parts layer-by-layer directly from the CAD data (Fig. 1). We realize that developing large format AM technology is a task that we cannot realize alone. The process starts with identifying candidate parts, analyzing technical and commercial challenges, and laying out potential integrated solutions to these challenges to maximize our chances of being successful. For the past five years, our team has been working tirelessly with our customers and suppliers towards achieving this goal.

Like in any product development, a key mantra to success is cheaper, better, and faster. Enhanced build rate is a must-have factor to make the cost of large parts affordable and to reduce lead time. Some DED processes have reached this target by using high energy input and large beam size. However, these advancements have come at a cost, such as a reduction in complex feature capability and process resolution while introducing very large distortions in the part. In order to overcome this challenge, our team at DM3D took a different approach. We designed, fabricated, and commissioned a new generation multi-nozzle DMD system (Figure 2). Some features of this Multi-nozzle DMD system are:

• Build envelope of 10ft diameter and 10ft height
• Doubled the throughput using two simultaneously operating process heads with capability to add two more process heads
• Patented closed-loop feedback control for the process stability and quality of the build
• Coaxial nozzle with local shielding of melt pool to provide high quality material
• A large rotary table with tiltable process heads (±45°) allow for printing overhang structures
• Large capacity high feed rate pre-heated powder hoppers

The next critical step in maturing a large part printing process is candidate part selection and build process optimization. We worked with NASA on the RS-25 engine nozzle liner (with 97in or base diameter and 111in height) as a candidate part. The build approach started with design of experiments (DOE) based process recipe optimization followed by a thermal, stress and distortion simulation of the build process using ANSYS software (Fig. 3) and subsequent compensation of the distortion to print geometry. This was followed by a successful build process (Fig. 4) and finally, a structured light geometric inspectional (from Hexagon) scan on completion of the build (Fig. 5). Replacing conventional manufacturing with AM for a RS-25 engine liner is estimated to result in 2X to 10X schedule reduction and a significant cost savings (up to 50%). There is significant technological and commercial benefit of printing such large parts using DED technology as indicated by Paul Gradl, a Principal Engineer at NASA MSFC and a world-renowned AM expert, “NASA has established these public-private partnerships with industry and academia to advance new approaches, process build volumes, novel alloys, and component demonstrations using additive manufacturing,” he said. “The goal is to increase the technology readiness level to allow infusion into future NASA missions and commercial space applications.”

We hope that this successful demonstration of printing large rocket engine parts will open doors for large-scale metal AM and directly benefit the fast-growing commercial space industry which is in constant need of large structures. Rapid manufacturing speed, along with the ability to incorporate new design changes with minimum effort, will be a perfect tool for current and future design & manufacturing engineers and accelerate innovation to a greater benefit of our society.

DM3D will be attending Additive Manufacturing Strategies, taking place in New York City from February 7-9, 2023. DM3D Technology President Bhaskar Dutta will be participating on “Panel 1: The Future of DED and WAAM” on February 7. Register for your ticket to attend here. 

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January 27, 2023 at 07:15AM

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Join Caracol at AMS 2023 in NYC to Meet Heron AMTM: the Future of Large Format 3D Printing – AMS Speaker Spotlight

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Come meet Caracol at Additive Manufacturing Strategies in New York on February 7th to 9th. The company is returning as event sponsors this year to showcase their LFAM platform: Heron AM.

Caracol’s pioneering journey into Large Format Additive Manufacturing began 7 years ago, when its our four co-founders began researching Large-Format Additive Manufacturing and its potential. From day one they began looking into how they could overcome the limits of existing AM technologies, to better serve the needs of clients in the most advanced industries.

This journey led Caracol to develop and launch Heron AM^TM: the integrated hardware and software platform. This is the company’s turnkey solution for companies to maximize flexibility, efficiency, process control, and performance when they manufacture large, advanced, and complex parts.

Heron AM is comprised of several key elements that can guarantee certain quality, accuracy, and performance standards. The platform was developed with an application-first approach: as Caracol is the system’s first end-user, they developed know-how on the type of challenges their clients might face when manufacturing parts and when working with LFAM technologies. After years of research and development, over 30 thousand hours of printing, and hundreds of projects with clients across sectors, the company decided to commercialize its system.

