By Industrial Print Magazine Staff
The Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) educates and advances the uses and applications of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. It held its annual conference in March in Chicago, IL. The event brings together engineers, designers, managers, and educators from around the world to share expertise, best practices, challenges, and application developments in AM.
While the conference includes presentations, workshops, and other sessions, a key part of the event is the AMUGexpo. Billed as “not another trade show” the expo is designed to encourage conversation between attendees and vendors.
Some exhibitors shared highlights from the event with us and we provide their insight here.
Addiguru exhibited its patented inter-layer temperature (ILT) concept. One of the most difficult challenges facing laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is the prevalence of part defects. Chief among the causes is poor thermal management. LPBF subjects parts to repeated heating and cooling cycles, which leads to undesirable thermal accumulation that induces residual stress and distortion. Improving thermal management requires a robust monitoring regime capable of detecting anomalous and undesirable accumulations of heat. A key indicator of heat accumulation is ILT, whichis the temperature of the region or a point right before the lasering starts for a layer. This patented concept by Addiguru looks for anomalous spikes in ILT, which indicate that an undue amount of heat has accumulated in each layer. Addiguru developed a tool that employs an infrared camera to monitor ILT in a user defined region of interest (ROI). The Addiguru software tracks ILT throughout the build for the ROI and detects sharp increases or decreases in ILT. Notifications informing the operator of anomalous thermal behavior, as well as likely accompanying defects are automatically generated.
ADDiTEC captivated attendees with a multifaceted showcase of cutting-edge AM prowess. Across four speaking sessions, it delved into the intricacies of liquid metal jetting toolpath development, the application of this technology with 6061 Al alloy, and offered a deep dive into its innovative solutions. At the booth, ADDiTEC unveiled AMDroid, a laser wire-based robot cell tailored for reactive metals. Through live explanations and informative videos, it demonstrated the capabilities of its laser directed energy deposition and liquid metal jetting technologies. The booth buzzed with excitement as ADDiTEC not only displayed printed parts but also provided insightful details, fostering new connections and heightening awareness of their groundbreaking offerings.
BigRep unveiled the COLLABOSPHERE—a three-dimensional (3D) printed kinetic display comprised of over 30 individual parts, printed using a variety of materials on the company’s large format 3D printers. First showcased at BigRep’s Formnext 2023 booth in Frankfurt, the model commemorates BigRep’s acquisition of HAGE3D, an Austrian-based manufacturer of high-temperature 3D printers. This combined offering provides a comprehensive portfolio of AM solutions, encompassing low- to high-temperature applications. BigRep covers the entire spectrum of standard, technical, and high-performance thermoplastics across low-, mid-, and high-temperature build chambers.
Equispheres, a supplier of high-performance metal powders, demonstrated significant advances in high-speed processing for LPBF. Using powerful lasers and beam profile shaping, Equispheres and Aconity3D achieved a build-up rate of up to 430 cm3/hr per laser, about nine times faster than conventional LPBF systems. An aluminum ball valve housing for Eaton, produced with this very high-throughput process, was on display at the technical competition and discussed during the sessions. The collaboration achieved this high throughput rate using Aconity3D printing equipment with a 3-kW laser modified for laser beam shaping and Equispheres’ NExP-1 AlSi10Mg powder. With this high-speed printing process, print time is reduced by 70 to 80 percent, and the part cost is up to 80 percent less than parts printed with the standard parameter set. NExP-1 is an aluminum powder that provides consistent, highly stable melt pool behavior, ideal for repeatable printing with high-powered lasers and high production speeds.
The Evonik team educated and advanced the AM industry. Its photopolymer team was there to launch a new flame retardant (FR) material for DLP users. INFINAM Phlame material offers V-0 at 3mm along with a low FST rating. This is combined with elongation at break and robust toughness metrics make this a new innovation in the FR photopolymer market. This material has already been tested and is being well received in application areas for automotive, aerospace, self-defense, and connectors markets. Phlame also features the ability to print at 385 and 405nm in bottom-up and top-down systems.
Fabrisonic unveiled its latest advancements in AM, specifically tailored for electrification purposes. Among the highlights were cutting-edge multi-metal bus bars designed for electric vehicles, alongside flexible aluminum/copper straps engineered for high-current applications, showcasing a remarkable level of compliance. Utilizing ultrasonic AM, Fabrisonic demonstrated its ability to weld dissimilar metal foils at low temperatures, a crucial feature that prevents damage to sensitive electronics, making it an ideal manufacturing solution for electrical distribution systems. Additionally, Fabrisonic exhibited its solid-state metal printing technique through various demonstrators, including dissimilar metal prints, embedded sensors, and innovative heat exchangers, underlining the unique capabilities of its technology.
JEOL’s Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion technology continues to disrupt the AM industry, from accelerated printing build rates, to reduced amounts of supports, to printing unique alloys that are difficult to process with other technologies. At AMUG, JEOL’s additive team presented multiple part samples from the aerospace and medical device industries, as well as their newest parts made from Tungsten, a highly challenging metal to print with using other additive technologies. JEOL also shared its achievement of recently demonstrating operational qualification (OQ) for aerospace standard AMS7032. To perform the OQ per AMS7032, the JAM5200-EBM printed three builds with various test coupons back-to-back and sent to a test lab for radiographic, mechanical, metallurgical, and chemical composition analysis with positive results. Soon JEOL will demonstrate repeatability of this qualification—after disassembling the printer at their headquarters in Japan and moving it halfway across the world to Cumberland Additive, Inc. in Pittsburgh, PA.
Materialise showcased its e-Stage for Metal+ software, which optimizes data and build preparation for LPBF systems using physics-based modeling to automate support structure generation. It helps make metal AM more economically viable. The software calculates where deformations will likely occur during the 3D printing process and automatically generates needle-thin and cone supports where needed. Combining the two support types enhances stability and heat distribution, limiting the need for post-processing efforts. This improves part quality while reducing production costs. e-Stage for Metal+ is a module for Magics, Materialise’s data and build preparation software and core element of its 3D Print Suite. Magics is a technology-neutral software that offers compatibility with most import file formats and connectivity to all major 3D printing technologies. It provides users with advanced control and automation for their workflows.
MX3D reconnected with its clients and partners who are paving the way within the medium to large-scale metal AM field. Furthermore, the event allowed the company to connect with like-minded people and companies outside its field to discuss potential development possibilities. MX3D was enthusiastic about the acknowledgement and positive response received after announcing during the event its latest successful deployment of the first M1 Metal AM System in the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in MS.
Sciaky, with its headquarters just 11 miles from the venue, hosted an event for AMUG attendees. 52 guests visited its facilities. The day started with pizza and a short talk from Sciaky’s GM about the company and technology, then questions were fielded from the crowd. Following lunch, the guests broke into four groups for a walk around the facility. Each group spent 45 minutes seeing live demonstrations of a few EBAM and electron beam welding projects as well as some of the machines on Sciaky’s floor.
Xact Metal unveiled tooling components printed in Corrax Tooling Steel by Uddeholm ahead of announcing its new partnership to offer this material to its customers. The significance of this material is huge as the company launches forward into the tooling and molding industry. Corrax tool steel for AM is a cobalt-free material designed to be resistant to corrosion and also can be polished to an A1 surface finish. This was highlighted during Xact Metal’s participation in the panel discussion, “Applications of Metal 3D Printing for Tooling” during the conference.
Next year the AMUG Conference takes place once again in Chicago, March 30 to April 3, 2025.
Mar2024, Industrial Print Magazine