3D PRINTING & ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING INTELLIGENCE

MAG
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VOLUME 29 ISSUE 6
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Burgmaier takes a hybrid approach to innovation with SLM Solutions.

Materials 3D SCANNING formnext

Conversations on metal powders Applications from healthcare A look at the technologies and
and biomaterials. to history. speakers headed to Frankfurt.
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FROM THE EDITOR
SAM DAVIES
Back
to normal
Flights booked, hotel booked,
airport parking booked, calendar
nearly fully booked.
It is November, it is a trip to
Frankfurt, it is – after 18 long
months – things getting back to
normal.
By the time this magazine is
published, we will be just days
away from Formnext 2021,
meaning – barring any unforeseen
circumstances – the four largest
Western additive manufacturing
(AM) events (TCT 3Sixty, RAPID +
TCT and the AMUG Conference)
will have successfully pulled off
their respective shows in-person
this year. Twelve months ago,
as three of them were cancelled
completely and the fourth went
ahead as a digital-only event, that
seemed like a world away.
The event organisers behind
each have worked tirelessly to
ensure their safe return and having
been at TCT 3Sixty just a few
weeks ago, exhibitors, speakers
and visitors alike are extremely
grateful. As you’ll read in this
issue of TCT Magazine, the AM
professionals in attendance at TCT
3Sixty enjoyed being back in front
of people and being back in front
of the technology, surveying what
the exhibitors had to offer and how
manufacturers had been using it,
after two years away.
If they didn’t get their fill in
Birmingham, though, we have
plenty more over the next 60
pages. With our focus on materials,
we speak to Uniformity Labs CEO
Adam Hopkins about his ambition
to make the company’s products
from the editor
the ‘gold standard’ of AM powder
(page 11); the thyssenkrupp team
tells us about its Materials as a
Service offering (page 15); 4D
Biomaterials discusses its novel set
of 3D printable biomaterials (page
19); and ATI outlines the importance
of materials designed for AM (page
23).
Meanwhile, in our 3D scanning
feature, we look at how a team
of surgeons has used the iReal
2S face scanner to create facial
prosthetics for trauma patients
(page 25), while filmmaker Ivan
Erhel has deployed scanning
technology from Artec 3D
to preserve the history of
Mesopotamia (page 27). In research
and academia (page 35), we talk to
the MTC and University of Bristol
about the impact AM could have on
electrification, and we also talk to
BAE Systems, Xometry, and more
about the importance of education
initiatives as the need for more
sustainable manufacturing grows.
And as is standard in the last TCT
Magazine Europe edition of the
year, we preview what’s to come
at Formnext. While there may be
fewer exhibitors, fewer attendees
and fewer evening festivities – all
owed to COVID-19 restrictions –
than we’re used to at Formnext,
we’re anticipating a busy week
where products will be launched,
conversations had, and drinks
drank.
For the AM space, what could be
more normal than that?
We hope to see you there!
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 05
3D PRINTING & ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING INTELLIGENCE

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www.tct3sixty.com
Co-located Shows
 ISSUE 6
VOLUME 29
COVER STORY 25
48
3D SCANNING
8
8. BEST OF BOTH
WORLDS
Burgmaier’s hybrid 25. A REAL DIFFERENCE
approach to innovation Looking at the impact of the iReal 2S
with SLM Solutions. face scanner at North Manchester
General Hospital.
48 FORMNEXT

11 MATERIALS
11. GOING FOR GOLD
Senior Content Producer Sam Davies
speaks to Uniformity Labs about its aim
to become the gold standard of AM
powder.
15. THYSSENKRUPP TALKS AM
Head of Content Laura Griffiths sits
down with the thyssenkrupp team to
discuss their play in the AM market.
19. INTRODUCING 4D
BIOMATERIALS
An interview with the start-up behind a
novel set of 3D printable biomaterials.
23. FUELLING THE NEXT
MANUFACTURING REVOLUTION
ATI’s Matias Garcia-Avila, PhD,
highlights the potential of materials
designed specifically for AM.
27. PRESERVING THE CRADLE
OF CIVILISATION
48. FORMNEXT PREVIEW
A look at what we can expect from
How filmmaker Ivan Erhel is using 3D
this year’s Formnext, from conference
scanning to preserve the history of
presentations to machine launches.
Mesopotamia.
Research & 31 EXECUTIVE 59
Academia Q&A
31. AUTOMATION AND ERROR
59. LITHOZ AT 10
DETECTION IN AM
Lithoz CEO Dr Johannes Homa reflects
FZI Research Center's Pascal Becker on
on a decade of 3D printing ceramics.
combining robotics with AM.
35. A LONG AND WINDING ROAD
The MTC and University of Bristol
discuss the use of AM in their respective
electrification research efforts.
62 news
62. ADDITIVE INSIGHT ROUND-UP
Education The latest additive manufacturing
39 & skills
industry developments, from
acquisitions to applications.

39. MAKING SKILLS SUSTAINABLE

8 BAE Systems, Xometry, Made Smarter
and Additive Minds share insights
on the importance of education
initiatives as the need for sustainable
manufacturing grows.

TCT 3SIXTY
43
43. TCT 3SXITY REVIEW
We take you through some of the
exhibition and conference highlights as
TCT 3Sixty returns.

43
 BEST OF
BOTH WORLD
Burgmaier takes a hybrid approach to innovation with SLM Solutions.
F
or nearly 90 years, precision
manufacturing specialist Burgmaier
has been a leader in producing
parts and components for industries
spanning automotive and engineering to energy
and consumer electronics. Around 350,000
parts leave its factory every day for delivery to
customers around the world, and statistically
there are five Burgmaier parts in every European
car.
With innovation, quality, and the motto
“fascination in high precision” at its core, the
family-owned company has enhanced its
expertise in subtractive manufacturing by
adopting metal 3D printing into its production
capabilities. With an SLM 280 2.0 selective
laser melting system from SLM Solutions
working alongside its 250 in-house production
machines, the company now sees AM as an
“essential part” of its business strategy.
“In hybrid additive manufacturing, we combine
the best of both worlds,” Johannes Mayer,
Business Development and Sales Manager
Additive Manufacturing told TCT. “We use
inexpensive conventional standard components
and additively build the complex structure on
them. The challenge is to manufacture several
components in a process-reliable manner at the
same time. In order to meet this challenge, we
have developed a modular clamping system
ourselves and have defined a reproducible
process, which guarantees us a repeat accuracy
of 0.05 mm.”
The addition of AM has allowed Burgmaier
to explore filigree and bionic geometries,
reduce weight and lead times, and add new
functionality to its customers’ parts and internal
parts. But, Mayer says, a collaborative approach
is crucial to this success.
Burgmaier recently turned its attention to
one of the most common tools in turning
technology: the grooving system. Working with
ZCC Cutting Tools Europe, the team wanted to
improve the component to make it more efficient
08 / www.tctmagazine.com / 29.6
and productive, and created a
SHOWN:
new grooving system that SLM 280 2.0 SYSTEM
is stronger, lighter, more
durable, and cheaper to
manufacture.
The grooving
component used
in metal cutting
performs an
essential service in a
range of demanding
industries. The metals
it cuts can be tough,
requiring a tool that
is strong, resilient, and
able to meet the stress load
and scale of serial production
lines. Conventional grooving tools
feature a straight cooling channel to
direct the cooling liquid towards the cutting
part to encourage cooling of the metal as it’s
being carved. But this traditional shape isn’t as
effective as it could be.
function of the component, according
“The integration of cooling channels to which we design the component
offers an extraordinary advantage for construction,” Mayer said. “There
our applications in many ways,” Mayer is a close collaboration with our
elaborated. “Additive manufacturing enables customers. In the case of the modular
us to integrate flow-optimised channels into grooving system, the design owner
the components, that lead directly to the is our customer ZCC Cutting Tools
exact points as needed. This design saves Europe. For example, we were able
manufacturing costs and at the same time to integrate complex star-shaped
raises component performance to a new level.” channels into our components in
order to increase the function of
ZCC created a star shaped conformal cooling the component, or to reduce the
channel that allows the cooling liquid to spread component weight by 45%.”
more evenly and cool the material more
efficiently. The channel extends all the way For Burgmaier, metal AM is
from the basic holder to the basic cartridge, broadening opportunities in the
splits in two and then winds to the point of tooling industry. In the example of the
action, the cutting edge. This directs the nozzle claw, a high-pressure turning
cooling liquid to the right places and minimises tool for long-chipping materials
the stress load on the entire tool, leading to such as Inconel and titanium would
better performance and an extended lifecycle. typically be manufactured via a
multi-step machining process and
“Just as we do it in the monolithic additive incur high costs. The conventional
manufacturing process, the focus is on the production of the tool involves

DS
several bores, some of which must
be resealed. In order to improve
the tool with a high-pressure claw
for process-reliable machining,
Burgmaier determined the optimal
flow rate for the best possible
medium feed and redesigned the
part to optimise channel shapes
and guidance. The nozzle claw was
printed in a case-hardening steel
with a layer thickness of 50 µm and
minimal supports to simplify post-
machining.
Ken Krauß, Head of Additive
Manufacturing at Burgmaier,
commented: “With our 16MnCr5
material, which is specially
qualified for additive
manufacturing by
Burgmaier AM,
we can produce
numerous wear-
resistant tools.
In particular, the
SHOWN:
BLOW OUT TUNNEL PRINTED
ON THE SLM 280
ability to integrate cooling channels
is a major advantage of additive
manufacturing.”
“In the early days we were
concerned with sensitising our
colleagues from the conventional
machining sector to this technology,”
Mayer explained. “This is now paying
off, as our colleagues approach us
with problems from their everyday
work. We solve problems together
and develop additive solutions, which
among other things has resulted in
the additive manufacturing of a blow-
out tunnel. However, we mainly work
for external customers, whereby we
“We solve
problems
together
and develop
an additive
solution.”
SHOWN:
MODULAR GROOVING TOOL
COVER STORY
maintain a very partnership-based
approach.”
While Burgmaier leverages its
hybrid process to manufacture
components for its external
customers, the advantages of
additive are having a huge impact
within its own serial production
facilities in Europe. In one case, the
aforementioned blow-out tunnel,
used to clean components in an
automated production process,
was optimised for performance
and quality. Burgmaier used
SLM Solutions’ technology to
integrate round air ducts, duct
cross sections, and outlet angles
to allow compressed air to reach
the component from all sides.
Burgmaier's team produced six
variants in one SLM 280 build
job using AlSi10Mg with a layer
thickness of 30 µm. The new design
resulted in downtimes caused by
chips being reduced to zero, a
utilisation increase of 7%, and annual
savings in the high five-figures.
For Burgmaier, being a world
leader means constantly staying
at the forefront of innovation. The
company has shared how the
SLM 280 2.0 machine allows it to
work “constructively and solution-
oriented.” For one of its key
customer industries – automotive
– the flexibility afforded by its hybrid
approach allows it to react to market
changes rapidly and maintain a
foothold in new markets such as
electrification and hybridisation.
While Mayer says that we’re not
quite at the break-even point for
using AM in these kinds of mass
production applications, there’s no
need to look further than its own
machine park to see how AM is
already taking effect.
Mayer concluded: “The AM area is
gaining more and more importance
within the Burgmaier Group. On the
one hand, this is due to the fact that
with additive manufacturing, we
ensure internal improvements and
thereby improve work processes
and save costs in the high six-figure
range. On the other hand, we
were able to steadily increase the
utilization of our AM machine park,
which means that we will invest in
further plant capacities in the short
term. All in all, we see a very positive
impact on the entire group.”
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 09
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GOING FOR GOLD
A
couple of decades ago,
I decided I wanted to
commercialise products in
the materials space, and the
reason is, I think we’re in what you might
call a materials revolution.”
It’s a big statement right out of the
blocks as Adam Hopkins, PhD, the
Uniformity Labs (UL) CEO, is asked
to explain the origin of the company
he founded back in 2014. And as the
conversation continues over the next 50
minutes, Hopkins barely slows down.
Slowing down, it seems, isn't on the
company's agenda either. UL came out
of stealth with a $38m Series B financing
round in February before quickly
introducing new products and revealing
real-world applications of its metal 3D
printing materials.
Having identified that the materials
industry was amidst what he describes
as a revolution, Hopkins established
Uniformity Labs not long after earning
his PhD in Theoretical Chemistry from
Princeton University, where he was
also commended with the Ray Grimm
Memorial Prize in Computational Physics.
Working in the university’s Torquato
Lab alongside Professor of Chemistry
Salvatore Torquato, Hopkins developed
a robust packing algorithm that optimises
ratios of different-sized spheres to
produce novel 3D printing materials
exhibiting ‘99%+ density’.
SHOWN:
ALUMINIUM 6061
WORDS: SAM DAVIES
Today, it serves as the foundation of
Uniformity Labs’ ambitions in the additive
manufacturing space. But initially,
Hopkins and his team had looked at
taking their computational technology
to the concrete industry, where it
wanted to reduce the amount of cement
needed to build structures and offer a
stronger alternative material. Though the
technology would have worked, Hopkins
says the concrete market was going to be
hard to move because ‘the cost margins
are razor-thin.’ In additive manufacturing,
though, UL identified a sector where
higher-performing materials were going
to be essential as 3D printing technology
matured.
“We spent years optimising this for
different sizes and shapes of powder
that were available in additive, and
we optimise for costs as well as for
properties,” Hopkins said. “And it’s not
just about density. When you’re a laser
machine, the densest powder gives you
some advantages, but a uniformly spread
powder bed is where uniformity comes
from [and] is probably more important.
“Folk have known this with respect to
spherical particles, but spherical particles
of one size. [They] don’t have anything
MATERIALS
on spherical particles – or non-
spherical particles as in our case
– of many different sizes, where the
little particles are filling in all the
gaps between the big ones, so you
have a very high-density bed, you
have more powder on the bed, you
also have smaller particles filling
the gap. You have a very smooth
bed, a very uniform bed, and you’re
decreasing stochastic variation
simultaneously with this dense
powder that exponentially increases
laser absorption that is thermally
conductive, instead of thermally
insulating. You melt a lot more
powder per unit energy, as well
as having a more uniform bed. So,
more reliability, more repeatability
through the uniformity, much faster
printing.”
Uniformity Labs has been able
to achieve this without spending
‘hundreds of millions of dollars,’
with Hopkins saying existing
powder metallurgy equipment and
platforms will be up to the task
and users ‘won’t have to sacrifice
anything’ to use the company’s
powders. These powders, per UL,
boast reduced porosity of 15-30%
and up to ‘1000x+ more contact
points between particles.’ This
helps Uniformity Labs’ materials
to be more thermally conductive
and allows the user to sinter more
“We’re not going
to dominate the
powder industry,
but we are going
to be the gold
standard.”
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 011
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 MATERIALS
SHOWN:
PART PRINTED WITH
UNIFORMITY LABS
MATERIAL

uniformly, yielding denser parts. It also

means there is less shrinkage of parts
during the sintering phase.

