This week... Liebherr shave 30% weight of aviation AC units, Japan develops its 3D printing sector, and the new Mazak machine looks awesome!

This series of blog posts are meant to give you an overview of the most important 3D printing and Metal Additive Manufacturing News. Our focus is on the industrialization of Metal Additive Manufacturing for end use parts in particular. Feedback is appreciated!

General 3D printing news

Looks like someone in the US military has woken up to the potential of 3D printing:

• US Marines are being given training on plastics 3D printers in order to, ““hopefully integrate the 3D printers into our new mobile machine shops.”

• Whilst the Director of Engineering and Product Support of the US Navy Supply Command said "Additive manufacturing could bring about revolutionary changes to the Navy supply system, with an associated paradigm shift from the current order and stocking system to implementation of just-in-time inventory

In the US, EOS has opened its North American headquarters in Pflugerville Texas, whilst Stratasys announced its earnings and reported that it sold, “5,125 3D printing and additive manufacturing systems during the quarter, and on a pro-forma combined basis, has sold a total of 151,149 systems worldwide as of March 31, 2016.”  In Russia, Metal 3D printing company SLM Solutions has opened a Moscow office.

"Additive manufacturing could bring about revolutionary changes to the Navy supply system, with an associated paradigm shift from the current order and stocking system to implementation of just-in-time inventory," according to the Director of Engineering and Product Support of the US Navy Supply Command.

Finally, The Wall Street Journal wonders if 3D printing could increase or decrease carbon emissions?

Medical Additive Manufacturing

NN inc. has announced that it has “completed the validation and production readiness certification of its additive manufacturing (DMLS) process technology for the medical device industry.”

Industrial Additive Manufacturing

Dassault Systemes got a contract extension on its 3DEXPERIENCE software from Airbus. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is an enterprise collaboration, design and simulation tool designed specifically for additive manufacturing. Airbus said; “Numerous projects across Airbus are accelerating the use of additive manufacturing to produce prototypes as well as production components potentially delivering lighter and less expensive parts that meet technological, performance, safety and cost standards,”  

Liebherr Aerospace showcased its AM capabilities by demonstrating an air conditioning pack for aircraft that is30% lighter and 20% thinner than a unit made through forging, the company also stated that it can reduce time to market from 4 months to one using the technology.  

Italian design firm Pugnale&Nyleve have unveiled sunglasses made with DMLS.

Mazak USA has announced its Integrex 400-i machine which in one unit combines a metal additive manufacturing machine and a milling machine. This should let users build and finish the part on one unit. Mazak joins Sciaky and Trumpf in making the step from laser cladding and electron beam welding to additive manufacturing.

GKN Aerospace says that, “the company sees Additive Manufacturing (AM) as one of the prime focuses for future growth especially for advanced metallic structures which can achieve both weight and cost savings for the user.” The company also stated that it has, “established a titanium and titanium alloy powder manufacturing facility at Hoeganaes Corp.” Another sign that Tier 1 aerospace vendors are looking to own or control manufacturing from powder to part.

Metal Additive Materials

A paper by Evren Yasa et al looks into the stair stepping effect in DMLS specifically for aeroengine components using EOS’ IN 625 nickel alloy. The research is part of the Turkish government’s Yakut project which aims to see how metal 3D printing of nickel alloys can improve turbine engines.

A Japanese paper looks at a way to use cellulose as a binder in a binder jetting technology similar to ExOne and other MIT patent derived 3D printing technologies. The Japanese government is encouraging home grown metal additive manufacturing technologies and this could be a potential rival to ExOne and Voxeljet once patents for these technologies expire. Currently they are working on developing the technology for the technical ceramic aluminium oxide (Alumina). This could have potential applications in the motion control, laser or armour industries.

A paper reports on “location-specific defect distribution and microstructure variation on fracture resistance of Ti-6Al-4V” of Arcam EBM 3D printed parts. The researchers concluded that the fracture and fatigue properties were in the range of those reported for the cast and wrought Titanium they were being compared against. Given the material and process it seems probable that this research is in support of GE’s Avio Aero engine bracket and turbine blade effort.