Industrial Additive Manufacturing
Industrial additive manufacturing applications are primarily linked to prototyping in the automotive field and early adoption for production in the aerospace segment, which is by far the biggest user of polymer and especially metal 3D printing technologies.
As the machines production throughput has increased in recent years, industrial adoption of AM is now beginning to extend to short and medium batch production for the automotive segment as well. Furthermore, as new metal and polymer technologies now enable the production of larger parts at reduced costs, the use of AM has begun to contaminate the energy segment (with applications in both traditional and sustainable energy production and transport) and the marine segment.
While the cost and time reduction benefits of AM technologies for weight and (topology) optimization, subassemblies and generative part design have been well documented, several hurdles still exist that are limiting a widespread adoption of these key technologies in full end-to-end digital and automated production cycles. Several of these hurdles are inherent to the AM technologies and related material availability, however, the biggest challenges remain linked to process standardization, part finishing and repeatability.
Today every major aerospace or automotive manufacturers has made some significant stride toward adoption of AM both for internal R&D and production and by leveraging external 3D printing service bureaus as a key resource for outsourced supplies. Every AM related industrial project is growing and the trend is clearly accelerating.
Latest industrial AM news:
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Swiss firm Blackstone Resources has achieved a series of important milestones for its proprietary 3D printing technology to print lithium-ion solid-state batteries. The company has been investing in the next generation of battery technology through its German subsidiary Blackstone Technology GmbH. This includes patented 3D printing techniques and research into…
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In 1827, The Book of English Trades summarized the cobbler’s profession: “There are few trades more useful than that of a shoe-maker, and, perhaps, not many that are more profitable, when it is carried on to a considerable extent.” We have largely forgotten this profession as, two hundred years on, the…
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Open Additive, LLC, has been awarded a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I contract through the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Army Research Laboratory. The project, Large-Format, Low-Cost Metal AM for Army Applications, was one of 23 selections from 189 proposals submitted to the Army’s X19.4 topic call: Expeditionary Technology…
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With blade diameter measuring more than two football fields, GE Renewables’ Haliade-X turbines are already the largest and most powerful in the world, capable of generating as much as 14 MW of energy. The ability to 3D print the turbine’s concrete base on-site, for direct transportation into the final at-sea…
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Western Australia based iKad Engineering has acquired a highly specialized Arcemy module from AML3D. It is the third Arcemy WAM 3D printer that AML3D has sold this year, with an initial $300,000 purchase order received and a final sale value in excess of $500,000, subject to agreement on final specifications.…
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Rosatom-Additive Technologies (RusAT) opened its first Additive Technologies Centre (ATC) at the site of the Moscow Polymetal Plant. The center will be used to develop made-in-Russia manufacturing technologies. The center will also serve as an additive manufacturing flagship for Russian industry, proving that AM is an effective companion industry. The…
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WHAM, the Wärtsilä Hub for Additive Manufacturing, is now using 3D printing to create a critical metal component for Wärtsilä engines that has been successfully tested at full output. Work has been done in partnership with global engineering company Etteplan, and the success of the testing clearly demonstrates that 3D…
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A new project just published by Emil Johansson, Research Scientist Additive Manufacturing at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, demonstrated a functional fully 3D printed boat (shown in the video above). This is the latest of a long string of projects that has shown how new large-format extrusion systems—either based on…
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Participating in a JIP (Joint Industry Project) led by Wilhelmsen, Tytus3D will develop additive manufacturing of marine parts, including developing and installing selected 3D printed maritime parts onboard various vessel types such as car carriers, offshore vessels, bulk carriers and chemical tankers, working with heavyweight original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), a…
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KULR‘s passive propagation resistant (PPR) and internal short circuit (ISC) technologies will be used to develop 3D printed battery systems for deployment in future space missions. The PPR 3D Printed Battery System by KULR Technology Group will meet the JSC 20793 Revision D safety standard created by NASA for crewed…
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