“And that’s perhaps even more

important,” Hopkins added. “Geometric
tolerance or geometric accuracy is
exponentially dependant on shrinkage
and what that means is if you reduce
your shrinkage by a factor of two, you get
roughly a factor of five-to-ten absolute
tolerance improvement. It enables
much more accurate sintering of larger
parts which is a big deal because in the
sintering space – binder jetting and MIM
– one of the main problems is once you
get to larger parts, you have uncontrolled
shrinkage; you’re not exactly sure how
much the part is going to shrink or it’s
going to warp when it shrinks. It makes
it impossible to make certain parts and
certain geometries and it also makes it
inaccurate, so you need to build on more
material and then you need to do more
post-machining to get rid of that extra
material.”
Hopkins sees ‘tremendous’ opportunity
with binder jetting and has been working
with Desktop Metal for several years on
a range of projects, including one that
resulted in the launch of an aluminium
6061 material for the Production System
in March. Set to be made available
once fully qualified, the aluminium 6061
exhibits greater than 10% elongation,
as well as improved yield and ultimate
tensile strength compared to wrought
6061 aluminium with similar heat
treatment. The work between the two
firms is ongoing, with Uniformity utilising
an in-house Desktop Metal Shop System
for further materials development.
It’s not the only 3D printing system
Uniformity Labs has taken ownership
of, nor does it just focus on binder jet
technologies. Using an SLM 280 2.0
Dual Laser system recently, Uniformity
Labs additively manufactured a roll-
cage for a solar-powered race car that
competed in the Bridgestone World
Solar Challenge, an international event
where solar-powered cars drive 3,000km
through the Australian outback. For this
project, Uniformity Labs used its ultra-low
porosity AlSi10Mg aluminium alloy to print
the topologically optimised component
with a 30μm layer thickness, though it
is said to have a productivity level equal
to that of a 60μm layer thickness print.
The company also offers titanium, cobalt
chrome and superalloy materials.
recipes for its powder bed fusion
aluminium materials and powder fusion
steels, just as it does its powder bed
fusion steels compared to binder jetting
steels, with the parameters of each
optimised with the turn of a dial.
Owed to its computational technology,
Hopkins believes Uniformity “can turn
knobs that others can’t” and backed
by $38m in funding from IP Group and
Orion Resource Partners, the company
is pushing to establish itself as an AM
materials leader. A key part of that
objective has been to recruit Gary
Brown as VP of Finance; appointing
former Jabil execs Geoffrey Doyle and
Walter Tersigni to the roles of VP of
Business Development and VP of Sales;
and adding GM veteran Alan S. Batey,
former Nucor Chairman John J. Ferriola
and former GKN Sinter Metals President
Christon Franks to its Board. It is also
building out a third facility where the
company will have 50,000-square-foot
of space dedicated to the production of
4,000 tonnes per annum of high-quality
steels, cobalt chrome and other ferrous
materials, while titanium and aluminium
are the focus of the company’s already-
established pilot production plant.
With the finances, experience and
intellectual property all set in place,
Uniformity Labs is now joining the
number of other ‘fantastic materials
companies out there’ and has outlined
a roadmap that will take the company
from producing the tonnes of powder per
SHOWN:
METAL POWDER
ATOMIZER AT
UNIFORMITY LABS
month it does today, to tens of tonnes,
hundreds of tonnes and – ‘maybe one
day, long, long in the future’ – tens of
thousands of tonnes. For that, Hopkins
says the industry needs to grow and the
3D printing machines need to improve,
but he’s confident they will and he’s
confident Uniformity will then be among
the best powder suppliers around.
“There’s no world where Uniformity is
the only powder supplier. We’re not out
there to supplant anybody. We’re out
there to grease the gears, or maybe I
can say a step further, we’re out there
to remake the inner workings of the
mechanism that is the AM industry,”
Hopkins finished. “But we’re not making
all the gears, we’re going to be one
or two of the components and we’re
going to put them all together in the
way that best helps our customers.
There’s always going to be a place for
standard monomodal powders in AM.
We’re not going to dominate the powder
industry, but we are going to be the
gold standard of powder.”

Whether developed for binder jetting

processes or laser powder bed fusion,
Uniformity’s materials are designed to
ensure they are high in density, low in
porosity and output quality 3D printed
components. The company has different

29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 013


Y
es, that’s right, tiss-en-krup,”
Lilyana Stoyanova, Marketing
Business Analyst at
thyssenkrupp Materials UK
confirms as we reconnect over Teams,
three weeks after our first meeting at
TCT 3Sixty where I’d almost definitely
pronounced the materials specialist’s
name incorrectly. A helpful video on
thyssenkrupp’s website showing several
mispronunciations proves I’m not alone
and emphasises a clear mission that
underscores my conversation with the
team: thyssenkrupp wants the additive
manufacturing (AM) industry to know its
name.
“In our particular fields, in aerospace
metals, in automotive and motorsport
metallics, the name thyssenkrupp carries
a lot of weight, a lot of expertise and a
lot of knowledge. People want to deal
with us,” explains Nigel Evans, Head of
Business Development at thyssenkrupp
Materials UK. “We were really surprised
at [TCT 3Sixty], a lot of people hadn’t
heard of thyssenkrupp which has always
been quite challenging for us and quite
strange because we're not used to that.”
“It's an evolution for us
into the AM market.”
WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS
While at first glance, that might seem
bullish, Evans makes a fair point. The
thyssenkrupp Group is renowned for
its steel production with over 200
years of industrial history behind it,
serving countless sectors from mining
and metals to aerospace and oil & gas,
across its 480 worldwide locations.
The Group is made up of largely
independent industrial and technology
businesses, one of which is materials
distributor and service provider
thyssenkrupp Materials UK, which
recently unveiled its new offering to the
metal AM market.
“It's sort of an evolution for us into
the additive manufacturing market,”
Evans said. “We've been through the
stages at the moment where we’re
taking metal away from the components
that we're making, the next stage is to
actually create the component from the
powdered metal and kind of grow the
product.”
For the wider thyssenkrupp Group, the
move to additive began with the launch
of its AM TechCenter in Mülheim in 2017.
materials
The centre was established to explore
the technology’s potential and, as a
materials supplier with its own raw
materials department, it made sense
take a closer look at the materials
side too. The company has spent time
carefully evaluating the right powders,
chemical compositions, particle size
distribution, flowability, limitations –
the kinds of details those customers
in the highly regulated industries that
thyssenkrupp serves would be paying
close attention to – and is now ready
to provide to the market.
There are many challenges within
the metal AM process. Even the
sourcing route for AM materials is
entirely different to the traditional
mode of selling materials. So different
in fact, Evans, who has a wealth of
experience across aerospace, defence
and machining industries, jokes that
for the first time in his 35-year career,
he finds himself presented with a
blank sheet of paper and conversing
with universities, technology centres
and machine vendors (some of which
already use thyssenkrupp metals to
SHOWN:
THYSSENKRUPP MATERIALS
UK ANNOUNCED ITS NEW AM
SERVICES AT TCT 3SIXTY
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 015
 Cubicure starts digital
series production: Cerion
The overhaul of stereolithography has been a long time coming.
One Austrian 3D printing company bids to answer the call: Cubicure
has just presented Cerion, a large-scale production plant which
closes the gap to toolless, fully digital series production of polymer
parts. Apparently, the machine is already in use with some pilot
customers and has proven that it delivers on its promises.

Rethinking stereolithography
A new era of additive series production

It needed a new way of thinking to turn dreams of the
future into productive reality. No more resin baths or
material trays; enter a process that doesn’t even need
to limit itself to one single lighting technology. Cerion’s
particular strength is a completely novel printing head
that smoothly glides over the building area and, layer by
layer, combines all building processes in one fell swoop.
With a giant building platform measuring one meter by
thirty centimeters, one might think Cerion would need
to take its sweet time to achieve an optical precision
of 50x50 µm². Think again: Each layer is printed in just
under a minute, completely independent of how many
„This is the essential breakthrough in the industrial
upscaling of lithographic printing processes“ enthuses
Managing Director and CTO Dr. Robert Gmeiner.
„After three decades of stereolithography, finally an
industrially scalable process has been found.“
Make the next step towards toolless manufacturing
and come see the future of light-curing 3D printing
for yourself at the trade show Formnext in Frankfurt
am Main in mid-November.
Cubicure will be exhibiting in

parts need to be produced in what size or how compli- hall 12.1 at booth F39.
cated their geometry is. So above all, Cerion is scalable,
in its dimensions and its throughput. A few bulky or
thousands of minute parts can all be printed simultane-
ously. „Due to the type of processing with a traversing
printing head and exceedingly precise lighting control,
there is no variance in manufacturing accuracy dis-
tributed over the build area,“ confirms Dr. Bernhard
Busetti, process engineer and product manager for AM
systems at Cubicure. The newly developed process even
improves the reproducibility of print jobs. In addition,
Cerion relies on Cubicure‘s seasoned Hot Lithography
technology. It might be a new system, but it already
has a broad range of applications backing it up.

