News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
voxeljet, a leading provider of high-speed, large-format 3D printers and on-demand parts services, is now closer to presenting its new additive manufacturing technology. Dubbed VJET X, the new process and relative hardware is targeted at direct additive mass manufacturing (AMM) of sand cores for indirect additive mass manufacturing of metal parts.
UK-based precision engineering company Frazer-Nash Manufacturing works with a broad range of clients, many of them in the food manufacturing and aerospace sectors. Since as early as 2014, the company has relied on Renishaw’s metal additive manufacturing technology to produce complex, high quality parts for its clients.
Japanese electronics company Ricoh is furthering its stake in the biomedical and bioprinting sectors with a new partnership with Elixirgen Scientific, Inc., a Baltimore-based biotech company that specializes in stem cell technology.
At the Paris Air Show International Aerospace Exhibition, TRUMPF aerospace applications are focusing on how its additive manufacturing technologies can improve satellites and aircraft. As demands on satellites parts and performances increase, every kilogram that a rocket carries into space can cost several hundred thousand euros. At the same time, the rocket vehicles must be extremely stable in order to withstand the high forces needed at take-off.
With day two of the Paris Air Show underway, it is becoming clear that there is a significant emphasis on additive manufacturing at the event, with aerospace companies further investing in 3D printing or partnering with AM leaders. Today, France-based aerospace and defense company Safran has unveiled the Add+ engine technological demonstrator, which is made up of 30% 3D printed components.
VINCI Construction, a France-based construction leader, is launching a new company focused on 3D printing high-performance concrete materials through its subsidiary Freyssinet. The company, called Concreative, offers a fully integrated service, providing support from early design stages to on-site installation.
GKN Aerospace has announced the commissioning of a second additive manufacturing cell at the U.S Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The cell (Cell 2) is expected to be the world’s largest pilot production cell utilizing laser metal deposition with wire (LMD-w) processes. The announcement, made at the Paris Air Show, will enable GKN Aerospace to further its additive manufacturing research and development for large-scale structural aircraft components.
Though technology is often thought of in contrast to the natural world, certain innovations—such as generative design and 3D printing—are helping to connect us to nature in new and exciting ways. Large-format 3D printing company BigRep, for instance, recently unveiled a project called BANYAN ECO WALL, the world’s first fully 3D printed green wall.
Norsk Titanium, a supplier of 3D printed structural titanium components for the aerospace industry, has announced two significant milestones at the Paris Air Show this week. First, the company has successfully completed the latest phase of Boeing’s Material Allowables Program, which consists of characterizing the company’s Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) process. Second, the company is preparing to enter into the second testing phase for a 3D printed integrally bladed rotor (IBR).
GKN Aerospace is to lead two ground-breaking collaborative additive manufacturing research programs, AIRLIFT and DAM and will inject its unique Laser Metal Deposition by wire (LMD-w) AM technology in the programs. AIRLIFT and DAM are focused on making AM serial production ready at high rates and exploring how AM can revolutionize product design for high value, high complexity product manufacture. The aim is to accelerate industrialization and increase GKN Aerospace’s market share in the growing global AM market.