The platform includes extrusion heads developed and patented by Caracol, a robotic arm for movement and support, a direct and continuous feeding system for composites and polymers, a dedicated software platform for complex tool paths, and other features to fully integrate the system. It was developed as a modular system, so that it can be configured and customized for different applications and manufacturing requirements based on different end-users’ needs.

Furthermore, the company continues innovating its solution – at Formnext 2022 they launched two new products: the high flow extruder and the automated print bed. The new extruder was developed to work on large parts very fast, with a higher working temperature – up to 450°C – it was introduced to process an extensive range of materials with high melting points, while maintaining best properties and print quality given the greater thermal control. The automatic print bed was designed and patented to introduce two main features: an improved mechanical grip and automatized production thanks to the rotating structure of the bed.

The system can produce components with a wide range of thermoplastics and composites (both from virgin and recycled origins) in the form of pellets and shreds. This makes the system ideal for the production of several medium to large-scale parts, such as: structural elements, tooling such as jigs for positioning, drilling, and cutting, molds, assembly rigs, beams, prototypes, metal replacement, temporary or permanent substitution of parts, and an array of applications and components we continue to discover every day.

Within their HQ near Milan, Italy, the company has developed one of the largest LFAM production hub in the world. Hosting eight Heron AM^TM platforms in their varied configurations – including insulated cells for high-performing polymers and a system with a 7^th axis structure to extend size up to 15-meter parts. Within the space Caracol has also set up a dedicated post-production area, with a robotic CNC center, and a Quality department with state-of-the-art equipment to inspect and control both the process and all manufactured parts, in accordance with the AS/EN 9100 standard.

Overall Caracol keeps working with the aim to lead the manufacturing world toward a new production paradigm that helps companies be more efficient, performing, and sustainable.

The company will be present at AMS as event sponsor, and Francesco De Stefano, CEO and co-founder, will be joining the panel “The Growing Role of Large-Format Machines” on Tuesday 7^th at 1:55 PM.

The post Join Caracol at AMS 2023 in NYC to Meet Heron AMTM: the Future of Large Format 3D Printing – AMS Speaker Spotlight appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

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January 27, 2023 at 06:21AM

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Dungarees + Squeegees | Cyanotype

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Shropshire-based printing studio, Dungarees + Squeegees, run by duo Ash and Joey, have released a new collection of photographic cyanotypes. This unique experimentation is a step away from their usual medium of screenprinting.

Cyanotype is a 170-year-old photographic printing process that produces prints in distinctive shades of blue. A light reactive chemical is painted onto paper, dried, then an object is placed on top and exposed to sunlight. The paper is then rinsed with water and the silhouette of the object is washed away, leaving the original paper whereas the areas exposed to light turn to shades of blue.

While experimenting, Ash photographed flowers and printed them on acetate. Compared to the traditional method of placing an object on top of the paper, the acetate exposes detailed tonal ranges. These prints are still all unique, but have finer details such as veins and textures.

The collection includes prints ranging from A6 to A3 and can be purchased on their website. Recently, D+S have also been commissioned to develop client’s photographs and illustrations into cyanotypes, such as Mike Blues album cover.

www.dandsstudio.com
@dandsstudio

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January 27, 2023 at 04:50AM

Average Time to Deliver Across Postal Network Steady at 2.5 Days

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WASHINGTON — The United States Postal Service reported new delivery performance metrics for the third week of the second quarter for fiscal year 2023 showing delivery performance improvements in First-Class Mail and Periodicals. The average time for the Postal Service to deliver a mailpiece or package across the nation was 2.5 days.



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January 26, 2023 at 12:53PM

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Velo3D Validates Distributed 3D Printing for Oil and Gas

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One of the competitive edges inherent in additive manufacturing (AM) that giant global corporate operations seem most intrigued by is the potential to create distributed supply chains. At the same time, that will remain largely just a possibility, so long as the networking software capabilities in the AM sector lag behind the progress made in hardware.