www.cubicure.com

manufacture said machines) to devise a
new strategy.
“We're setting ourselves up as a supply
chain partner and partner of choice,”
Evans elaborated. “We're not just selling
a piece of metal, we want to supply
a process, we want to look at where
they're going with it. So, we're having
to change the way we're selling. What I
think has happened is a lot of the people
we're speaking to aren't changing the
way they're buying. They're still buying
like it's 1984. You know, ‘Who's the
cheapest price?’, ‘Where can we get
it from?’ And ‘I like dealing with Dave’.
We've got to change that mentality.”
Any switch to additive usually calls for a
change in mindset. According to Evans,
early conversations with aerospace
customers have shown that the industry
knows it’s coming but some businesses
aren’t quite ready to adopt. Sebastian
Richter, Head of Metal Powders argues
that the pandemic hasn’t helped
either as the lack of in-person contact
has prevented would-be users from
experiencing AM’s potential first-hand.
It’s a different and more cautious view
to many others in the AM industry who
believe the pandemic has given AM
an opportunity to showcase its unique
benefits over traditional manufacturing
routes, but Richter remains positive that
there’s a place for AM alongside existing
manufacturing setups.
Richter said: “When you are in a
production job site like we have for
Materials Services in the UK, where you
have a milling machine and right next
to it you have a printer and everybody
knows how to use it, then I think
that's the future of this technology
and of this industry.”
In what the company believes
to be a unique offering to the
market, thyssenkrupp Materials
UK has introduced a post-build
service, leveraging its large
portfolio of in-house, machining
centres across the UK to deliver a
more efficient production process
from material selection to verified
finished part. Customers can work
with thyssenkrupp to identify
the optimum materials for their
parts, print them and have them
post-processed by a range of
surface finish options offered via
thyssenkrupp’s network of 5-axis
machining platforms. It’s all part of
its Materials as a Service (MaaS)
offering which allows thyssenkrupp
Materials UK to oversee the entire
AM thread depending on the
customer’s needs.
“We market ourselves as
a one stop shop for additive
manufacturing,” Iryna Smokovych,
Powder Metals Engineer explained.
“We are also a supply chain
solutions provider, and it applies
for additive, it applies for all other
Materials as a Service projects. We
can just supply the material, and
that's fine but we can also support
the whole supply chain if the
customer needs it. We can supply
the finished product if they require.”
thyssenkrupp Materials UK keeps
a selection of sustainably sourced
materials
SHOWN:
THYSSENKRUPP IS OFFERING
A "ONE STOP SHOP" FOR AM,
INCORPORATING ITS IN-HOUSE
MACHINING CAPABILITIES
“We're setting
ourselves up as
a supply chain
partner and
partner of choice.”
metal powders in stock including
stainless steel, aluminium, titanium
and nickel-based alloys, but in the
UK, it’s also manufacturing its own
AM powders for powder bed fusion
and electron beam melting processes
including common grade materials
and bespoke customer formulations.
thyssenkrupp’s global presence,
supply chain experience, and network
of sites means it is able to react
quickly and provide this service to
customers on a global scale. Though,
even with the pull of a big name,
Evans says providing that local
element remains important.
Evans added: “It's something
we've been doing in the UK for a
long time - value added, additional
manufacturing or now MaaS and
for me, additive manufacturing is
one of the technologies and one of
the processes that I feel fits in and
encompasses this completely. It is a
new market for us and it's a different
type of selling that we're having
to look at and it's a different route
but one I think that is going to be
essential for us moving forward, that
we are aligned with our colleagues in
Germany and ensure that we can join
in what I feel to be the next stage of
evolution for a metal supplier.”
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 017
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INTRODUCING 4D
WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS
BIOMATERIALS
A
lot of tech breakthrough
stories come from humble
garages and garden sheds,
but it was a coffee shop in
Derbyshire where the lift of the UK’s
lockdown restrictions this past Spring
enabled 4D Biomaterials’ CEO Philip
Smith and additive manufacturing (AM)
consultant Phil Reeves to meet for the
first time and experience one of their
own.
“I told him what we were doing,” Smith
recalled in a recent conversation with
TCT. “[Phil] started laughing and said,
‘I've got a client, he's asked me to find
that material. I've been looking all over
the world for that material.’”
That material, or materials, is 4Degra,
a range of novel polymeric 3D printing
resin-inks (patents applied for) that
can be used to additively manufacture
implantable medical devices which
degrade and resorb into the body over
time.
It all started 15 years ago with
Professor Andrew Dove, a leading
researcher in degradable polymers,
who started developing a new class
of stereolithography-type resins that
would deliver better patient outcomes.
To commercialise the technology, 4D
Biomaterials has since spun out of
the Universities of Birmingham
and Warwick, assembled
a full-time team of six,
secured a recent seed
round of £1.6m, and is
now ready to take the
technology into its
next phase.
Degradable
polymers such as
polylactic acid (PLA),
poly lactic-co-glycolic acid
(PLGA) and polycaprolactone
(PCL) are well established in the
medical device field, with some already
able to be printed via processes such
SHOWN:
LUMPECTOMY DEVICE WITH SHAPE MEMORY LATTICE
as FDM, but they can pose some
limitations.
“With things like PLA and PLGA,
which are polyesters, degradation
is triggered by moisture and those
materials in particular hydrate
very easily,” Dr Andy Naylor,
Head of Product Development at
4D Biomaterials, explained. “So,
when they go into the body, the
water goes all the way through the
material. That triggers a reaction
“We've got,
potentially, a
world-beating
material.”
MATERIALS
causing them to degrade from the
inside out. That degradation can
lead to a potentially very acidic local
environment, which is not very good
for tissue and that's a key drawback
with those materials.”
By contrast, 4Degra materials
degrade via a progressive surface
erosion process that stops the
structure itself from collapsing
suddenly. This means that any by-
products are also released much
more gradually, resulting in reduced
concentration levels. As tissue grows
into the scaffold, this progressive
erosion also improves the way the
device itself is resorbed over time.
4D Biomaterials’ team of engineers
and chemists is able to formulate the
material for different needs. These can
range from incredibly soft and flexible
materials to those with rigid and strong
properties. The company recently
neighboured alongside TCT 3Sixty at
the Med Tech Innovation Expo where
an array of application examples,
from 3D printed lattice structures for
bone regeneration to microstructures
for splints, displayed the wealth of
potential such material flexibility
could bring. In one of
the larger application
examples, the materials
were used to print a
breast conserving
lumpectomy device
which is implanted
into the void after the
removal of a tumour.
The device, printed
in a soft tissue version
of 4Degra, features
a shape memory lattice
structure and sponge-like
quality, similar to breast tissue,
so that it can be compressed into
a smaller shape on implantation and
then expand once it reaches body
temperature. Over time, the patient’s
natural tissue grows into the scaffold
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 019
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which will then degrade and be
resorbed into the body. The device
is said to have piqued the interest
of breast surgeons in the U.S.
who see this as a more efficient
way of delivering better cosmetic
outcomes without the need for
reconstructive surgery.
In a different example featuring a
stiffer material formulation, a lattice
structure was applied to bridge
the gap in a fracture and promote
bone growth. For more complex
cases, thanks to 3D printing,
these kinds of devices can also be
personalised.
“Those types of tissue scaffolds,
with a very well-defined pore size
and very high resolution, are great
for growing tissue through,” Naylor
added. “You couldn't make it any
other way other than 3D printing.”
Leveraging Reeves’ connections
within the AM industry, the
company has been working with
early customers and machine
vendors – both of which are being
kept under wraps – to get the
materials ready for clinical trials.
While the team has plenty of ideas
around where these materials
could have an impact, Smith
says the long-term intention is
not to become a medical device
manufacturer but rather a provider
of materials and a development
partner. Yet, getting a medical
device through the necessary
regulations is a long and rigorous
process and currently, Reeves
describes the “chicken and egg”
situation the start-up finds itself in
as it plans to select one device to
focus on pushing through clinical
trials to attain regulatory approval
without relying on a third party to
take the leap for them.
“It's just a way of us making
sure we get the material in a
device that's approved,” Smith
adds, “and then that qualifies it
as a material for other people to
use in whichever device they're
developing or have.”
Though, with what the team
believes to be a “world-beating”
material on their hands, Reeves
argues that for those devices where
3D printing makes sense, 4Degra is
a no brainer.
“The reality is, it doesn't matter
what the material is, whether it's
SHOWN:
4DEGRA CAN BE
FORMULATED FOR
DIFFERENT APPLICATION
REQUIREMENTS
PEEK, whether it's titanium, whether
it's known and accepted biomedical
materials, you still have to go through
this whole process for a medical
device,” Reeves explained. “What
excites me about this is that we have
a better material than the incumbent
material and it won't take necessarily
any longer to get it into a medical
device, if you want to use 3D printing.”
Whilst it was a serendipitous
meeting of minds in a local café – and
a short Happy Birthday exchange
between Smith and Naylor over
LinkedIn that evolved to finding a
home and a kitted-out lab inside
Nottingham’s MediCity – which
led 4D Biomaterials to where it is
today, the trio believe the switch to
remote working and Zoomification of
business meetings also played a part
by creating a level playing field.
“We've had Zoom meetings with
some of the biggest medical device
manufacturers and 3D printing
companies in the world,” Reeves
shared. “We're a tiny start-up in
Nottingham and I think pre-COVID
there would have been an expectation
that we would have to have travelled
to them to be seen and I think that
MATERIALS
that's completely changed now. I think
it's become a much more level playing
field in the way that you communicate
with prospective partners and clients
and supply chain partners.”
The start-up has ambitions to select its
first device early next year with intent
to start human trials around 2023. Right
now, the resin is only suitable for design
development purposes but the next step
is to engage with a GMP manufacturing
facility to prepare the material for
clinical trials. Once that is achieved, the
possibilities could be boundless.
“I think we're actually in a pretty strong
position that we've got, potentially, a
world-beating material that’s better than
what you've got, and it's 3D printable,”
Phil concluded. “So, if you're a device
manufacturer and you want to move
into 3D printing, why would you do that
using a substandard material?”
Visit 4D Biomaterials at Formnext -
HALL 11, STAND B59.
SHOWN:
4DEGRA MATERIALS
DEGRADE VIA A
PROGRESSIVE SURFACE
EROSION PROCESS
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 021
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FUELLING THE NEXT
MANUFACTURING
REVOLUTION
A
WORDS: Matias Garcia-Avila, PhD, Principal Engineer, AM R&D at ATI Specialty Materials
s additive manufacturing (AM)
matures, parts specifically
designed for additive
manufacturing (DfAM) will
offer superior performance and significant
advantages when compared to parts made
from traditional manufacturing methods.
Most metallic materials used in AM
today are powder or wire product forms
of traditional cast and wrought alloys such
as nickel 718 or Titanium Ti-6Al-4V (Ti 64).
It is important to remember that these
alloys were once designed to be cast into
ingots and forged or rolled into billet, bar,
or plate/sheet form, where the hot working
of the metal plays an important role in
the final crystalline microstructure and
performance of the material.
In most cases, AM processes can
produce material properties superior
to casting and close to the cast and
wrought products of the same alloy by
using thermal post-processes like heat
treating. In some cases, like in Ti 64,
the physics inherent to AM can work
against the material. For Ti 64, high
cooling rates observed in laser-based AM
processes can lead to a martensitic
transformation in the material,
leading to low ductility
and high residual
stresses. For
some part
geometries,
these residual
stresses can
be severe and
lead to process
failures that render
the components
not printable. This
martensitic
transformation in
titanium is not
exclusive to
Ti 64 (most
alpha-beta
alloys
exhibit this behaviour), limiting their
wide insertion into AM components.
Other titanium alloys, such as beta-rich
alloys, do not experience martensitic
transformations on cooling and could
be more suitable for AM due to the lack
of residual stress build-up during AM
processing. In addition, beta-rich Ti alloys
can be heat treated to produce a variety
of strength and ductility combinations,
offering versatility and wide applicability
to titanium AM components.
Recognising this challenge, ATI is
evaluating beta-rich Ti alloys in laser-
based AM processes. Alloys like ATI
Titan 23, a beta-rich alloy, h
­ ave shown
excellent printability in laser powder
bed fusion and blown-powder direct
energy deposition processes. The AM
material produced from this alloy shows
no signs of martensitic transformation
when printed, and the material has been
successfully heat-treated for different
strength/ductility combinations to match
application requirements. The results from
the preliminary experiments indicate that
the parts printed using this alloy have
75% lower residual stresses and 20%
higher strength for the same elongation
compared to parts printed in Ti 64.
ATI Titan 23 is just one
example where
using the right
material
SHOWN:
TITANIUM BRACKET
PRINTED IN BETA-
RICH ATI TITAN 23
TITANIUM, ACHIEVING
75% LESS DISTORTION
COMPARED TO TI64
MATERIALS
for the application and process enables
the full advantages of AM design freedom.
Other Materials Designed for Additive
Manufacturing (MDfAM) are starting to
appear in the market, offering superior
printability and performance compared to
legacy materials. In the titanium system,
for example, compositional modifications
can change solidification behaviour in
the material to take advantage of the
rapid cooling seen in AM processes and
produce martensite-free microstructures
that lead to higher performance.
In other alloy systems, such as high-
performance nickel alloys used in rotating
jet engine components, rapid solidification
is already used to prevent detrimental
segregation of these highly alloyed
materials by making the feedstock into
powder form. These powders are then
consolidated via hot isostatically press
processes and hot worked into final
components. Similarly, highly alloyed Ni
powders can be developed for AM which
takes advantage of the rapid solidification
to prevent segregation and provide higher
performance than powders made from
cast and wrought compositions.
For applications like heat exchangers,
complex manifolds, or parts with internal
channels and cavities, AM provides
tremendous advantages versus traditional
manufacturing methods by enabling
parts to be made in one piece instead of
complex assemblies. Some of these parts
have already been designed for AM and
cannot be manufactured in a cost-
effective manner, or at all, in any
other way. The emergence of
new material compositions
that take advantage of the
physics of AM will improve
the performance and
efficiency of these complex
components by providing higher
strength, improved high-temperature
capability, and better manufacturability by
lowering residual stress and distortion.
Only by combining the freedom of
design of DfAM components and the
superior material performance of MDfAM
will AM truly become the next-generation
production process of the future, launching
the next manufacturing revolution.
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 023
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A REAL DIFFERENCE
How surgeons at North Manchester General Hospital are putting a new
handheld facial scanner through its paces.
T
he creation of facial prosthetics
for trauma patients has
traditionally involved taking an
impression of the patient’s face
where the patient must lie back, very still,
until it sets, after which a gypsum stone
solution is poured into the mould. Once
this hardens, the facial prosthesis can be
built around it. The process is not always
reliable and can be long and extremely
uncomfortable. 3D scanning presents
healthcare professionals with a less
intrusive, more streamlined alternative.
“In the last few years, we have tried to
move from traditional methods of mould
making to using 3D scanners, which
has enabled this process to become
quicker, cleaner and more convenient
for the patient,” explained Oliver Burley -
Reconstructive Scientist and Lab Manager
at North Manchester General Hospital
(NMGH). “The facial scanning technology
we had access to in the past was suitable
for some applications - such as burn splint
manufacture - however the level of detail
captured left a lot to be desired. Their
ability to capture the intricate detail of the
patient’s face was not as precise as we’d
want it to be. A high level of accuracy
is essential for creating maxillofacial
devices and facial prostheses that
are aesthetically pleasing, fit well,
and blend seamlessly with the
patient’s own features.”
SHOWN:
THE IREAL 2S
3D SCANNER
Burley and his team at NMGH have
recently been trialling the iReal 2S face
scanner from The 3D Measurement
Company (T3DMC) which has allowed
them to capture fine features such as hair,
eyebrows, skin folds, wrinkles and eye
position, including pigments and colours,
without irritating the patient’s skin or eyes.
“Thanks to the blue and the infrared
light settings we can scan a person’s
face in thirty seconds and produce a
high-quality scan,” Burley explained.
“The scanner is light and portable which
allows us to easily travel with it between
different hospital sites. Furthermore,
there’s minimal post-processing required
and the resulting stl. and obj. files can be
used depending on the need, such as for
printing the 3D models."
“The fundamental difference against
traditional techniques of taking moulds
and impressions is that it's far quicker,
it's far less painful, and it's less intrusive
on the patient,” Adam Stanley, Director
at T3DMC added. “It's a more pleasant
experience for them, and fundamentally,
we can get far more accurate data so any
downstream processes for creating the
3d scanning
prosthetic means that it's going to fit better
and it's going to be more comfortable to
wear.”
The iReal 2S is said to be one of the
most affordable 3D body scanners on
the market and can capture data at
550,000 measurements per second
in high-definition and in colour without
reference markers or dots. It’s designed
so that “the patient barely knows they are
being scanned,” according to Stanley. It
also features a built in HD camera which
directly captures full colour images of the
scanned object, overlaying them onto the
3D mesh structure to give realistic colour
representation, and a visual guidance
system which ensures ease of use for non-
technical users.
“That's a huge thing that's often
overlooked,” Stanley shared. “You can
have a very comprehensive, very accurate
system, great data capture but if it's difficult
to use and not very user-friendly, then
it often will not get used as a piece of
technology because it actually makes the
process for the operator more difficult, even
if it does give better data downstream.”
That ease of use has been essential for
the NMGH team and Burley added that
they're now looking to use the scanner
for more complex cases as a volume
measurement tool for tissue reconstruction
on other areas of the body. Further to that,
the data captured can also be used to
create 3D printed models and prototypes
for prosthetics.
“The ease of use is critical to the success
of a system like the iReal,” Stanley said.
“This is a tool that is in the arsenal of
consultants, surgeons, practitioners,
whoever needs to collect information
about a patient so that they can
review it at a later date, when the
patient is no longer there. To do
that in a digital space in 3D is a very
powerful concept. The iReal allows
you to capture precise, clean data
very quickly, so that you can get on
with your day, and let the patient carry
on with their day as well.”
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 025
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PRESERVING
THE CRADLE OF
CIVILIZATION
Head of Content Laura Griffiths speaks to filmmaker
Ivan Erhel about using 3D scanning to digitise the past.
S
ave what could not be saved.”
That was the mission French
filmmaker Ivan Erhel appointed
himself when he decided to travel from
the South to the North of Iraq in a race
to preserve what remains of the history
of Mesopotamia, often referred to as the
Cradle of Civilization.
That urgency is no exaggeration. With
ISIS occupying over 30% of the country
at the time, destroying museums and
statues in the process, Erhel recalled
in a conversation with TCT how, after
seeing a video showing the destruction
of a museum in Mosul - countless relics
and history lost in the process - he felt
compelled to do something, anything,
to help save what was left of the world’s
oldest civilisation. A conversation with a
friend who had just purchased an Artec
Eva 3D scanner sparked an idea.
SHOWN:
THE EVA WAS USED TO
SCAN LARGER PIECES
“He said, ‘If I were there sometime
before ISIS, we could have saved it,’
and I thought that was really a great
idea, so I decided to make a film about
it.”
The film centres on the journey of an
Iraqi writer who, after three decades
living in France, returns to Iraq to help
preserve its history using 3D scanning.
Prior to this project, Erhel had never
used a 3D scanner and now left co-
ordinating the project on his own with
the support of 3D scanning specialist
Artec 3D, set out with a Space Spider
and an Eva scanner in tow.
The destruction of the Mosul
Museum and Nimrud, once a major
ancient city 20 miles south of the city
of Mosul, were the starting points
for the project. The first piece to be
scanned was the Processional Way
of Babylon, a 250-metre-long brick
road 120 km south of Baghdad,
featuring carvings of various animals
3d scanning
and legendary creatures, much of which had
already been destroyed by erosion. For larger
pieces like this, a handheld Eva was propped
up on a stick to reach harder to access areas
while the blue light Space Spider was put to
work capturing intricate details on smaller
objects using a turntable. The team also
scanned people, including soldiers who
initially questioned Erhel’s intentions with the
technology (“It looked like a spy thing!” Erhel
said) but after the project was explained to
them, agreed to be scanned and are now
featured in the film.
On top of logistical challenges around
securing a visa and permissions to film,
Erhel’s bid to capture as many monuments
and artefacts as possible posed very real
risk with the sounds of gunshots and further
destruction never too far behind. For many
of the sites, Erhel and his small team were
the first to arrive and without the luxury of
spending weeks scanning some of the larger
monuments, including one that measured
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 027

Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing Touches Down at
Formnext 2021 – Massivit 3D
Formnext 2021 is shaping
up to be one of the most
talked-about industry events
in quite some time. One of
the hot topics that will be
discussed and scrutinized is
how to attain the Holy Grail
of additive manufacturing:
speed and size.
As AM technologies are
adopted more pervasively
into real-world manufacturing
arenas, industries such as
marine, aeronautics, and
land-based transportation
benefit from factors such as
weight savings, structural
integrity, and geometry
freedom. However, inherent
limitations in production
speed and size remain
unresolved.
One company whose
participation at Formnext
is already garnering
significant industry buzz is
Massivit 3D - pioneers in
large-scale 3D printing.
Massivit 3D was born of a
vision to resolve recognized
limitations in production
speed and size in the field
of additive manufacturing.
The company’s Webinars in
last year’s Formnext Connect
online event spurred a
lot of interest from virtual
attendees around the globe.
The Massivit 3D stand -
C119, Hall 12.1 – will showcase
a wide range of applications,
from full-scale printed railway
spare parts to automotive
wide body kits and custom
furniture – all to be 3D
printed live throughout the
course of the event.
The company’s latest
industrial-grade system,
the Massivit 5000, was
developed to serve the
Industry 4.0 requirements
of the Automotive, Marine,
Rail, and Scenic Fabrication
arenas. It enables full-scale
end-use parts, prototypes,
and molds to be produced
with ultra-short lead times
by leveraging advanced,
thermoset photo polymer
materials, dual printing
heads, sophisticated slicing
software, and cutting-edge
computer vision features.
The Massivit 5000 boasts
an exceptional build volume
ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
of 1450W x 1110D x 1800H mm
and a printing speed
up to 30x the speed of
other AM systems on the
market. It offers a range of
printing materials, printing
modes, and resolutions to
accommodate particulate
considerations of speed,
strength, and scale. The
system’s Dual Material
System allows a different
material to be printed
simultaneously on each
head.
Visitors to the stand will
learn about Massivit 3D’s
patented Gel Dispensing
Printing (GDP) technology
– the innovation behind the
company’s portfolio of 3D
printers – that has already
empowered manufacturers
and service bureaus across
40 countries to automate and
expedite their workflows.
A European nautical
engineering firm, Velum
Nautica, has used their
Massivit 3D printer to
produce full-scale, tailored
marine parts, shortening their
production time from days
or weeks down to a matter
of hours (pictured top left).
Velum Nautica has served its
global clients with countless
custom parts including a
1.2-meter foldable gangway
and a bowsprit that doubles
as a boarding ramp for a
30-passenger yacht – all
printed in less than one day.
Designers and engineers
are constantly turning to
companies like Massivit
3D for digital solutions to
challenges that previously
fell in the purview of hand
craftsmen, such as scenic
fabricators. For example, a
4.23m replica of a classic
Italian sports car (pictured
below) was 3D printed and
assembled in just four pieces
by Colorzenith and Giò
Forma (Milan) for La Scala
using a Massivit 1800. For
further information about
large-scale 3D printing,
please contact Massivit 3D
here.
www.massivit3d.com
Top right image: Wide body kit by
TJ Hunt, STREETHUNTER DESIGNS
& BCT Entertainment.

