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Industrialising Additive Manufacturing of metal components

Issued at 2016-05-02



Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D Printing, has
come so far in recent years that it is now possible to print high-quality parts and
components from a variety of metals. The latest developments in these
technologies and the scope for, and limitations on, their use in industry will be
discussed in the new “3D Metal Printing” trade forum at Rapid.Tech, the
international trade show and conference for Additive Manufacturing, which takes
place from 14 to 16 June 2016 in Erfurt.


Various applications in fields such as aviation and medical engineering illustrate that
Additive Manufacturing processes offer completely new levels regarding product
design, efficiency, speed and flexibility in the production of series parts. It is therefore
hardly surprising that growing numbers of companies are investigating the industrial
use of AM technologies. However, standards in series production are significantly more
rigorous than in prototyping. “IT integration in product life cycle management (PLM),
continuous processes from concept to finished component and reproducibility are
fundamental prerequisites for industrialisation,” explains Helmut Zeyn, Business
Development Additive Manufacturing at Siemens Industry Software GmbH. The AM
expert will discuss these challenges in his keynote lecture on the first day of this year’s
Rapid.Tech (14–16 June) in Erfurt. Helmut Zeyn will also present innovative
developments that enable manufacturers seeking to integrate AM processes into
existing production lines to meet the requirements of modern series production for
process reliability, process monitoring, traceability and data exchange.


The different trade forums will start after the keynote presentation. In the inaugural “3D
Metal Printing” trade forum, the introductory talk by Jannis Kranz of Materialise will
examine the potential for producing metal components, including parts with hollow,
lattice or protruding structures. Based on successful applications he will demonstrate
that it is no longer the limitations of manufacturing technology but rather component
functionality that drives the design of metal components – provided that developers
recognise the design freedoms and opportunities offered by AM technologies, and
make intelligent use of them. Simon Höges of GKN Sinter Metals Engineering GmbH
will present water atomisation as a cost-effective alternative to the more conventional
gas atomisation of metal powders. He will compare the microstructure and mechanical
properties of components produced by laser melting of water-atomised 316L stainless
steel powder with those produced from gas-atomised powder. His session will show
that, when combined with the higher production speeds enabled by recent innovations,
water atomisation significantly increases the range of possible applications for the
series production of 3D-printed metal components. The expanding range of metal
powders on the market is also a key factor, as Dr.-Ing Matthias Gieseke of
Laserzentrum Hannover e.V. will highlight when he discusses the use of selective laser
melting (SLM) of the first magnesium powder, Elektron MAP 43, in lightweight designs.
He will outline the results of his study calculating the particle sizes, processing
parameters and structures required to produce specimen components with a density of
over 99 percent. Challenges and solution approches of Additive Manufacturing with
metals in series production will be discussed by Oliver Kaczmarzik of Concept Laser
GmbH. He will examine issues ranging from how to increase productivity with a
modular approach that combines several AM units and automated processes, to the
physical separation of the construction, pretreatment and post-processing phases, all
the way to the integration of AM machines in manufacturing to Industry 4.0 standards.
Both the medical technology and aviation sectors use electron beam melting (EBM) in
the production of series parts. One of the firms meeting the resulting increase in
demand for process and quality control solutions is the Swedish company Arcam AB,
and Patrick Ohldin will be on hand to present some of its innovative developments.
These include a high-resolution camera and an X-ray sensor that are integrated in the
company’s quality systems. The camera takes images of the entire powder bed after
melting so that quality controls can be performed for each layer of the process. The X-
ray sensor is able to determine beam parameters such as position, focus and beam
profile with exceptional accuracy. Clemens Lieberwirth from the Department of Fluid
Technology and Microfluidics at the University of Rostock will present a further exciting
development: an extrusion-based additive process for producing high-density metal
components known as Composite Extrusion Modelling (CEM). It consists of two phases
– additive manufacturing of green parts from injection-moulded metal grains followed
by industrial sintering – and has demonstrated distinct advantages over powder-based
processes in terms of material handling and cost-effectiveness.

As with all sessions at the Rapid.Tech conference, simultaneous interpretation
(German<>English) will be provided for presentations at the trade forum “3D Metal
Printing”. The new trade forum is organised by Dr. Yves Küsters, Corporate
Technology, Research in Energy and Electronics, Siemens AG. Küsters has been
working on SLM for almost ten years and was awarded his PhD for his thesis on
“Methodological Parameters for a Robust Blasting Process”. His work at Siemens
includes developing SLM processes and materials, with a particular focus on high-
temperature alloys.

The 13th Rapid.Tech, international trade show and conference for Additive
Manufacturing, will include the trade forums “Additive Contract Manufacturing”,
“Electronic Engineering” and “Automotive Industry” for the first time. Both the new
conference sections and the well-established trade forums “Medical Technology”,
“Dental Technology”, “Design”, “Aviation”, “Tools” and “Science” and the User’s
Conference will provide opportunities for industry professionals to discuss specific AM
issues in depth. For twelve years, the User’s Conference has been the platform used
by experts and newcomers to discuss the current state of Additive Manufacturing as
well as developing trends. “With the expanded conference programme and the
extended, three-day duration of Rapid.Tech, we are keeping abreast of the latest
developments in Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing,” explains Wieland Kniffka,
CEO of Messe Erfurt. The complete programme is available at www.rapidtech.de.
Thanks to its unique combination of trade show and specialist conference, Rapid.Tech
in Erfurt is among the world’s foremost events in the field of Additive Manufacturing and
3D Printing. For the fourth time FabCon 3.D, Germany’s 3D Printing fair for semi-
professional users and prosumers, will be held in parallel with the event.


Source: SCHULZ PRESSE



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