Developments in Metals AM - Materials, Powder Handling
Session Chairs:
Dipl Ing Claus Aumund-Kopp (Fraunhofer IFAM, Germany)
Mr Ralf Carlström (Höganäs AB, Sweden)
Introduction
The metal AM industry has shown impressing growth development during the last 10 years. Furthermore, the growth has accelerated during the last 3 years and metal AM has outperformed other AM forming areas. The technology has initially primarily been used for development or rapid prototyping. But metal AM business has started the journey towards industrialization primarily with aerospace and medical application areas leading the way. The special interest seminar will cover different topics important for the industry moving onto industrialization.
Industrial success thanks to Metal Additive Manufacturing
Dr Maria Averyanova (AddUp, France)
Currently, Metal Additive Manufacturing (Metal AM) is on everyone’s lips. AddUp, joint venture between Michelin group and Fives group, develops and offers complete industrial metal 3D printing solutions. For many years Michelin possesses huge industrial experience as a successful end-user of metal AM and Fives is a world well-known group in high technical high value machinery.Today, AM takes an important part in Michelin’s innovation, as it enables the creation of products with break through performances, such as major tire lines Cross Climate and Premier. Indeed, AM offers new options in terms of mechanical properties and geometry, such as new parts of molds in Michelin’s case. It’s very important to understand and to control all steps of the whole value chain of metal AM (from the moment you have an idea to final serial parts production qualification). These steps ensure that the whole process is robust in view of the mass parts production. Thanks to Michelin’s experience, today, AddUp masters this methodology and uses it for other materials and applications that makes possible to provide different customized solutions in metal AM.
Circular Economy Concept In Additive Manufacturing
Dipl-Ing Joni Reijonen (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland); Dipl. Ing Mika Haapalainen (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland)
Recently, there has been increasing concern about the sustainability of the manufacturing industry, one of the major consumers of energy and raw materials, and therefore, a major producer of greenhouse gas emissions and waste. Additive manufacturing (AM) inherently generates less waste than the conventional manufacturing. In this study, the goal was to apply the concept of circular economy into AM, by recovering process sidestreams back to the feedstock material for Selective Laser Melting. The objective was to prepare powder from 100 % scrap feedstock following two routes: 1) mechanical milling of agglomerated residue powder, and 2) gas atomization of solid scrap without extra alloying to compensate possible alloy losses. The powder properties were analysed and test specimens for the determination of mechanical properties were made from the prepared powders and commercial reference powder. Conducted test series show that with recycled powders properties fully comparable to reference can be achieved.
Building a Swiss Watch Brand Around a 3D Printed Dial
Mr Philippe Meyer (Cendres+Métaux SA, Switzerland)
Montfort Watches, A budding watch brand was looking for an edge. The company they developed their watch with was already supplying scratch resistant stainless steel to the watch industry and evaluating the use of 3D printing for production in the watch industry. The watch that ensued was a product designed with all the advantages and disadvantages of current 3D printing best practices. The approach wasn’t to replace a machined part for industrial considerations but to deliberately use 3D printing to give the brand design freedom, mass customization opportunities which would translate into unique selling points.
Qualification Pathway for Additive Manufacturing - A Ship Classification Society's Approach
Dr Ing Sastry Kandukuri (DNV GL, Norway)
Disruptive innovations like 3D printing/additive manufacturing (AM) is poised to bring about a revolution by impacting the manufacturing practice, supply chain and certification regimes. On-site manufacturing for maintenance becomes an important application of additive manufacturing. For example, on ships or on offshore platforms, instead of waiting days for spare parts to be shipped, they can be printed on site.
However, one of the most serious hurdles to the broad adoption of additive manufacturing of materials is the qualification of additively manufactured parts. Part-by-part certification is costly, time consuming, and antithetical to achieving the industry’s vision of producing and using AM parts on demand. It is very important that industry must find alternatives to conventional qualification methods; these are likely based upon validated models, probabilistic methods, and part similarities.
Being the leading classification society DNV GL is now taking lead in this area by bringing together research and development efforts alongside realworld additive manufacturing practices to create new industry product certification guidelines.
This talk discusses about a detailed qualification procedure for accepting AM as an acceptable manufacturing process to be applied for materials and components in Ship/offshore Classification & O&G Verification services.
Occupational Safety In Additive Manufacturing - Todays Solutions and Future Challenges
Mr Georg Schlick (Fraunhofer IGCV, Germany); Carl, P (ifp Consulting, Germany); Anstätt, C (Fraunhofer IGCV, Germany); Seidel, C (Fraunhofer IGCV, Germany)
The discussion on occupational safety in additive manufacturing processes is ongoing. Questions concerning dust masks, working overalls, the containment of powder and structural measures arise and are typically not answered sufficiently. This leads to a high degree of uncertainty. Thus, very different approaches towards health and safety issues are put to practice.
Within the presented work occupational safety risks and their probability of occurrence have been analyzed. A systematic approach similar to FMEA-analysis has been used to assess the criticality of different risks along the process chain for the selective laser melting process. Measurements on dust exposure during several working steps as well as tests on the combustibility of powder materials have been executed. All these results are compared to the typically used personal protective equipment and the recent activities in standardization. Thus, also the actual progress within the corresponding standards is addressed within the talk.
Lessons Learnt Through the Development of an Application-specific Methodology for Metal Powder Characterization for Additive Manufacturing
Dr Martina Meisnar (European Space Agency, United Kingdom); Baker, S (European Space Agency, United Kingdom); Fowler, C (Science and Technology Facilities Council, United Kingdom); Pambaguian, L (European Space Agency, Netherlands); Ghidini, T (European Space Agency, Netherlands)
Additive manufacturing is gaining prominence in high-tech sectors such as aeronautics and space, which recognise the importance of having an in-depth knowledge of the material feedstock used to produce their parts. Recently, the European Space Agency has started to develop its own expertise on powder characterisation within its UK-based Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory, in close collaboration with the European Space Research and Technology Centre. In this paper, a detailed study on the testing methods for determining powder and particle properties will be presented as well as storage and recycling considerations. Currently recognized standard procedures for metal powder characterisation will be critically reviewed. The developed testing methodology will be illustrated on a variety of powder samples. This study is part of a broader initiative that aims to support the establishment of a healthy powder supply chain for additive manufacturing, ensuring reliable and consistent powder feedstock for the space sector.