SHOWN:
THE ARTEC 3D EVA
HANDHELD SCANNER
up to 75 metres wide and 30 metres
high, often had to capture what they
could in a matter of hours.
“We had to be very careful,” Erhel
said, describing the “tense” situation
the team found itself in while
determined to scan what was dubbed
“Last Survivor of Nimrud.” “There was
one sculpture standing, the last one
and we scanned it with the [Artec]
Eva.”
Some of the scans are available
to view on SketchFab and Erhel has
even brought a couple of those files
back into the real world with 3D
printing. He’s holding one - printed
using a powder-based process - as
we speak. Erhel caveats that he’s
not too enthusiastic about the
quality of printing compared to 3D
models (“You can’t compare with
the original,” he said) and he shared
how there was some hesitation from
officials about letting the crew scan
some artefacts through fear they
would produce copies. That said,
he believes the support of Artec 3D
afforded the team a lot of credibility
and believes there is real value in
what they set out to achieve.
“Any documentation is welcome,”
Erhel said. “Even if it comes from
me who was not a professional
in 3D, was not a professional in
archaeology, I was nothing. I think a
3D model is so much more accurate
than photography, it has much more
information and you can understand
much more by looking at 3D models,
you can easily look at it through all
angles. When you look at a model of
all sides, then you see things that you
cannot see on a photograph.
4RIGHT:
DIGITISING HISTORIC
CARVINGS IN 3D
technology was
“If we were there sometime before we'd still
have a trace of what Nimrud was because
all we have is our photography and that
photography is incomplete. So [3D scanning] is
a way to give eternity.”
The film has since been completed and is
currently available to watch in France, but
Erhel’s mission continues. Now, he’s in the
process of setting up workshops across the
country to teach young people of Iraq about
3D scanning technology in what he hopes will
serve as inspiration to start a movement of
preserving heritage.
“The country is divided and it's very different
when you're from the South, from the North or
from the centre,” Erhel explained, adding that
he wants to create three workshops across
these three distinct parts of the country, “So
that they can work together on keeping this
SHOWN:
CAPTURING FINE
DETAILS WITH THE EVA
3d scanning
“I believe this
in search of a
purpose.”
country together and scanning and
sharing our common heritage because
they are the guardians but this heritage
belongs to all of us.”
For the technology itself, Erhel
believes projects like his also show how
3D scanning can offer more meaningful
value.
“I believe this technology was in
search of a purpose, apart from
[reverse] engineering, which is the
obvious purpose,” Erhel offered. “But
world heritage, human civilization, is a
cause.”
The final and perhaps most enduring
impact is the new light Erhel hopes
his film and the scans taken along
the way will place on Iraq. He wants
viewers to recognise that the country
is more than the images we see of war
and destruction, it is the birthplace of
much of human civilisation, where the
foundations for language, architecture,
agriculture and more were built
thousands of years ago.
“I think that's a good way to promote
this heritage and to remind the world
that Iraq is not just a conflict zone,
Iraq is the cradle of civilization,” Erhel
concludes. “Western civilization, we
have a debt, an important debt, towards
Mesopotamia and to this country.”
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 029
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AUTOMATION
AND ERROR
DETECTION IN AM
WORDS: Pascal Becker, Research Scientist, FZI Research Center for Information Technology
A
dditive manufacturing (AM)
is playing an increasingly
important role in today's
production. This is not only
due to the fact that complex geometries
can be produced with AM, but also
because this type of production is
economical, especially for small quantities
and individualised products.
However, the work has so far been bound
up with many manual steps. To begin with,
the CAD data must be sliced for printing.
The more experience and knowledge the
employee has about the printing process,
the more likely a successful print result is.
The number of possible error cases varies
depending on the type of process, and
the possibility of observing the printing
process in-situ also varies depending on
the process type.
After preparation of the print data and
the printer hardware, the process can
be started. The print itself typically takes
several hours, if not days. In that time,
various errors can occur such as warping.
Sometimes the errors are so serious that
the print job can be aborted immediately,
since the final part deviates greatly from
the desired geometry and cannot be used.
There are currently only a few options for
automated error checking here. Various
research institutes are therefore trying
to implement this in-situ error detection
using the current technologies. Not only
does the choice of software approach
(artificial intelligence, classical sensor data
processing) play a role, but the choice of
sensor technology is also very specific to
the printing process. In addition to imaging
methods such as 2D, 3D or thermal
imaging cameras, acoustic and optical
microphones, as well as vibration sensors
are also being investigated. These sensors
must be integrated into the hardware and
the process, and the sensor data must be
processed and evaluated in order to obtain
added value.
Continuous monitoring of the current
printing situation is important in many
ways. Thus, the print can be monitored
automatically and the recorded data can be
used for quality assurance, as well as for
research & academia
predictive maintanence for the machine. errors during the printing process and
Reliable error detection enables the print at the same time, reduce the number of
job to be aborted at an early stage, thus manual steps after printing. Appropriate
saving valuable time and material. As approaches need to be developed and
a result, the corrected print job can be implemented for these two topics so that
started earlier and losses are reduced. AM can better exploit its potential.
Once the print job is finished, the objects
are manually unloaded, cleaned and
post-processed. Depending on the object Hear more from Pascal at the
geometry and printing process, this can TCT Conference @ Formnext
involve a lot of manual work. This is where on 17th November at 14:30-15:00.
the two modern technologies of AM and
robotics need to be combined. According GET TICKETS:
to some scientific publications, unloading tctconferenceformnext.com
the component with the help of a robot is
very flexible and economically feasible.
In the field of post-processing, there are
both the first startups and already scientific
results that have studied and partially
solved the problem.
Here, it is important to consider the
overall system. Depending on the
unloading strategy, something must
already be adjusted in the slicing process
so that the removal can take place
without damage. At the same time, the
system should be designed in such a
way that few additional components as
possible are required and at the same
time, almost all possible parts can be
handled. For example, it makes sense
to have several printers maintained by
one robot on a mobile platform so that
the robotic system is profitable for a
huge workload.
One of the advantages of AM is
also one of the biggest challenge for
robotics - due to the fact that virtually
any possible geometry can be printed,
the requirements for grasp points, gripper
jaw design, required opening widths of the
gripper or the post-processing strategy, are
complex and diverse. These must be taken
into account and integrated into a coherent
overall concept.
Overall, further automation of additive
manufacturing is inevitable. The more
objects that are mass-produced using
AM, the more important it
becomes to continuously
monitor and detect
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 031
ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
Q&A with Additive Industries CEO
Additive Industries CEO Ian C. Howe on the future of additive manufacturing.
Q: You took over as
Additive Industries’ CEO
back in April. What have
you been focusing on since
coming on board?
A: The focus is on preparing
the company for the next
stage in its development.
Since its foundation in 2012
the focus was heavily on
developing the technology
and the MetalFAB1 with
specifically chosen key
customers. The next phase
will focus on profitable
growth driven by five
strategic pillars:
• Technology Leadership in
industrial large frame metal
AM (continuing to drive
productivity leadership for
large frame systems)
• Commercial Excellence
(investing in commercial
team to bring our solutions
to targeted customers
where we clearly add
value to their business and
strategy, and to deliver
best in class customer
service)
• Service Offering (creating
customer engagement and
service to ensure delivery
of best OE Availability,
Utilization, Reduced Scrap)
• Exploring adjacent markets • High Tech (€300m, needs here as the digital
/ technology areas growing CAGR 30%, to nature of AM perfectly
€500m in 2026) manages the complexity
Q: You’ve previously of such problems. Imagine
worked in the aerospace, Q: We’ve seen more high value capital goods
energy, and automotive emphasis put on the that have useful life cycles
sectors. From your opportunities for AM of decades. How can one
experience, where do in Spare Parts/Legacy manage all those spare part
you see the biggest Program management over inventories, specifications
opportunities for AM right the last years. What are and drawings, not to mention
now? your thoughts on the role production toolings etc over
A: Currently in terms of AM can play? many decades. AM provides
spend, growth and techno- A: AM as a technology is the ideal digital solution to
commercial fit for Large already fulfilling customer manage the complexity in a
Frame Industrial metal
AM solutions, the largest
opportunities lie within the
following market verticals:
• Medical (€1.1b in 2021,
growing CAGR 27%, to
€3.7b in 2026)
• Space (€800m in 2021,
growing CAGR 24%, to
€2.5b in 2026)
• Automotive (€600m in
2021, growing CAGR 28%,
to €2.1b in 2026)
• Industrial (€500m in 2021,
growing CAGR 22%, to
€1.5b in 2026)
• Aviation (€200m, growing
CAGR 35%, to €900m in
2026)
• Energy (€200m, growing
CAGR 26%, to €700m in
2026)

cost efficient manner. This
awareness is spreading
and OEMs are deploying
such cases to drive their
strategies.
Q: At last year’s Formnext,
Additive Industries debuted
the MetalFAB-600. Can
you give us an update on
the progress being made
there?
A: The company took a
strategic decision to keep
its innovation focus on
productivity leadership and
driving down cost / kg of AM
produced metal components
on the MetalFAB1. This
was a conscious decision
based on customer demand
/ needs and has led to the
launch of the MetalFAB G2,
the next generation system
in productivity leadership,
at Formnext 2021 amongst
other improvements. We
still have large demand for
solutions that can only be
realized with faster and
more cost-efficient solutions,
hence this focus area/
opportunity remains in focus.
However, we have indeed
still progressed innovation
of some of the critical
systems such as the Optics
development.
Q: What are the benefits of
more laser power?
A: More laser power indeed
provides direct possibility to
increase productivity / build
rates. However, it needs also
to be balanced with ensuring
the quality of materials
properties and component
integrity
Q: What challenges do
you think AM still faces
in establishing itself as a
mainstream production
technology?
A: There are a number of
challenges:
• Cost effectiveness versus
traditional manufacturing
solutions, including
end to end processing.
Currently the technology
is addressing the very
high value components
segment.
• Standardization of
processes, applications
and materials enabling
design engineers to
choose AM as a robust and
reliable process alternative
• Scarcity of competent
professionals and
scientists/engineers in a
fast-growing industry
Q: Where is Additive
Industries’ technology
making the biggest impact
today?
A: Currently we have
deployed our technology
into customers within the
Space, Aviation Turbine,
Automotive, Industrial and
High-Tech market verticals.
Q: Can you share any
launch plans for Formnext
2021?
A: We are excited to
announce several new
ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
developments for our
(prospective) customers
during Formnext 2021:
• MetalFAB G2 – Launch
of next level productivity
leadership: The MetalFAB
G2 is offered in three key
configurations, depending
on customer needs;
• MetalFAB G2 CORE
• MetalFAB G2
AUTOMATION
• MetalFAB G2
CONTINUOUS
PRODUCTION
Alongside our new system,
the next generation
MetalFAB, we are going to
announce innovations that
improve both the accessibility
of its machines and users’
quality assurance capabilities
during operation.
We are presenting a multi-
beam qualification tool,
which is a big step forward
in multi-laser system quality
assurance.
Additionally, we are revealing
the integration of a beta
version of Sigma Labs’
PrintRite3D offering into the
MetalFAB, the launch of the
latest build processor it has
developed in partnership
with Materialise, the launch
of our Additive Studios, a
new additive manufacturing
consultancy services and
training program, and a
strategic collaboration with a
machining company Makino,
resulting into an end-to-end
process chain for scaling
metal 3D printing
Q: Can you talk about your
overall vision for the future
of the company?
A: Additive Industries is the
driving force for large frame
metal additive manufacturing.
Our vision is to transform the
metal components industry
with the largest, fastest,
highest quality metal AM
technologies, to enable
our partners to realize
sustainable and profitable
growth.
The next phase is about
executing the strategy for
profitable growth driven by
technology leadership in
industrial large frame metal
AM, commercial excellence:
bringing our solutions to
customers, offering world
class, and exploring adjacent
markets/technology areas.
Visit Additive Industries at
Formnext (Hall 12.0, booth
D119).
For more information
contact: sales@
additiveindustries.com
 C

