large format 3d printing for metal parts
3d printing of metal has enabled pathways of innovation that will help all of us
The wonderful thing about innovations that are
brought to the public´s attention is that when it makes sense it can make sense
for a whole bunch of companies within a global community that in turn have the
predisposition to invest in it and see it through to its fullest potential.
Sense can mean a number of things, but the bottom line is that 3D metal
printing performs better and saves money, particularly when dealing with big
jobs that in the past have traditionally necessitated all kinds of machinery in
huge facilities. These necessitated many steps and the manpower of tried and
true professionals that can guarantee a dependable product through finessed
experience. It´s always been a tall order and perhaps it´s time to shake things
up a bit.
Thanks to 3D ingenuity, the tide looks to be
changing and soon companies are going to make sweeping changes on an array of
industrial fronts as they begin to really lean into the advanced and well
calculated possibilities that large scale 3D printing offers the production landscape
that it´s shaping at a steady rate each year. As far as large scale printing is
concerned, metal printers are now poised to offer various titans of industry
superior metal parts and components. Standards are being taken to a higher
place than ever before thanks to a capacity to really call the shots in both
the design and execution phases of construction.
There are many companies that have been
stepping up to apply their vision to large format 3D printing and are welcoming
a new way of constructing the complex goals that engineering constantly strives
for. One great example is the aviation giant Boeing which has announced that
they will begin to use parts made from titanium alloys. In order to take full
advantage of these alloys the company has employed the help of Norwegian
company Norsk Titanium to print in economical and geometrically sound ways that
will as a result cut down on the ultimate cost of individual planes like
the 787 aircraft by millions of dollars each.
Another example is the Swedish 3D printer manufacturer that goes by
the name of Arcam AB is receiving a huge amount of demand for their industrial
printing units that use electron beams to melt and additively manufacture metal
components for all types of important industries. An area in which this
technology is finding an especially fruitful relationship is in the enormous
medical sector. Particularly significant is the business of constructing
orthopedics that are especially made for individuals so that they may live the
healthiest and most comfortable lives possible. The most common among these
types of devices are replacement hips, shoulders and most numerous of all,
dental metal pieces which due to the overabundance of poor oral hygiene
comprise a huge chunk of the market.
However, the most intriguing
aspects of printing units like those of Arcam AB is the sheer volume, in terms
of manufacturable units, that they can produce on a single work day. They’re
unbelievable speedy for machines that make custom metal parts. And we’re not
just talking about steel, Arcam AB for instance is a huge supplier of titanium
and cobalt that large format 3D printers are able to process.
There are other fields that
are pushing metal printing to its limits. Case in point is billionaire Elon
Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies, or as it is more commonly known, Space
X, has been able to use direct metal laser sintering coupled with regenerative
cooling to manufacture additively engine chambers. The really cool part that
the material used is actually a very tough superalloy that goes by Inconel.
Technology that can print in this superalloy is very important as these
chambers need to hold their own under the extreme conditions that thruster
engines generate.
It’s hard to imagine
exactly how much is going on when a whole set of 8 engines 120,000 pounds of
axel thrust are doing their job, but one thing is for sure, you can’t have any
measurement be even a little off. Or else what may happen is that the chamber
won’t be able to hold its own or the direction of the propulsion will be a
little bit skewed, thereby sending the rocket in the wrong direction which
could be catastrophic when you’re trying to enter an orbit.
Accuracy is a big reason
why aviation is taking to 3D printing of large parts, but a big reason why big
companies like GE Aviation are buying in is because although large format 3D
printing, like the direct metal laser melting they need, is expensive when you
add up the cost of the units it makes up for such costs in the long run. This
is because with such an extreme degree of accuracy one can design complex
geometries through computer aided design and send said design directly to a
printer that can manufacture the lighter model without sacrificing ultimate
integrity. As a matter of fact, although their new fuel nozzles are a fourth
part lighter they are actually five times stronger despite having the same
general density.
Companies like Tract us 3D
are trying to corner the industrial market by offering a selection of large
format 3D printers that can work within a variety of capacities. They have
models that are great at working with large components and others that can dole
out a great many smaller ones a terrific speeds. This is good news for small
businesses as they claim that their machines are easier to use than many
others. On top of this they boast printers that are low in weight and are ideal
to move around, from lets say from one manufacturing warehouse or office to the
next.
And the market for what are
called final-run parts is growing at such an encouraging rate that analysts
don’t see this kind of growth easing up in the slightest anytime soon in the foreseeable future. It
promotes a higher, more effective level of design that consequently brings down
the cost of production, for instance, by greatly diminishing the number of
certified professionals required. Factories are sure to decrease in size as a
result and we may start to see an actual evolution in the metal component
production industry.
Working smarter and not harder
should be the tagline for the latest waves of metal 3D printers
as they are freeing up designers to really go to town on what they come up
with. The less limitations that are applied to them the more freely and more
innovative the ways are that they can approach the work that they do. Before
computers, since everything was made through simpler methods such as the manned
machining and forging that characterized and made possible so many of the
wonders that were ushered in by the industrial revolution, much of engineering
lacked a certain capacity for precision.
All kinds of elegant and elaborate routes
weren’t even considered and left by the wayside as they were deemed to hard to
produce. But now, industrial printing can handle all kinds of engineering curve
balls that in the past they could only dream of, and oftentimes at a pretty
baffling rate that helps to keep businesses completive and generally superior
than they have been in the past. It´s a new battleground and many companies are
finding too irresistible to not test the waters.