Given that much of the most significant progress in those networking capabilities has happened within the last couple of years, publicly available examples of companies using AM to achieve truly repeatable, distributed production are still somewhat scarce — especially regarding metal parts for heavy industry. However, Velo3D, the Silicon Valley-based original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of metal AM platforms, has just released a case study of its project to create a distributed supply chain for metal parts used in oil & gas.

Specifically, Velo3D worked with IMI Critical (a division of leading UK engineering firm IMI plc) to print a metal choke valve for a major North American oil & gas producer. Along with five contract manufacturers (CMs) — based in three different countries spanning North America, Europe, and Asia — Velo3D and IMI printed the same choke valve in all the different locations, about a year after the part was initially printed by Velo3D. Notably, the part conforms to the API20S specification of the American Petroleum Institute (API), meaning that the choke valve meets the industry standard.

The key to the whole project is referred to in the case study as the “Golden Print File”, which was created by Velo3D in 2021 and locked in IMI’s catalog, then sent to the five different CMs, as well as Velo3D headquarters, for the experiment. Two choke valves were printed at each location, all of which conformed to each other, to the original print, and to API standards.

The distribution of the Golden Print File sounds like it relied on industrial NFTs. I’m sure that other companies — and militaries — have already been using blockchain for distributed production of printed metal parts. The notable thing here is that metal AM is becoming universalized enough to the point where CMs across the planet could realistically achieve distributed supply chains of printed metal parts within years, not decades.

It would require significant capital investment on the parts of both governments and corporations. But until very recently, all the investment in the world in AM still wouldn’t have led to broad-sweeping distributed manufacturing becoming a reality. A multitude of diverse factors and events over the past ten years have made that reality seem far more feasible.

The post Velo3D Validates Distributed 3D Printing for Oil and Gas appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

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January 26, 2023 at 10:10AM

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Entire Nanosatellite 3D Printed within Single nScrypt 3D Printer

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Under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II research grant with the Space Force, Sciperio relied on 3D printers from its sister company nScrypt to make small six unit cubesats, measuring up to 20 cm × 10 cm × 34.05 cm. More interesting still, these satellites were made entirely inside the 3D printer, specifically an nScrypt Factory in a Tool (FiT) system.

The unique thing about nScrypt´s 3D printers is their ability to feature interchangeable toolheads that can jet, deposit, mill many different types of liquids and solids. This versatility means that the FiT machine could eliminate many conveying and manufacturing steps, while also allowing very quick design iterations and near-automated production. Additionallym this approach can mean that a lot of different components can be made to conform with the geometry of the device, with mass  optimized to improve its efficiency. In the case of the the satellite, nScrypt noted:

“[A]fter one layer of the cubesat’s structure is extruded, the system mills that layer to accept an electronic trace and pick-and-placed electronic components that cannot be printed. The extruder then deposits another layer of structure to embed those electronics. That process is repeated until the cubesat is completed, with all of the electronics and other functionality (such as detumbling coils, solar panels, solar sensors, strain gauges, magnetometers, accelerometers, and temperature sensors) embedded into the walls or the surface of the structure itself.”

 

 

nScrypt and Sciperio CEO Ken Church stated,

“nScrypt’s FiT provides the ability to rapidly fabricate a small satellite to respond to an immediate need. For example, the Space Force will be able to react rapidly to meet new threats by compressing the time from design to orbit. Sciperio also improves functionality by 3D manufacturing each cubesat as a printed electronic structure. This means that the satellite is not a box with electronics inside. Instead, the functionality is embedded into the structure of the cubesat as it is being digitally manufactured by our system. The design is modular so that functionalities can be interchangeable. Because the system does all of this conformally, the cubesat can be virtually any shape.”

nScrypt’s approach offers a powerful advantage, as launch schedules can be very demanding. By some measures the small satellite market is slated to grow by a factor of four to about 1,700 satellites a year. Assembly cost is very high for satellites. At the same time, there is little in the way of spare capacity. 3D printing most of a satellite within a single 3D printer would be a very valuable capability for helping the satellite industry accelerate its growth. As electronics march forward, more compact components will become more powerful and less expensive. This, in turn, will help to lower the cost and increase the effectiveness of nano- and cubesats. Automated production could also reduce costs significantly.