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

WORDS: SAM DAVIES
W
hat’s interesting about
this Zoom call, in which
two MTC employees are
joined by one University of
Bristol lecturer to discuss their respective
research efforts in electrification, is that
the departments represented don’t work
together – not yet anyway – and two of the
three have never even met virtually before.
TCT speaks to Dan Walton, Senior
Research Engineer, MTC; Hoda
Amel, Technology Manager, Additive
Manufacturing, MTC; and Nick Simpson,
Senior Lecturer, Electrical Engineering,
University of Bristol as the two
organisations are ironing out how exactly
they might collaborate. For years, they
have been working independently to
explore how additive manufacturing (AM)
technology could improve the performance
of electrical machines and components
which, in a time when more efficient
sources of power are desired in a range of
sectors, is increasingly important. Having
generated some promising results around
3D printed motor casings and windings,
both sides are now exploring how they can
come together: to pool their respective
expertise, to generate momentum and,
ultimately, take their solutions into industry.
“Nick has got an incredible
amount of academic
background on
[electrification],” Walton
begins. “He’s been looking
into this since 2015, and
SHOWN:
SHAPED PROFILE ELECTRICAL MACHINE
WINDING, CuCrZr. CREDIT: DR. NICK
SIMPSON, UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
I think Nick’s design tools are brilliant, but
the UK-based supply chain for this is pretty
limited. This is a really nice example of how
Nick’s maturing this specific technology
around AM for electrification, ultimately
wants to get it to industry, and that’s where
MTC fits perfectly, in this so-called valley
of death that we were set up to address
in 2010. If we can get large OEMs who
are producing at scale interested in what
Nick’s doing, they can start shaping their
machines now to look at adopting what
Nick’s working on.”
What Nick has been working on is a set of
design capabilities that have allowed him
to demonstrate how AM can enhance the
performance of electrical windings. During
the design of electrical windings, the
designer will typically pay close attention
to the magnetic and electrical loadings,
which work together to create the torque,
as well as the structure of the component
and how that affects the effective efficiency
of the motor and its effective thermal
performance, all in a bid to mitigate AC
loss. Last year, Simpson authored a paper
that demonstrated a 20% improvement in
Research & academia
continuous output capability when using
Direct Metal Laser Sintering to produce
an electrical winding component. That
there were also ‘significantly greater
performance improvements indicated for
transient operation over the operation
torque-speed envelope’ led the paper
to conclude that AM and its topological
optimisation capabilities show great
promise in improving the specific output of
electrical machines.
Simpson elaborates: “If you’ve got
a winding slot to a rectangular shape
that’s almost entirely filled with copper,
it’s effective thermal conductivity is very
high. If you’ve got a 50% copper and
50% insulation material, it then drops
off a cliff, so you’ve constantly got this
battle between the losses that you’re
generating and your effective thermal
performance in your winding. Now, with
additive manufacturing, you’re able to
select a particular kind of loss mitigation
strategy which dictates the topology of the
winding that you’re creating as a function
of space, so at the front of the slot closest
to the rotor you have more AC loss effect.
[Therefore,] you might want to use a
different configuration of winding that you
would at the back of the slot. The design
tools that we’ve developed allow
you to do that and it allows you
to play around with the topology
[and] take advantage of the
full geometric freedom of AM,
which conventional tools don’t
let you do.”
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 035
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The significance of the work
Simpson and co are doing comes
in the context of the likes of the
Advanced Propulsion Centre and
Aerospace Technologies demanding
significant advancements in electrical
power systems, whether it be in their
weight, reliability, maintainability or
efficiency. One of the demands is for
greater power density of electrical
systems, aiming for up to 25 kilowatts
per kilogramme by 2035 compared
to between just two and five kilowatts
per kilogramme today.
To improve the power density of an
electrical machine, Simpson notes
that the losses, which manifest as
heat, need to be reduced; the ability
to extract the heat needs to be
enhanced; and the temperature rating
of the electrical insulation materials
need to be improved. By printing
windings, instead of making them
conventionally, Simpson suggests that
different electrical insulation coatings
can be used to give a ‘much higher
temperature survivability’. Meanwhile,
the geometric freedom of AM can
open up new geometric freedom
and cooling features can also be
integrated into the parts of a winding
that currently only serve a structural
purpose, rather than a functional one.
“The end windings of an electric
machine are essentially wasted,”
Simpson says. “Electrically, they have
to be there because you’re continuing
the circuit, but in terms of producing
useful output torque per amp, it’s
pretty much wasted. So can we use
that dead space to start to introduce
cooling fins by extending surfaces
and creating a heat sinking structure
or can you directly incorporate liquid
cooling into the winding itself so you
can directly extract that heat?”
Simpson isn’t alone in exploring
AM’s capacity for the integration of
cooling capabilities into electrical
components. At the MTC, Amel and
her team have been working on the
additive manufacture of a casing for a
power-dense electric motor. Utilising
the high-strength A20X aluminium
alloy on a powder bed fusion process,
the MTC has been able to develop a
casing with liquid cooling channels
that enabled the motor to produce
more power without overheating,
while also reducing size and weight
by 30% and 10%, respectively.
The A20X alloy material was
explored in adherence to the MTC’s
2021/22 roadmap for additive
manufacturing, in which high-strength
aluminium is listed alongside a
‘maturity assessment of copper in AM’
as key focuses within the organisation’s electric
motor development efforts.
“The interest [in both aluminium and copper]
would be to see how the high conductivity
aluminium in AM would actually compare with
the copper in AM because aluminium gives you
lower weight and is a more sustainable conductive
material compared to copper,” Amel says. “So,
our preference would be to see if we can get
similar performance from aluminium in terms of
conductivity to copper.”
The 3D printing of copper has been one of the big
challenges for the likes of Simpson when starting
out in this field of research. Back in 2015, when
copper wasn’t a market-ready 3D printing material,
Simpson would be frustrated that the properties of
his alternative metal material were only half as good
as copper. Even in more recent times, with a range
of 3D printing systems now supporting copper, the
capacity within the UK hasn’t been easily accessible
for the University of Bristol, who typically outsource
their 3D printing requirements to industry partners
in the auto and aero fields. Recently however,
the MTC has placed an order on an AM platform
capable of processing copper. This machine will
SHOWN:
SHAPED PROFILE ELECTRICAL
MACHINE WINDING WITH INTEGRATED
HEAT EXCHANGER, PURE CU. CREDIT:
DR. NICK SIMPSON, UNIVERSITY OF
BRISTOL; DR. ARUN ARJUNAN AND
JOHN ROBINSON, UNIVERSITY OF
WOLVERHAMPTON
Research & academia
primarily be used for an ESA project,
but with it in the building at MTC’s
Coventry facility, it could yet support
other research efforts.
It’s convenient timing as two
organisations – both with years of
research in the additive manufacture
of electric systems behind them – look
to take the next steps, make the jump
across the valley of death, and leave
their mark in a range of industries.
“The adoption of AM for electric
machines specifically is an enormous
opportunity,” summarises Walton. “They
are a couple of years away, but I think
we should start bringing the good
work that Nick’s doing and what other
academic institutes are working with to
industry. I think we can start seeing a
little bit of change in what we’re getting
out of products for aerospace or high-
end automotive.”
“It’s all trickle-down technology,”
Simpson adds. “At the moment,
we’re developing technology for
very advanced, high-performance
applications because, effectively, they
can afford it. If you go back to the three
things that are needed to improve
power density, we can do that through
AM – I haven’t come across any other
technology that allows us to do those
three things simultaneously. And so,
there is potential for step changes in
performance improvement using these
technologies, but there’s a long road to
get there. If your measure of importance
is an official roadmap that says, as an
industry, 'we need this by this time,'
then the work that we’re doing is
hugely important because we can make
significant inroads to meeting those
targets by 2035.”
SHOWN:
INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF HEAT
EXCHANGER, MULTI-MATERIAL EXAMPLE
CU, AG, CU-AG. CREDIT: DR. NICK
SIMPSON, UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL; DR.
ARUN ARJUNAN AND JOHN ROBINSON,
UNIVERSITY OF WOLVERHAMPTON
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 037

Industry Challenges – Skills,
Education, and Training
Additive Manufacturing
industrialization is
happening at a rapid pace.
However, challenges
still exist that need to be
addressed to advance the
growth further. Creating
a workforce with the right
skills, education, and training
is one of the significant
challenges that the industry
is facing. New innovations
and breakthroughs are
taking AM to the next
level of technology
advancements, making it
challenging for education
and training programs to
catch up. This lag in the
pace between technology
advancements and the
implementation of education
programs has generated a
gap in the availability of a
skilled workforce to meet
the demand for the AM
industry. So the strategy
for AM education should
be concurrent with the
technology trends and
agility to respond to any
change quickly.
Since AM is growing
rapidly and supporting
such growth, short-term
courses through continuing
education are the way to
accelerate the development
of an AM talent pool. AM
competency training
programs typically cover
basic, intermediate, and
advanced level courses.
The basic level courses are
for those with no previous
exposure or knowledge
in additive manufacturing
and cover general additive
manufacturing processes,
applications, advantages
and limitations, and
concepts of the additive
manufacturing workflow. The
intermediate-level courses
cover a much deeper body
of knowledge addressing
various aspects of end-to-
end AM process chain. The
advanced level course is
meant for AM engineers
who intend to dive deep into
different elements of the
AM process chain and can
execute concepts and skills
in AM material selection,
design, data preparation,
processing, inspection, and
quality control.
Due to the multi-
disciplinary nature of AM
technology, acquiring AM
skills requires a structured
skills-based curriculum
to learn the art. There
are several roles such as
Design Engineer, Quality
Engineer, AM Operator,
Safety Manager, Data
Analyst, Materials Engineer,
NDT specialists to perform
ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
different functions in the
AM value chain. These
different roles need to
work independently and
interact with other roles.
Therefore, beyond an
overall understanding of the
process, people should be
trained for specific roles.
Another way to address
the skills gap is to re-skill,
up-skill, and cross-skill
the current workforce
with AM-specific skill sets.
A person working in the
manufacturing sector
can be re-skilled with
AM knowledge through
courses from entry-level to
advanced. Also, someone
already working in AM can
be up-skilled with the latest
developments in a specific
domain and advance to
the next level. Similarly,
individuals from the current
workforce can be cross-
skilled by providing training
in multiple domain skills
such as Testing and NDE.
A successful approach to
address the gap in skills,
education, and training
is through public-private
partnerships. This helps
to understand the industry
needs and develop training
programs to match the
requirements. Additive
manufacturing education
programs are growing
across the globe through
different entities such as
universities, professional
bodies, solution providers
and are becoming the
pipelines for the future
AM workforce. A series of
initiatives are underway from
different organizations, such
as ASTM International, to
identify the education and
workforce development
needs and strategize the
deployment of appropriate
training programs to fill the
skills gap.
For AM education
and training details,
visit https://amcoe.org/

MAKING SKILLS
WORDS: SAM DAVIES
SUSTAINABLE
SHOWN:
ADDITIVE MINDS DIGITAL TRAINING
F
rom Brexit, COVID-19 and
blockages in the Suez Canal to
the impending climate crisis, how
we manufacture parts and where
we manufacture parts have never been
more under the microscope.
In nearly every TCT Magazine issue over
the last two years, we’ve had business
leaders, industry analysts and academics
discuss the ideas of adopting additive
manufacturing (AM) to add supply chain
flexibility and reshoring production to
reduce risk and CO2 emissions. But to do
either of those things – or both – and make
it work, companies and countries need the
relevant skills, and ample amounts of them.
With more and more products being
manufactured in cheaper Asian markets,
there has been a gradual decline in
the need for domestic manufacturing
labour, and with it, a steady decline in
manufacturing expertise. Today, in the US,
UK and parts of Europe, studies suggest
there is a skills gap, which is going to make
manufacturing goods more sustainably a
bigger challenge than it already is.
A report published by Deloitte and the
Manufacturing Institute earlier this year,
for example, suggested the manufacturing
skills gap in the US could leave up to
2.1 million jobs unfilled by 2030, with
SHOWN:
BAE WILL SUPPLY 3D
PRINTERS TO 70 SCHOOLS
finding the right talent said to be 36%
harder now than it was in 2018. The reasons
manufacturing jobs are going unfilled includes
'new entrants having different expectations
for jobs and careers' (38%), a 'lack of interest
in the industry' (36%) and 'the retirement of
baby boomers' (34%). More than 75% of the
manufacturers surveyed by Deloitte believed
they would have ongoing difficulties attracting
and retaining workers beyond this year, while
diversity, equity and inclusion was presented
as both a challenge – one in four women are
said to be considering leaving the industry,
as an example – and a potential solution to
manufacturing hiring and retention.
This report was cited by Xometry recently
as it announced its partnership with
Howard University to create the Xometry
Scholars Program. Xometry, an on-demand
manufacturing network that comprises
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 039
EDUCATION & SKILLS
5,000+ suppliers, is passionate
about localising manufacturing and
recognises the need to make sure
that the domestic manufacturing skills
that exist today ‘don’t disappear.’
“I think it’s very important we build
[manufacturing] internally,” Xometry
Chief Strategy Officer Laurence Zuriff
tells TCT. “The more local you make
something, the less your CO2 output
is on a global basis. That’s just a
truism. The United States has a very
large network of small machine shops
that can help localise production and
that’s what we really want to firm up
because we don’t believe that we can
meet the success required to reduce
CO2 output without that type of
manufacturing reorganisation.”
Through its work with thousands
of machine shops in the United
States, Xometry has observed
that the ‘cohort’ of manufacturing
professionals is ageing and when the
engineers running those companies
retire, there needs to be skilled
people to take their place. Two years
ago, Dara Treseder – Carbon’s former
CMO who now heads up Peloton’s
Global Marketing & Communications
– told TCT there are no pipeline
issues when it comes to STEM
sectors, rather there are opportunity
issues.
Xometry is seeking to address
those opportunity issues and has
aligned with Howard University –
one of the US’ largest Historically
Black Colleges and Universities – to
pledge 900,000 USD to provide
eight scholarships over the next
four school years to Mechanical
Engineering students. The motivation
here is provide eight students –
selected by Howard University –
with every opportunity to complete
their degree and pursue a career in
engineering, should they wish to, with
no obligation that they need to work
for Xometry when they do.
“One of the reasons we’re providing
mechanical engineering degrees
to Howard is we want to make it
as easy for someone who wants to
do that, to do that. It’s often hard,”
Zuriff says. “We’re trying to expand
www.amcoe.org/ewd
2022 Education & Workforce
Development Offerings

Certificate Courses & Offerings Face-to-Face Virtual

AM General Personnel Certificate March 14-18, 2022 August 2-25, 2022
Covers all the concepts of AM process Chain starting from AM (Auburn University)
Fundamentals to Qualification and Certification, in 8 modules
AM Safety Certificate Available On-Demand
Provides knowledge on the general elements needed when setting
—
up facility for AM and the safety issues to be considered during
the life of the AM processes
AM Quality Assurance Certificate April 2-3, 2022
Provides an understanding on the routes to releasing products (AMUG 2022 - Chicago)
requiring quality assurance and control —
June 6-7
(Birmingham, United Kingdom)
AM Cybersecurity Available On-Demand
Provides concepts to ensure the integrity and security —
of the entire AM value chain
Design for AM Certificate October 11-12, 2022
Provides foundational knowledge, design methods and
—
techniques, an overview of design technologies, and practice
exercising this knowledge
AM Data Certificate* May 25-26, 2022
Provides foundational knowledge on data science and analysis, (Location TBD) —
and using data in AM.
AM Economics and Sustainability Certificate*
Covers the concepts of creating a suitable business case for your — July 20-21, 2022
organization, with real world technical and business case studies
Intro to Inspection & Quality Assurance of AM* September 27-28, 2022
Provides the fundamentals of part inspection and quality (Location TBD) —
assurance for AM
Hands-on Metal AM Training*
Provides hands-on exposure to the additive manufacturing metals June 20-24, 2022
—
process covering the end-to-end skills needed to build parts safely (Location TBD)
and successfully
*Dates subject to change

