News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
Additive machines fuse together fine layers of powdered metal with a laser beam and print three-dimensional objects directly from a computer file. With few limits on the final shape, the method gives engineers new freedoms and eliminates the need for factories filled with specialized machines or expensive tooling. “This is an engineer’s dream,” Ehteshami says.
Christian and Simone Völkner organized the 3D Pioneers Challenge to give young companies and students the possibility to win cash prizes for exploring new and innovative applications of 3D printing. With over 30 finalist submissions the contest was a success and the winning design, Project T.O.S.T. – which I helped to select as part of the jury – clearly demonstrates that more and more people are starting to grasp the new possibilities offered by AM technologies.
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The German Aerospace Centre (Das Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.) is using a Stratasys FDM 3D printing for the production of a fully-working prototype of TransRoPorter (TRP), a robot for future unmanned Mars exploration missions.
Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE Company, world leader in 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock Up and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, and Airbus APWorks GmbH, a subsidiary of Airbus and specialist in metal 3D printing, have announced that they have entered into a collaborative partnership to advance the use of additive manufacturing for large-scale production in the aerospace and defense industry. The collaboration will leverage Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform and APWorks’ consulting, engineering and production expertise for new developments in the virtual validation of the additive manufacturing process.
Rosatom, the Russian Agency for Atomic Energy is developing a new generation of 3D printer for me ...
GKN Aerospace has delivered the first advanced Ariane 6 nozzle (SWAN) to Airbus Safran Launchers in France for the Vulcain 2.1 engine. The new state of the art nozzle, which measures 2.5m in diameter incorporates innovative technologies with higher performance, lower lead times and substantial cost reduction. Large scale use of laser welding and laser metal deposition (additive manufacturing) for key structural features resulted in a 90% reduction of component parts, taking it down from approximately 1000 parts to 100 parts.
GKN Aerospace and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have signed a five-year research agreement focused on additive manufacturing. Utilizing the DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL, this $17.8 million USD cooperative research and development agreement will advance the family of hugely promising additive manufacturing processes, supporting progress towards their use in the manufacture of major, structural components for aircraft.
3D Printing is a big part of making and in Barcelona this often blends seamlessly with advanced industrial manufacturing. For this reason IN(3D)USTRY, the leading show for industrial additive manufacturing in Southern Europe, which is scheduled for next October 3th to the 5th at Fira Barcelona, was among the organizers of the fourth Maker Faire Barcelona, which took place last June 17th and 18th.
Since 2005, ETH has consistently taken part in the concrete canoe regattas with great success, and this year ETH won the 1st prize for Design Innovation for the 3rd year in a row. SkelETHon, the 114 Kilogram 3D printed concrete canoe, was a collaboration between DBT – who provided the computational design and digital fabrication expertise – and the PCBM Group – who developed the concrete mixes and processes used in the construction of the boat.