In the grant itself, the company writes: “By eliminating solder, wire bonds, connector, excess silicon and excess substrate, the possibility exists to shrink an electronic system by more than 100 times. This 100 fold shrinkage will apply to both size and weight and the newly available volume could be applied to power generation and storage.¨

We know that components such as waveguides can feature optimized geometry via 3D printing, which would impart further advantages on a process like that of nScrypt. It seems as if the future of our market is becoming tightly intertwined with that of the space industry. The value of 3D printed parts for private space is projected to reach $2.1 billion in 2026, according to the “3D Printing in Commercial Space: The AM Ecosystem in the Private Space Industry” report from SmarTech Analysis. With all of the New Space firms now using 3D printing for their propulsion systems, along with the use of 3D printing by old space firms and defense firms, and the success seen by Optisys and SwissTo12, there is burgeoning growth for additive manufactruing in the space industry. If what nScrypt is doing becomes commonplace, then 3D printing could be an integral part of the production process for a new generation of extremely thrifty and capable nanosats.

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January 26, 2023 at 10:10AM

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Miss Singapore Takes Miss Universe Stage Adorned with 3D Printed Orchids

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Usually when we talk about 3D printed costumes, it’s in reference to cosplay, movies, Halloween, and even the theatre, but not often for beauty pageants, with the exception of Miss South Africa in 2018. But the technology was front and center last week at the 71st Miss Universe pageant in New Orleans, as Miss Singapore Carissa Yap graced the stage wearing a costume that featured stunningly intricate 3D printed orchids.

One of the most watched pageants in the world, with an estimated 500+ million viewers in close to 200 territories, is Miss Universe, a global, inclusive organization that celebrates and empowers women of all backgrounds and cultures. The Miss Universe Organization (MUO), run by women for women, works to provide its female participants the tools with which to affect positive change professionally, philanthropically, and personally, and serve as inspirational leaders. Out of 83 delegates this year, the winner was chosen through a process of in-depth interviews, personal statements, and other categories, including swimwear, evening gown, and the aforementioned national costume.

 

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Yap, a 23-year-old National University of Singapore business student, was crowned Miss Singapore in October and decided to represent her country during the Miss Universe event’s National Costumes segment by paying homage to Singapore’s national flower, the hybrid orchid Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim, formally known as Vanda Miss Joaquim. The costume features over 200 3D printed lattice pieces created with what appears to be a 3D printing pen. Interestingly, the five main pieces, which frame Yap’s upper torso with a high-rising collar and open wings at the back, come together to form the silhouette of her home country; additionally, the main sequined bodysuit is red and white, which are Singapore’s national colors.

The renowned Frederick Lee, an award-winning Singaporean designer of theatrical couture, and Singapore fashion design firm Baëlf Design worked together on the costume for over four months. The beautiful white orchids alone took two months to sculpt by hand with the 3D printing pen, and the lattices, each one representing a different part of the flower from vines to the veins of the leaves, were hand-assembled onto the costume. 3D printing ensured that the orchids were lightweight enough for Yap to easily move in the costume.

“Baëlf Design imagines the islands of Singapore composed of the five-fold petals of an orchid draping the upper torso of Miss Singapore. By using computation to grow organic, vein-like structures, these petals form a high-rising collar as well as gracefully outstretched wings, all sensually enveloping the body in a lightweight, white-coloured 3D printed lattice. Ultimately, the 5 petals unite to compose the unmistakable silhouette of the islands of Singapore,” the firm wrote on its Facebook page.

“Baëlf Design explored different methods of patternmaking in the past few months, on the silhouette of Singapore to achieve a detailed, organic garden city aesthetic.”

While Miss Singapore ultimately did not win the Miss Universe title (congratulations to Miss USA!), I’d say that her eye-catching costume, with its beautiful 3D printed orchids and national symbolism, was a winner in its own right.

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January 26, 2023 at 09:10AM