www.amcoe.org/ewd

the cohort and educate the cohort at
the engineering level. And then next
step for us is more at the technical level.
We’re going to see how the Howard
programme works over time and expand
it if appropriate.”
In the UK, BAE Systems has made
its own 300,000 GBP investment to
facilitate digital skills programmes that
will support 7,500 Lancashire students
aged 12-16 in 70 schools. Splitting the
investment equally between CREATE
Education and InnovateHer, the former
will provide 3D printers and training to 50
schools to ‘empower students to become
creative innovators’, while the latter will
provide online education and resources
to female and non-binary students to
build their skills and confidence.
“As a large employer in the North
West [of England], we have a role to
play to make sure we’re inspiring future
generations about different pathways
and routes to get into engineering and
technology professions,” Jenny Manning,
AM Lead in BAE Systems’ Air Sector,
says. “There is work to do to make
manufacturing and technology more
inclusive to young people from diverse
and underprivileged backgrounds, and
we’re proud to play our part in doing this
through this initiative.”
Manning joined BAE Systems 2007 as
an aerospace engineering apprentice
and is now ‘at the heart of developing
new manufacturing technology’ to
transform how the company ‘designs
and manufactures parts now and into the
future.’ BAE has bet big on 3D printing,
acquiring four Stratasys F900 FDM
systems, while also outlining its plans to
additively manufacture 30% of the parts
on its Tempest fighter jet, for example.
But as it looks ahead, the company can’t
ignore that research by the Lancashire
Enterprise Partnership shows fewer
than one in six of the Lancashire digital
workforce is female and that there is a
dearth of employees below the age of 25.
“Adoption is great
but if you don't
have the skills,
you have a car but
you don't know
how to drive.”
“We’re nurturing new digital skills in
Lancashire to address skills shortages and
support a levelled-up recovery from the
pandemic,” Manning adds. “Investing in
these skills will create a pipeline of highly
skilled experts that are crucial to our future
as a leading manufacturing nation.”
Ensuring the UK is a leading
manufacturing nation is also the remit
of Made Smarter, which supports
manufacturers across four main areas
– adoption, innovation, leadership and
skills – in order to keep them competitive
in the marketplace. Increasingly, this
involves investing in new technologies
which, of course, require the acquisition
of new skills. Through her role as a
Made Smarter AM specialist, Claire Scott
observes that businesses “don’t have the
skills or expertise in-house to adopt the
technology,” but that they still “recognise
the need to invest, and are willing to
invest, in the technologies.”
Scott’s efforts largely fall within the
‘adoption’ pillar of Made Smarter’s services
where she works with business leaders
to assess the business case for investing
in AM.
“84% of the manufacturers we’ve worked
with said, ‘it’s been fantastic, productivity
has increased and we’re able to engage
in digital supply chains,’” Scott says. “Now,
adoption is great, but if you don’t have
the skills to be able to use it, especially
with technologies such as additive
EDUCATION & SKILLS
3LEFT:
BAE SYSTEMS' AIR SECTOR AM
LEAD JENNY MANNING
manufacturing, you’ve got a car, but you
don’t know how to drive. So, it needs to be
an integrated approach. We’ve seen with the
businesses that I’ve worked with, they have
an idea of what AM is, but they haven’t been
able to spot the opportunities.”
Scott observes that much of the AM training
that is currently available needs to focus more
on the fact that AM is a workflow, rather than
just a single machine or process, and that
there needs to be more initiatives. Through its
Academy offering, Additive Minds is one such
organisation working to deliver them.
Since last year, the company has been
offering digital trainings that bundle its
consulting and technical training experience
into ‘knowledge snacks, learning modules,
comprehensive learning paths and whole
learning programmes.’ These have all been
designed to prepare users for specific
roles such as application specialist, data
preparation specialist and AM designer, with
the required competence able to be built up
within 4-6 weeks.
So far, Additive Minds has focused its
efforts on professionals, but as it continues
to evolve its offering, intends to partner with
universities to provide academic programmes
that ‘enlarge the talent community’, as well
as work with federal agencies to support
job seekers with re-training programmes.
Xometry, meanwhile, is planning to support
vocational schools and community colleges
in the poorest regions of the US to help
students obtain the skills they need to
make the next step. BAE Systems is looking
to collaborate with other organisations to
encourage STEM subjects and skills, while
Made Smarter is offering businesses access
to free training courses through its Engage
platform and is working on some awareness-
raising courses for a variety of digital
technologies.
There are many more organisations doing
likewise and the urgency is outlined by
Patrick Schrade, Head of Additive Minds
Academy.
“The pace of digital transformation
continues to redefine the way we work,”
he says. “Production in general needs to
become more digital, decentralised and
flexible to adapt to ever changing market
requirements and customer needs, which
additive manufacturing can perfectly address.
Responsible manufacturing is a journey – AM
technologies play a crucial role in reducing
global CO2 emissions through sustainable
manufacturing with spare parts on demand,
sustainable design by reducing materials
needed, and sustainable education through
online training.”
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 041
A20X: THE STRONGEST
ALUMINIUM ALLOY. WORLDWIDE!
Get to know the aerospace-approved A20X: A unique aluminium alloy for high strength and
temperature castings as well as for additive manufacturing, presented by ECKART.
ECKART, as member of the ALTANA group, is one of the leading global players with decades of
experience in the field of atomization of pure, spherical aluminium powder.
With the acquisition of TLS, ECKART extended the portfolio with a variety of different metal alloy
powders, titanium, aluminium and copper based, as well as the option to provide customized
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Let us meet at formnext, Frankfurt, November 16 – 19, 2021, at booth 12.0-A101.

We look forward to your visit!
For further information please contact:
ECKART GmbH · Guentersthal 4 · 91235 Hartenstein · Germany
E-Mail: dominik.reuschel@altana.com · info.eckart@altana.com www.am.eckart.net
 TCT 3SIXTY REVIEW

“TCT 3Sixty was the ideal

opportunity for us to get back
in front of AM enthusiasts after
nearly two years away. It provided
good conversations and the
chance to get up close & personal
to new kit.”
Catherine Aspinall,
Marketing Manager,
TRI-TECH 3D & CADSPEC

3SIXTY
WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

REVIEW

T
he last conversation I
had as TCT 3Sixty wound
down on a late September
afternoon was with Stratasys
EMEA President Andy Langfeld, who
noted he was ‘very pleased’ with the
show and that, although the colour of the
carpet had changed since the UK’s largest
additive manufacturing (AM) trade show
had undergone a rebrand, he hadn’t seen
much of it.
That’s because despite COVID-19 – and
an inconveniently timed fuel shortage
within the UK, designers – engineers and
other manufacturing professionals were
clearly itching to get back to AM trade
shows. Whether it be to sit in on the two
conference stages, to survey the latest
technology introductions or to network in a
physical setting in the first time in forever,
there was plenty to take in.
But for a few lucky visitors who may have
attended events in the US or Asia, TCT
3Sixty was the first in-person event many
will have participated in for nearly two
years. For me, it meant frequent double-
takes when realising, although I’ve been
writing about the Formlabs Fuse 1, for
example, for several months, it was the first
time I had actually seen it – or parts printed
with it – in the flesh. At the show, Formlabs
featured a bicycle with various 3D printed
components produced on the Fuse 1
in Nylon 12. Nearly all of the 3D printed
components were topologically optimised,
with the pedals and bottle holder presented
as examples of end-use applications and
the bike saddle as a prototype application.
Formlabs will no doubt exhibit the Fuse 1 again
at Formnext, but if you want more information
before then, take a look at our Professional
AM feature in the last issue.
Just a few weeks after its IDS launch in
Cologne, Photocentric’s LC Opus platform was
another 3D printer to make its UK debut at
TCT 3Sixty. This platform has been described
as an ‘excellent all-rounder’ by Photocentric,
with the company expecting it to have a strong
play in the dental and industrial sectors. With
a build volume of 310 x 174 x 220 mm and
the promise of cure speeds of 2 seconds per
layer at 50µm, Photocentric believes the LC
Opus will be at home in a dental practice or on
the factory floor. Users will be able to acquire
the machine for 6,295 GBP and pair it with
a range of materials owed to Photocentric’s
open materials policy (partnerships with BASF
and Keystone Industries are ongoing) and its
in-house developed offering of resins.
“When you look at the dentals models – 22
models in 45 minutes – that shows the speed
for batch production,” Photocentric Sales
Director Sally Tipping told TCT. “That’s one
of the key characteristics, the consistency,
it’s got a very robust system and
we’ve really gone for high quality
components.”
There was more. In partnership
with CoreTechnologie, Photocentric
also announced the license-based
Photocentric Additive software
offering for part design and
production. This software can be
paired with Photocentric’s Magma
3D printer – compatibility with
the LC Opus is to come – and will
provide users with more latticing
and texture capabilities, opening
up applications in the automotive
interiors, sports goods and
footwear segments.
There was plenty going on at the
Matsuura stand too. On one side
of its sizeable stand, it had the HP
5200 platform running alongside
DyeMansion’s post-processing
technology to demonstrate how
this end-to-end polymer workflow

29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 043

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 TCT 3SIXTY REVIEW

“This year’s event attracted all the

big names in AM, plus a few brilliant
smaller suppliers that I’ve never
heard of but certainly will consider
in the future. The range of speakers
was massive and all interesting. Put
on safely this year with COVID too.”
Matthew Guy,
Manufacturing Engineer
COLLINS AEROSPACE

hotends can reach maximum temperatures

it could be beneficial to customers, such as
service providers, who are printing parts
in their thousands. On the other side, the
company was also representing Desktop
Metal, exhibiting a Studio System machine
which will soon be installed at its AM
centre.
Matsuura wasn’t the only high-profile
reseller exhibiting. Tri-Tech’s stand was
the point of contact for anyone wanting to
catch a glimpse of what Stratasys’ newest
technologies could offer, with parts printed
with the Selective Absorption Fusion (SAF),
Programmable Prohotpolymerisation
(P3) and NEO Stereolithography featured
across the booth. Stratasys also had
representation from Laser Lines, who
exhibited the company’s Fortus 450mc
and F770 FDM machines, as well as its
PolyJet technology and GrabCAD Print
software. Laser Lines also presented
the Xact Metal XM200C metal powder
bed fusion system and announced it
had become an authorised reseller of
DyeMansion’s finishing and colouring
portfolio while at the show. DyeMansion
has also extended its partnership with the
Digital Manufacturing Centre (DMC), who
will pair a DyeMansion Powerfuse S vapour
polishing system to support the Stratasys
H350 SAF platform – the first production
facility in Europe to combine the two
technologies. Kieron Salter, the CEO of the
DMC, said the installation of the Powerfuse
S would help the organisation “realise
the full potential of commercial-scale,
connected additive manufacturing.”
Elsewhere on the show floor, E3D
was introducing the RapidChange Revo
family of hotends, which all include 0.25,
0.4, 0.6 and 0.8mm brass RapidChange
nozzles, with more sizes to be added
later. The RapidChange Revo portfolio
has been designed to allow users of
extrusion-based 3D printing systems to
change nozzles rapidly with just a screw
of one’s fingers at room temperature. The
of up to 300°C, with any printer said to
be able to drop in the Revo Six hot end
as a direct replacement for the E3D V6
HotEnd. The Revo Micro, meanwhile, is the
recommended option for E3D newcomers
and is half the mass of the E3D V6, helping
the printhead to print at quicker speeds
while also taking up less space. E3D
expects to start shipping the RapidChange
Revo before the end of the year.
Just a brief walk down the hall was
Wematter, the Swedish providers of an
‘office-friendly’ Selective Laser Sintering
system. At the show, the company had its
Gravity 2021 platform front and centre,
with a table full of sample parts off to
the side. Among the parts on that table
were components printed in Wematter’s
Aurora TPU material, newly launched at
TCT 3Sixty and developed to allow users
to produce soft and flexible parts in the
medical, automotive and consumer goods
sectors. Aurora TPU is said to be a durable
material that does not absorb water and
is resistant to UV light, oil, grease and
solvents, with Wematter suggesting the
material is capable of producing parts with
fine details and smooth surfaces, while
retaining high abrasion and resistance.
On the opposite side of the hall, 3D
Systems was occupying its usual place
on the front row. The company was there
to exhibit a whole range of hardware,
software and materials products – chief
among them the scalable Figure 4 platform
– and some of its latest 3D printing
applications. One of the more notable
parts featured was a silicon wafer table
(featured in TCT Magazine 29.2) which
was produced with the DMP 500 platform
to optimise the thermal management and
improve the throughput and accuracy of
semiconductor capital equipment.
Not a predominant feature of the 3D
Systems stand was Oqton; the software
firm at the centre of a $180m takeover
announced back in September was located
elsewhere on the TCT 3Sixty show
floor. On the Oqton stand, General
Manager for Inudstrial Manufacturing
Mark Forth and General Manager for
AM Ulf Lindhe were on hand to tell
visitors about its software’s Internet
of Things, Manufacturing Execution
System and Design capabilities
which, they would tell TCT, has been
designed to make manufacturing
more sustainable, both for the
environment and for each business
that adopts the platform.
As they continue to work with
companies using AM for production,
Oqton has aligned with the likes of
EOS, TRUMPF, Stratasys and HP – all
of whom could be considered 3D
Systems competitors – but have
been assuring anyone who asks that
a firewall will be put up between
3D Systems and its other partners
so nobody on either side can see
any of the data being generated
across the various collaborations.
Another interesting facet of the
acquisition is that Oqton will remain
an independent company (with their
own stands at trade shows).
“We are not going to be sucked up
into the 3D Systems organisation,”
Lindhe said. “On the contrary, we
will get all the 3D Systems [software]
people and products into Oqton, so
that means that Oqton will continue to
be independent, and we will get a lot
more resources.”
In the coming weeks, we’ll be
bringing you more from some of the
above companies and conversations,
but that wasn't all TCT 3Sixty had to
offer. Turn over for our conference
highlights.

29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 045

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At opposite ends of the TCT 3Sixty hall
high-profile users of AM were delivering
presentations from the North Stage and
the South Stage. As part of TCT 3Sixty’s
Evaluation, Adoption and Optimisation
themes, industry analysts, academics
and consultants were also present to
impart their insights. Altogether, the
conference agenda had been compiled
to provide attendees with insights that
could help inform them of whether to
invest in AM and then how to take full
advantage of the technology.
On the South Stage, Boeing’s VP of
AM Melissa Orme kicked things off by
detailing how and why the aerospace
firm is using 3D printing to a packed-out
audience. Rolls Royce Manufacturing
Engineering Manager (Test Operations)
An Duong followed Orme on the South
Stage, delivering a presentation that
covered the company’s utilisation of
Additive Layer Manufacturing to create
new designs and reduce weight of
aerospace components. Over on the
North Stage, Arke
AM Technical
“The scientific and industrial talks,
as well as the panel discussions,
were great and touched upon
the challenges that face the 3D
printing industry in the post-
pandemic world.”
Moataz Attallah,
Professor of Advanced
Materials Processing AMPLAB
UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
Consultant Robin Dallen and Reeves
Insight founder Dr Phil Reeves offered
thoughts on the key considerations to
make when investing in and adopting
additive manufacturing in back-to-
back presentations.
Orme and Dallen would also both
feature in a panel session titled
‘The Sustainability of 3D Printing for
Aerospace’, hosted by Women in
3D Printing, alongside MTC Senior
Research Engineer Hoda Amel and
the NAMRC’s Technology Lead for
AM Udi Woy. The panel discussed
the current pros and cons of additive
manufacturing in the context of
sustainability, noting how AM can
be very wasteful, especially for new
adopters, because of the amount
of build failures that are scrapped
as the user gets to grips with the
technology. They also discussed
how, although consolidated parts
are less likely to fail, there can be
difficulties in repairing consolidated
applications because companies now
have to replace the full piece, rather
than a single component
that had previously
been part of
an assembly.
Another key
takeaway
from the
conversation
was that the
panelists
believe users
need to demand
greener products
from technology
TCT 3SIXTY REVIEW
developers, helping to engineer a
competitive landscape where vendors
prioritise the green credentials of their
3D printers and AM workflows.
Elsewhere, ADM Manager Pat Warner
outlined how the Alpine F1 Racing
Team is using AM; Dr Rahul Gore of
Tunbridge Wells Hospital discussed
the process of identifying medical
applications for 3D printing; and CEO
Richard Vellacott talked visitors through
how BiologIC Technologies is using
AM to ‘build a new industry’ with its
‘desktop PC of biology’ device that
allows scientists to design biology
within a smaller footprint. Dr Jennifer
Johns was also present to discuss the
opportunities and challenges of AM-
led distributed manufacturing, while
AM consultant Kevin Ayers presented
a guide and checklist designed to
help visitors purchase the right AM
equipment.
Once the speakers had delivered
their presentations, attendees were
encouraged to stop by the Knowledge
Bar where they could ask questions
and garner further insights from the
experts one-to-one. The DMC, whose
CEO Kieron Salter participated in a
panel session hosted by EOS, was
also offering free consultancy sessions
and project guidance to show visitors
across the three days. And as the
show drew to a close on days 1 and 2,
exhibitors had the chance to network
over a few drinks.
For the first time in two years, AM
professionals convened at a UK-based
trade show. It was like we had never
been away. And the next one will be
with us before we know it as TCT
3Sixty 2022 returns on the new dates
of June 8-9.
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 047
 TCT CONFERE
FORMNEXT: P
A look at the speakers and sessions headed to Frankfurt.

