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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This month, our focus turns to a vital part of the additive manufacturing industry: service bureaus. Service bureaus, big or small, can be understood on some level as the gatekeepers to AM: they provide access to the technology to businesses or individuals that are maybe not ready to invest in…
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The University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC) and Navatek LLC, a commercial and DoD research company specializing in ship hull forms and naval structures, have been granted a $5 million contract by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The contract and funding will enable the partners to…
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ICON, known for 3D printing homes and communities in Mexico and central Texas, has been prototyping various structures with DIU (the Defense Innovation Unit) and USMC utilizing the technology that combines 3D robotics, software and advanced material. In January 2019, Marines were trained on the software, robotics and material delivery…
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The US Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s B-2 Program Office works to ensure the aircraft stays relevant and in the fight for years to come (and those years may come soon, judging by the recent escalation in tensions around the world). For a low volume fleet such as the…
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It is hard to imagine that brass instruments—so named because of the metal they are made from—could be produced using any other material. However, a recent, and rather melodious, project led by LOOP 3D and trombone musician Peter Körner has demonstrated that other materials and production methods could be viable…
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Santa Cruz Bicycles is not just any bike manufacturer. The company, based in Santa Cruz (where else!), prides itself on producing some of the highest-quality mountain bikes in the world. However, the company’s manufacturing process can be seen as somewhat conventional: its carbon-fiber bike frames are mass produced in Asia.…
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British LED solution provider Spanlite manufactures customized LED lighting. To optimize the cable management of its LED panels and reduce cable damage, the manufacturer required a two-piece interlocking cable clamp. The company turned to voxeljet UK for prototyping first, and subsequently decided to use voxeljet’s HSS technology for serial production…
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John Zink Hamworthy Combustion, a company that designs and manufactures emissions control and clean-air systems, has been in business for over 90 years. Despite it’s long history, the Oklahoma-based company (now part of Koch Industries) has not shied away from innovation, rather, it has embraced new technologies, such as metal…
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BAE Systems, a UK-based defense, security and aerospace leader, is increasing its adoption of additive manufacturing at its site in Samlesbury with the aim of reducing costs and increasing production agility. Specifically, the company has acquired its fourth F900 3D printer, Stratasys‘ most robust FDM system with a large-scale capacity.…
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EVOK3D, a supplier of 3D printing solutions in Australia, has been granted a public tender to supply three HP Multi Jet Fusion 4200 3D printers to the Australian Defence Science and Technology Group (DST), as well as automated post-processing equipment. DST will leverage the three 3D printing systems to produce…
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