T
he TCT Conference @ Formnext
SAM’S CONFERENCE PICKS
returns in-person to its usual
home of Frankfurt on 16-19th
AM Ecosystem Strategy – A framework
November, with over 35 industry
to evaluate and choose the right
experts scheduled to present on the latest
partners in your AM ecosystem
additive manufacturing adoption trends and
developments. ANKUSH VENKATESH | Strategy
Fellow, AM – Tuck School of Business,
Across four days, the conference Main Dartmouth College
Stage will feature talks on aerospace, TUESDAY 16TH – 15:00-15:30
healthcare, business and more led by leading
AM users and research institutes such as Disruption of supply chains through
Boeing, Siemens Technology and Fraunhofer. mobile additive manufacturing: use of
containers as repair and spare parts
From insights on transport by Deutsche printers
Bahn to construction and sustainability MARKUS HEILEMANN | Head of DED
with Mighty Buildings and Aectual, the TCT Systems – Fraunhofer IAPT
Conference @ Formnext promises to be WEDNESDAY 17TH – 13:15-13:45
an inspiring and educational experience
for delegates across all industries and will Building a Digital Warehouse: Impeller
provide a welcome opportunity to hear from Part Family Example
and meet with high-level industry peers away ANNA D’ALESSIO | Director of
from your laptop screen. Engineering – Ivaldi Group
FRIDAY 19TH – 13:45-14:15
Complementing TCT’s Main Stage content
will be the TCT Introducing Stage sponsored
by HP which will provide a one stop shop
for visitors to see the most exciting new
technologies from across the show floor.
After almost two years of virtual events, for
many visitors, the Introducing Stage will offer
a first look at the many AM technologies
launched over the last year and with a range
of dynamic sessions and speakers, attendees
can quickly get up to speed without the sales
pitch.

Take a look at just a selection of TCT

Conference @ Formnext highlights from TCT’s
Sam Davies, Laura Griffiths and Lu Tikrity.

“A welcome opportunity to hear from

and meet with high-level industry peers.”

048 / www.tctmagazine.com / 29.6


ENCE @
PREVIEW
LAURA’S CONFERENCE PICKS
Rail and more: Little helpers and big spare parts
STEFANIE BRICKWEDE | Head of Additive
Manufacturing – Deutsche Bahn
TUESDAY 16TH – 13:45-14:15
Mass customised 3D printed end
use products for healthcare
KELSEY FAFARA | Director of Hardware
Engineering – LightForce Orthodontics
WEDSNESDAY 17TH – 11:15-11:45
Beyond the numbers: Detailed analytics
for global 3D printer shipments by process,
by material
CHRIS CONNERY | VP Global Analysis –
CONTEXT
THURSDAY 18TH – 11:15-11:45
FORMNEXT
SPONSORED BY
TCT INTRODUCING
SPONSORED BY HP
HIGHLIGHTS
Sustainability and AM Panel hosted
by AMGTA
CHAIRED BY ROSA COBLENS |
Stratasys
WEDNESDAY 17TH – 11:40-12:20
Premium Print Quality: Homogeneity
& Repeatability on the TruPrint 2000
WILHELM MEINERS | TRUMPF
WEDNESDAY 17TH – 14:40-15:00
Integration of solutions for the AM
industry
ELAD SCHILLER | CASTOR
THURSDAY 18TH – 10:00-10:20
LU’S CONFERENCE PICKS
Additive manufacturing at Reinventing the wheel: New
Boeing: The opportunities and design concepts for additive
challenges on the path towards manufacturing
manufacturing disruption MARK BURHOP | Research
NICHOLAS MULE | Director of Engineer - Siemens Technology
the Boeing Additive Manufacturing FRIDAY 19TH – 10:00-10:30
Intelligence Center - The Boeing
Company
TUESDAY 16TH – 10:30-11:00
Making the Tokyo Olympic and See the full line-up and
Paralympic 3D printing podium - register for your ticket at:
The process of 3D printing mass
tctconferenceformnext.com
products from post-consumer
recycled materials
RYOHEI YUASA | Project Research
Associate - Keio University, Digital
Manufacturing and Design Research
Center for Emergent Circularity
TUESDAY 16TH – 14:30-15:00
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 049
 FORMNEXT

FORMNEXT
SPONSORED BY

EXHIBITOR
PREVIEW
EXHIBITOR Q&A: MARKFORGED
HALL 12.0 | STAND D01
TCT: At Formnext, Markforged will
debut the FX20 – its largest and fastest
composite 3D printer yet – what was the
motivation for this launch?
Markforged: We’ve got 13,000+
customers at this point and they absolutely
love our product, but the one persistent
feedback that we receive is, ‘we want to
be able to do more with it.’ For us, that
meant they wanted to go bigger, they
really wanted their parts faster and they
wanted a new universe of materials that
we could print.
TCT: So how does this machine
compare to your existing portfolio?
Markforged: From a spec standpoint,
[the FX20] is nearly five times larger in
build volume than the X7 compared to And being able to put continuous
default settings, which is what half of fibre reinforcement in it really
our users use to print their parts, and strengthens and stiffens the parts.
we can get to eight times faster today.
TCT: You’ve also announced the
launch of the carbon fibre reinforced
ULTEM 9085 material. Tell us about
this material.
Markforged: It’s stronger than Onyx,
it also has better chemical resistance
than Onyx across a wider range of
temperatures, and it maintains its
structural performance. The FRA
variant of Onyx is good for flame,
smoke and toxicity for a wide range
of parts, but there’s a limit on the
amount of surface area you can have
on the exterior of parts that are on
cabin interiors, so there are some
limitations that ULTEM doesn’t have.

FORMLABS
HALL 12.1 | STAND D39

Formlabs will be showcasing production of professional-quality

the newly launched Form Wash L
and Form Cure L post-processing
systems, which have been designed
to support the company’s Form
3L and Form 3BL 3D printing
platforms, which will also be
ADDIBLAST present at Formnext. The Form
HALL 11.0 | STAND E68 Wash L and Cure L units are said
to complete Formlabs’ large-format
Addiblast by FerroECOBlast Europe will be SLA ecosystem and will help
displaying its post-processing product line users to achieve the cost-effective
which comprises solutions for de-powdering,
powder recovery & conditioning, and the
surface treatment of 3D printed parts.
parts.
Elsewhere on the Formlabs
stand, the company will be
promoting its Fuse 1 and Fuse
Sift products for SLS 3D printing
and powder recovery, while
also highlighting a range of
application from such industries
as healthcare, engineering and
jewellery.

The BAM02 blasting cabinets are suitable

for surface smoothing, roughing, unifying
and the removal of excess sintered powder,
while the MARS03 platform offers a fully
automated metal powder removal process
for complex structures and supports the
treatment of titanium and aluminium powder
by keeping oxygen levels below 2%. The
STAR02 unit, meanwhile, is a central station
that continuously and automatically provides
pneumatic transfer, recycling and conditioning
of powder from various sources.

29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 051


STRATASYS
HALL 12.1 | STAND D79
Having spent much of 2021
building out its polymer 3D printing
portfolio, Stratasys will shine the
spotlight on its ‘best-in-class’ FDM,
NOVANTA
HALL 12.0 | STAND E42
Novanta, who specialises in cutting-
edge components and sub-systems
for laser-based application, is set to
launch a new 3-axis scan head – the
Firefly 3D – which has been designed
to increase the productivity of laser
powder bed fusion machines and
ensure high-quality parts are output.
PRIMA ADDITIVE
HALL 11.0 | STAND D21
Prima Additive will be exhibiting three
of its metal additive manufacturing
platforms, which have been designed
for a ‘smart, sustainable and future-
proof growth.’ Of its Direct Metal Laser
Sintering offering, the company will
present its Print Genius 150 Double
Wavelength system, which features a
300 W infrared laser and a 200 W green
laser that work alternately to process
a range of alloys, and the Print Genius
250 which is equipped with a 500 W
single-mode dual laser. The company will
also demonstrate its Laserdyne 811 DED
platform which, thanks to the patented
REAL_DED laser head, boasts increased
performance and efficiency.
PolyJet, Stereolithography, P3
and SAF technologies. The latter
three of those processes have all
been integrated into the business
through the acquisitions of RPS,
Origin and Xaar 3D, with Stratasys
using Formnext to detail how their
respective technologies can provide
solutions throughout the full product
value chain, from prototyping to
production. It will also highlight its
comprehensive materials ecosystem,
as well as exhibit a range of user
applications.
HIPERBARIC
HALL 12.0 | STAND B121
Hiperbaric is to introduce its hot
isostatic pressing technology for
metallic and ceramic components
at Formnext, highlighting how its
products can improve mechanical
properties, increase resistance
to corrosion, achieve a high
degree of material densification,
eliminate internal and casting
defects of materials, and more.
The company says that visitors
will be able to see a range of
compact, versatile and 100%
safe equipment which increases
productivity and obtains the
desired microstructure in parts by
rapidly cooling the argon used in
its systems.
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 053
FORMNEXT
SPONSORED BY
NLIGHT
HALL 12.0 | STAND B128
nLight will be joined by the
likes of Technical University
Munich, Fraunhofer ICT,
Fraunhofer IAPT, Materialise,
Aconity 3D & RWTH Aachen
University to explain how its
laser technology is shaping
the future of metal additive
manufacturing.
RENISHAW
HALL 12.0 | STAND C139
Visitors to the Renishaw
stand can see a demonstration
of the additive manufacture
and subsequent downstream
machining of a tribal tray
component, which is used
in the manufacture of
medical implants for knee
replacements.
CEAD
HALL 12.1 | STAND E99
CEAD will be showcasing
3D printed demonstrator
parts in a variety of materials,
while also providing live
demonstrations of its AM
Flexbot fully integrated robot-
based extrusion systems.
KIMYA/ ARMOR GROUP
HALL 12.1 | STAND E98
KIMYA will be present at
Formnext to provide more
information on its 3D printing
products and services,
including its KMIYA Lab
custom materials formulation
offering, its range of KIMYA
Materials engineering
products, and its KIMYA
Factory production and
finishing services.
EPP_202110_AZ_TCT-European_192x136_3DP-Keyvisual_RZ.indd 1 08.10.21 11:20

Making the Impossible Possible with AFX

Results are in! The AFX-1000 has proven to turbo charge build rates, enhance mechanical properties, stabilize
melt pools and reduce soot. Come see how AFX can revolutionize your powder bed fusion production by visiting
nLIGHT at Formnext Hall 12.0, Booth B128.

Productivity
Designed to provide the combination of 3x
magnification in spot size with optimized ring
intensity beam shapes for aerospace grade
material densities that accelerate build rates
(cc/hr) by more than 5x.

Process
Ring Intensity profiles stabilize large melt pools,
reducing soot and ejected material by more
than 30% simplifying multi-laser processing and
improving material quality.

Properties
This new degree of freedom over melt
pool behavior is being leveraged to control
microstructures for improved yield strength,
ductility, and creep resistance.

www.nlight.net
 FORMNEXT

SPONSORED BY

INCUS
HALL 12.1 | STAND C21

Incus is set to exhibit its Hammer Lab35

lithography-based metal 3D printing system,
which is said to offer excellent surface
aesthetics, tight tolerances and high-cost
efficiency – all without needing support
structures. The company will be detailing how
the technology can enable complex features,
such as internal twisted cavities, screws and
helixes, as well exhibiting applications from
the dental, jewellery and industrial sectors.
FARSOON
HALL 12.1 | STAND G19

Farsoon, a leading supplier the ultra-fast Flight Technology

of powder-based 3D printing
technologies, will be showcasing
its latest innovations, including
the Continuous Additive
Manufacturing Solutions (CAMS),
for high production rates, and its
large-format metal 3D printing
capabilities. It will also highlight
applications from a range of
industrial markets.

MASSIVIT 3D
HALL 12.1 | STAND C119

Massivit 3D will be highlighting and scenic fabrication markets,

its large-format 3D printing
products at Formnext, with
the Massivit 5000 system set
to be printing live throughout
the event. With its 1450 x 1110
x 1800 mm build volume, the
Massivit 5000 is capable of
serving a range of applications
in the automotive, marine, rail
leaning on advanced thermoset
photopolymer materials.
The company will also be
exhibiting its recently launched
Massivit 10000 additive
manufacturing tooling system
for composite materials for the
very first time.

EXHIBITOR Q&A: AM SOLUTIONS
HALL 12.0 | STAND C119
TCT: Can you tell us what's new on the
AM Solutions booth at Formnext?
AM Solutions: Our new S1 Wet
solution has been specially developed
for cleaning 3D printed metal parts
by means of a wet blasting process
to ensure a safe handling of the parts
(ATEX). In addition to that, the compact
plug-and-play machine enables
simultaneous homogenization and
smoothing of surfaces.
Our second novelty is the plug and play
shot blast machine S2 for the processing
of entire batches of plastic parts, which
are produced in powder bed-based
processes. The machine allows the
cleaning and surface finishing of the
parts in an indexing continuous flow
mode in three-shift operations.
With our innovative C2 we will
introduce the first solution for eco-
friendly and automated chemical
smoothing and dying of plastic parts processing solutions are key to meet
in batch processes (Liquid Color the requirements in high volume
Smoothing). AM production. The demands
regarding consistent product quality,
TCT: What does this new generation of reproducible and traceable processes
products bring to the market? can not be met with manual post-
AM Solutions: Our roots lie in the processing operations. In addition,
development and production of automated post-processing will
machines and consumables for surface significantly reduce the cost per part,
finishing in series across many different making AM much more economical
industries. In this context, consistent overall.
product quality, reproducibility and
traceability of processes, economic
efficiency and sustainability are
essential requirements. With our new
solutions for the post-processing of
additively manufactured parts, we
ensure that these requirements are
also met in AM.
TCT: Can you talk about the
importance of automated post-
processing solutions as we move into
high volume AM applications?
AM Solutions: Automated post-

29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 055


EXHIBITOR Q&A: XACT METAL
HALL 12.0 | STAND C102
TCT: At Formnext, Xact Metal will
launch the XM200G metal 3D printing
platform – what can you tell us about
the latest addition to your line-up?
Xact Metal: The XM200G family is a
highly configurable single or dual laser
system family that brings industrial speed
and performance at an affordable price,
allowing customers to now be able to
afford and realise the value of metal
laser powder bed fusion technology. The
systems is available to order immediately
with shipments commencing in April
2022.
TCT: What are some of the key
capabilities of the XM200G family?
Xact Metal: The XM200G introduces a
high-performance galvanometer system
to move the laser beam over the powder
bed. This new architecture allows for
faster printing times and the ability to
support multiple lasers. It offers the
option of using two lasers at one time
with either a 100% overlapping work
area using a 100µm spot size or 66%
overlapping work area using a 50µm
spot size. The XM200G also offers a
build volume of 150 x 150 x 150 mm; 100,
200 or 400W fibre laser options; and an
integrated powder handling system.
TCT: Which industries and applications
are you targeting with the XM200G
series?
Xact Metal: The XM200G tailors
to customers who are starting their
entry into metal 3D printing in various
applications, including product
development, tooling manufacturing,
metal powder-bed research and
workforce development. It aims to further
expand the use of metal 3D printing
in aerospace, automotive, general
manufacturing, medical and other
industries.
MIMAKI
HALL 12.1 | STAND G21
Mimaki will showcase its new
3D Print prep Pro cloud-based
software, which is compatible with
all Mimaki 3DUJ-series printers
and has been designed to prepare
and finalise 3D file before the print.
It will also be exhibiting the new
Mimaki 3DCS-322 support removal
unit which has been developed in
collaboration with AM Solutions to
speed up and automate post-print
workflows.
BCN3D
HALL 12.1 | STAND B41
BCN3D has announced the
release of the Metal Kit for its
Epsilon Series 3D printers. The
Metal Kit includes two BASF metal
filaments - 316L and 17-4ph - and
a new exclusive hot-end for metal,
as well as spare parts to ensure a
smooth printing experience.
With this kit, BCN3D says it is
responding to growing demand
for stainless steel parts from
industries such as pharmaceutical,
RAISE 3D
HALL 12.1 | STAND G79
Also in partnership with
BASF, Raise3D is launching
the MetalFuse in-house 3D
printing solution which has
been developed to facilitate the
additive manufacture of tooling,
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 057
FORMNEXT
SPONSORED BY
food, automotive, aerospace
and manufacturing. Metal parts
produced with the kit feature
a similar behaviour to those
produced by MIM (metal injection
moulding) without the need for
a mould and offer significant
cost savings. Both filaments are
corrosion-resistant stainless steel.
After printing, a sintering and
debinding processes must be
done externally through BASF’s
authorised network of suppliers.
jigs and fixtures, functional parts
and prototypes, and small-batch
production. The MetalFuse
solution will be comprised of
Raise3D’s new Forge1 desktop
metal 3D printer, the D200-E
catalytic debinding furnace,
the S200-C fintering furnace,
the ideaMaker Metal slicer, and
Ultrafuse Metal Filaments from
BASF Forward AM.
Raise3D will be at Formnext to
provide more information on the
MetalFuse system, with large-scale
delivery of its metal 3D printing
solution set to commence in the
first half of 2022.

Dressler Group (DG) has established a reputation among its international
customers as “the grinding authority”. Its areas of focus include
pharmaceuticals, medical technology, 3D printing and specialities.
We talk to Jan Dressler, son
of company founder Herbert
Dressler about how to generate
the most value for the company
and its customers.
What makes DG an
irreplaceable designer of
3D printing powders for
manufacturers, designers,
purchasers and heads of R&D?
Here at Dressler Group,
innovation has been part of
the company DNA from the
very beginning. In both theory
and practice, we have found
that as well as the particle
size, the particle shape and
the overall powder design are
crucial in additive manufacturing
processes such as 3D printing.
Printing only produces truly
satisfactory results when
everything is precisely tuned to
the specific processes, machines
and applications. In addition,
the topic of sustainability and
recycling management is gaining
in importance. So there is an
extra dimension to the stringent
demands of our customers:
the powders must be made
from recycled material, for
example, or must themselves be
recyclable.
Speaking of industrial-scale
production: 3D printing has long
outgrown its niche and is now
competing with conventional
manufacturing processes. How
do you intend to stay ahead in
this growing market?
By consistently offering the best
value for money and by focusing
on customers that we can help
to make great strides forward. In
our work, we always adopt the
perspective of our customers,
focusing on what they need today
– and what they might need
tomorrow.
How important is the 3D printing
business for Dressler Group
today, and how do you intend to
expand it?
It’s hugely important. The
powders we process enable
smooth and economical operation
even on an industrial scale. As a
kind of missing link in the value
chain, we offer genuine added
value. And in the future, we will
also be playing an even greater
role in the pharmaceutical and
medical technology sectors.
What powder properties do your
customers request most often?
We are often asked to support
ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
objectives such as lightweight
construction, robust custom
moulds, mixed materials,
recyclable powders and so
on. We create the most value
with individual “plug and play”
solutions that deliver seamless
batch-to-batch quality thanks to
our powder design.
Why do you think your customers
come to you rather than the
competition?
Our close interactions and
customer surveys show that
they especially value our agile
innovation management, the
high precision of our work and
our R&D reports – along with our
attentive and personal service.
We are a system partner that
gets involved at the earliest
development stage. This may be
a combination that only a family
business can offer.
R&D at Dressler Group is
primarily conducted at the
Technical Centre. What makes
this institution so special?
Here we can research, develop
and make changes at short
notice when required, starting
with in-depth screening, through
the initial trials, right up to series
production readiness. We offer all
this with minimised costs, material
input and risk. Moreover, our
comprehensive documentation
enables reproducibility at
any time and in any quantity.
Especially with material screening,
i.e. determining the optimum
plastic for a specific project, we
ensure that our customers make
the right choice and save them
lengthy, expensive wrong turns.
How do you aim to generate
further growth in 3D printing?
We think in cycles, for example
with regard to recycling. We
use resources, energy, water,
etc. more sparingly thanks
to refreshing, which involves
combining new material and
recycled material without
compromising on quality and
ease of processing.
Thinking in cycles also means
that with our materials we not
only enable and optimise the
end products, but also all the
individual process steps, including
post-processing. In other words,
our powders deliver added value
across each and every process.
Viewed as a whole, that’s
something our customers can
only get from us.

LITHOZ AT 1O
Lithoz CEO Dr Johannes Homa reflects on a decade of 3D printing ceramics.
TCT: In the beginning, what demand
was there for a ceramics additive
manufacturing technology that could be
used for production?
JH: At the beginning, it was difficult
to clearly vision the demand for it. We
knew that 3D printing was already well
established in plastics and metals but
ceramics was still reluctant to use it and the
question was, 'why was this?' And it was
because there was no technology on the
market which could fulfil the demand of
the ceramic industry, which is a very high-
quality standard. We didn't make any deep
market research but the gut feeling was if
we solve this problem, there has to be a
similar demand as in plastics and in metals.
And at the end it was true.
TCT: What unique challenges do
ceramics pose for AM compared to other
materials like polymers and metals?
JH: Ceramics are used in very harsh
environments, usually where you have very
high temperatures, where you have high
abrasion, where you have high chemical
corrosion, all of these harsh environments.
So, to sum this up ceramics are used
where other materials fail. If you want to
use a 3D printed ceramic, it has to have
the same or equal material properties
as the conventionally formed because
otherwise, you can use
any other material.
In the beginning, I
was very much
working in
plastics and
there, I would just make a prototype. It just
[had] to look like [the part], it doesn't have
to have the same properties, it just had to
withstand the test and that's all. But here
in ceramics, you have to have the same
material properties and there is nothing like,
in the sense of plastic, like prototyping, we
have just production with lot size one. And
that's a huge difference. You don't want to
have a geometry prototype or to make a
fit test, you really want to use it in the real
conditions and that's the big challenge here.
TCT: You’ve emphasised how your work
is rooted in academia and how this feeds
into Lithoz’s ongoing story. Can you talk
about the importance of this feedback loop
between academia and industry?
JH: Since we have an academia
background we are still working a lot
with academia in order to further develop
our process and our products because
on the one hand, you need a very deep
understanding of the process and of
the parameters behind the process if
you want to modify or develop things
further, and on the other hand, you need
somebody who takes a very close look
at the microstructure, for example, or at
failures which are in the part to really solve
all the issues because at the end, the
industry is only interested in an application
EXECUTIVE Q&A
which works. They are not interested in
developing something, they want to have
applications. This is, I think, where we had
a really good match or where we have
built up our company on this academia
background and still with this academia
support to provide a technology where
the industry can use it very quickly for
their application and it already fulfils their
needs.
TCT: You recently stated that you
believe Lithoz will be “the first in history
to set up geographically independent,
yet digitally connected, machine parks
for the global mass production of 3D
printed applications.” Can you elaborate
on that vision?
JH: First of all, we are really the only
ones in the ceramic industry […] where
[our] customers are doing really serious
production and they are starting to build
their factories and developing everything
for future growth. We are now, I would
say, fairly well established in doing serial
production but the vision of us and of
our customers [is] that it's completely
independent from where the machine is
situated. They want to produce maybe
something here or something there and
there is one division or one guy who
prepares the parts and they could print it
in Europe, they could print it in Asia, they
could print it in the United States. So that's
globally independent, but everything
is well connected. And that's where
we have now worked on the technical
requirements to be able to perform that
and we have achieved very good results
and this will be rolled out in the next
years.
Listen to the full
interview on the
Additive Insight podcast:
mytct.co/Lithoz10
29.6 / www.tctmagazine.com / 059
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 NEWS
ADDITIVE INSIGHT
ROUND-UP
Laura Griffiths provides a rundown of the biggest AM news and developments.
THE INDUSTRY RECOVERS
After a challenging couple of years due to the
pandemic, market intelligence company CONTEXT
has some good news for the additive manufacturing
(AM) industry. According to its latest report, 3D printer
shipments are said to have experienced "phenomenal"
year-on-year growth in Q2 2021. While not back to pre-
Covid levels, global shipments continued to accelerate
throughout the year with deliveries of Industrial class
(machines costing 100K USD+) growing by +61% and
by +43% for those in the Design class (20K-100K USD),
the two segments which were the most negatively
impacted by pandemic-related disruptions.
The report will undoubtedly be welcomed by the large
number of companies launching new hardware at
Formnext this year (highlights on pages 43-49). This
includes Markforged, which recently revealed more
details about its FX20 composite system, described as
the company’s ‘most sophisticated’ machine to date,
and Essentium which has announced the launch of its
new High Speed Extrusion (HSE) 240 HT Dual Extruder
system to support the production of parts in small and
medium-sized factory spaces. Massivit 3D Printing
Technologies also recently launched a new large-format
composite 3D printing system designed to ‘eliminate
the bottlenecks of mould production.’
In materials, Desktop Metal has qualified nickel-
chromium superalloy nickel alloy IN625 for its
Production System. Credited for its high strength,
SHOWN:
ESSENTIUM HSE 240 HT
DUAL EXTRUDER SYSTEM
062 / www.tctmagazine.com / 29.6
SHOWN:
THE HB.T BIKE USED BY TEAM
GB AT TOKYO 2020

SHOWN:
INTERNAL COMBUSTION BLOCK
PRINTED IN NICKEL ALLOY IN625
resistance to corrosion and oxidation,
weldability, and ability to withstand
extreme temperatures, the material
is expected to appeal to industries
such as aerospace, marine, power
generation and chemical processing
for the additive manufacture of
hydraulics, turbine blades, internal
combustion blocks and valve
bodies. Meanwhile in polymers,
BASF Forward AM has announced
the launch of its Ultrafuse Flexible
Filament portfolio of materials for
extrusion-based polymer 3D printers.
The Ultrafuse TPU 64D, TPU 95A
and TPS 90A materials are said to
feature soft but durable haptics, high
mechanical strength and excellent
abrasion resistance. It follows the
launch of the Ultrafuse TPU 85A and
Ultrafuse TPC 45D flexible materials
in 2018. Suited to a wide range of
industrial applications, BASF believes
the new materials will enable the
‘easy, rapid and cost-efficient’
production of parts with ‘outstanding
flexibility and impact resistance.’
SUPERCARS TO SPORTS STARS
In more application news from
our cover star, SLM Solutions has
announced the sale of a further three of
its huge NXG XII 600 metal 3D printers to
Divergent Technologies. First announced at
last year’s Formnext, the 12-laser system is
said to support the automotive company’s
“shift from prototyping to production
of complex structures,” with this latest
purchase bringing its total NXG XII 600
install base up to six.
Elsewhere, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
may be over but Renishaw has shared
how its metal 3D printing technology was
used to produce customised components
for the Great Britain Cycling Team (GBCT).
Approached in 2019 to help develop a new
track bike, 3D printing was initially used
to produce plastic and metal prototypes
for aerodynamic testing followed by
customised aluminium and titanium end-use
parts, including handlebars, produced on
the RenAM 500Q system.
ACQUISITIONS CONTINUE
While the major acquisitions trend appears
to have quietened somewhat, PrinterPrezz
has announced the acquisition of Vertex
Manufacturing, the advanced manufacturing
service provider set up by Morris
Technologies founder and TCT Hall of
Famer Greg Morris. After first aligning back
in April, the merger will see PrinterPrezz’s
Silicon Valley facility continuing to
focus on medical devices, and Vertex
Manufacturing continuing to serve its wider
range of vertical markets from Cincinnati,
Ohio. Meanwhile, Stratasys has acquired
remaining shares of Xaar 3D six months
after it launched its H350 3D printing
platform based on Selective Absorption
Fusion (SAF) technology.
Speaking of Stratasys, on the latest
Innovators on Innovators episode of the
Additive Insight podcast, industry consultant
Phil Reeves (who we also speak to on page
19) chatted with Stratasys EMEA President
Andreas Langfeld about the past and future
of AM following a busy year of acquisitions
for the AM pioneer. On the subject of
application-specific 3D printers, Reeves
commented, “There's an assumption
that there's a market out there for 10,000
parts a year. And I'm not sure there is,”
while Langfeld opted for a more optimistic
approach, suggesting manufacturers need
to “rethink inventory” in order for AM to
make sense.
Our experts are excited to meet you face-to-face, presenting the European
debut of the most extensive collection of new technologies, printers,
materials, and software in the company's history.

If you are unable to travel, we’ve got you covered!

Join us at “DimensionsTM Live 2021”, our virtual event, streaming the latest
from Formnext and hosting a range of masterclasses on additive manu-
facturing and the 3D printing world.
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DimensionsTM
16 - 18 November, 9am to 12pm CET

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We invite you to our booth, experience the wide-ranging solutions
addressing the full product value chain from prototyping to production,
explore the best-in-class polymer technologies, including FDM, PolyJet,
Stereolithography, P3, and SAF, as well as the most comprehensive
materials ecosystem enabling new levels of agility, sustainability, quality,
and creativity. Scan for free one
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Your ideas are unlimited. Discover how our complete range of additive
manufacturing solutions can bring them to life and transform your business.

It’s time to Create Unlimited.

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