Advancements in Additive Manufacturing

Forget G-code, here is T-code "3D printing has advanced, but G-Code struggled to keep up. It’s like asking a car to stop every time you want to change the song on the radio...With T-Code, we’re able to achieve a level of sophistication that wasn’t possible."—Asst Prof Jochen Mueller John Hopkins University T-Code programming synchronizes supplemental print functions with the printer’s motion, enabling continuous printing. By supporting advancements in printhead, material, and parts design, the new programming language can be used to create scalable and multifunctional structures across a variety of applications with tasks that require significant customization, such as medical devices, robotics, and consumer products, benefitting most. “Time Code for multifunctional 3D printhead controls” is in Nature Communications. Using a Python script that separates G-Code commands into two distinct tracks—one with core print path instructions and one with additional commands for printhead functionalities—T-Code allows the printer to keep moving while it performs complex tasks, like creating a color gradient. This results in faster completion of customized prints and significantly reduces defects that result from frequent stopping and restarting of the printing process. “We wanted to overcome the limitations that line-by-line printing controls impose on speed and precision,” said study co-leader, Sarah Propst, a doctoral student in civil and systems engineering. “With T-Code, we’re able to achieve a level of sophistication that wasn’t possible before.” The researchers say that T-Code also expands what’s possible to 3D print. By supporting advancements in printhead, material, and parts design, the new programming language can be used to create scalable and multifunctional structures across a variety of applications, including biological, electrical, mechanical, and optical. “There’s already a broad array of printhead functionalities, and the demands on printhead controls are only expected to grow as 3D printing capabilities advance,” said Mueller. “These advancements will enable the creation of unprecedented structures with integrated functionalities, such as wearable electronic devices, smart prosthetics, and customized implants—but achieving this is contingent on sophisticated printhead control systems.” T-Code works with both high-end and affordable 3D printers, potentially making advanced 3D printing more accessible. The script is complimentary to G-Code and can be added as a feature to existing printers without requiring expensive hardware upgrades. • #3Dprinting • #AdditiveManufacturing • tuan@anisoprint.com • https://anisoprint.com • Like 👍 what you see ► Hit the Bell 🔔 to follow me. P.S. Repost ♻️ if you find it valuable. Thanks! 🙏

Lasers 'heat and beat' 3D printed metals 🤖🔨 Researchers at Cambridge University have developed a method to program properties into 3D printed metals - akin to traditional heating and beating. By controlling solidification and laser heat, they can tailor strength, toughness and microstructure during printing. This reduces the post-processing needed, lowering costs and material waste. It brings 3D printing closer to replacing conventional manufacturing. Exciting innovation at the intersection of advanced manufacturing and sustainability! Let's keep supporting developments that leverage tech to dematerialize and decarbonize industry. The future of making is green. 🌱🚀 #3Dprinting #sustainable #engineering Stay informed, stay curious! 🌐📚 Science never ceases to amaze! ⚡🌱 Authors and Affiliations School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University Singapore Shubo Gao, JUNYU GE & Huajian Gao Additive Manufacturing Division, Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), Shubo Gao, Zhiheng Hu & Hang Li Seet Institute of High Performance Computing, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Zhi Li & Huajian Gao Photon Science Division, Paul Scherrer Institute, Steven Van Petegem, Sneha Goel, Dario Ferreira Sanchez & Helena Van Swygenhoven VTT of Finland Sneha Goel School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University Singapore Joseph Vimal Vas Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Vladimir Luzin Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Matteo Seita https://lnkd.in/ggYCsdvM

San Diego-based Fabric8Labs has developed a new method of 3D printing in metal that borrows heavily from another manufacturing process: electroplating. 🧪The company’s proprietary Electrochemical Additive Manufacturing (ECAM) technique uses DLP-like projection through a water-based bath to cause copper ions in the solution to form metal atoms at specific locations, enabling highly complex and intricate copper structures, like the 80% gyroid infill part pictured here. The fluid feedstock offers a number of distinct advantages to this process. While its precise chemistry is different from the makeup of an electroplating solution, ✔the ingredients are the same and readily accessible. There is ✔no copper powder to contend with, nor any of the handling challenges that come from dealing with powdered metals. And the liquid nature of the feedstock means that it is ✔possible to refill multiple printers from the same common reservoir to keep production running. Finally, the process ✔takes place at room temperature, making a number of ✔different substrates possible — including even printing directly onto silicon. Perhaps ironically, this 3D printing technique that avoids thermal challenges is primarily being applied toward 🌡thermal control applications right now. Temperature management for semiconductors are the primary application for Fabric8Labs’ manufacturing services at the moment. More about the ECAM process and benefits that 3D printed copper devices will bring to data centers and chips in this story: https://bit.ly/3RYU76c #AdditiveManufacturing #3DPrinting #Copper #Electroplating

If you are interested in bimetallic 3D printing, check out the most recent paper from our newly created Materials Development and Additive Manufacturing Group at NASA JPL. The paper, titled “Fe-Ni Alloys and Novel Bi-Metallic Magnetic Shields,” is published in the Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials with lead author Samad Firdosy. In the paper, they present a novel approach to manufacturing monolithic bi-metallic shielding, utilizing our blown powder directed energy deposition printer. The research demonstrates that the bi-metallic shielding, composed of high saturation and high permeability alloys, leads to a significant increase in shield effectiveness (~9dB) when compared to a single alloy shield. The DED Fe-80Ni-5Mo alloy produced in this study has among the highest permeability and lowest coercivity of any AM soft magnetic alloy reported thus far. The DED process is proving very capable for manufacturing novel magnetic materials. It has been used to print monolithic magnetic alloys with tailored grain size, bimetallic magnetic shields, functionally graded alloys, magnetic amorphous metals, and metal matrix composites. Even though the DED can’t produce parts with the same complexity as powder bed fusion, the ability to create new materials that would be difficult or impossible to make otherwise gives this technique a wedge of applications. Combined with our subtractive manufacturing capabilities and our worldclass machinists, DED can be used to produce some exceptional parts, such as magnetic shielding for spacecraft, for example. #3dprinting https://lnkd.in/gKdmvh-X

Stop waiting weeks for prototypes! build, test, learn, repeat. FASTER! Story time... I needed to make some thin gauge sheet metal parts. for prototyping, the dimensions and tolerances are not figured out yet. I just need to see if this idea works. I sent out the files to a few different vendors and got 1-3 week lead time... I ain't got time for that. if I wait around for two weeks and find out it's a bad idea, them I've just lost two weeks. with SendCutSend.com I can have flat laser-cut parts in a few days! (Protolabs , Protocase and Xometry are also viable quick-turn sheet metal vendors that provide simple bending ops) while my parts are being cut, I can design and #3Dprint some forming dies using Formlabs GrayPro resin, and pressed in alignment dowels from McMaster-Carr that I had on hand flat parts show up and I have functional prototypes in 3-4 days. (PRO TIP) because I ordered flat parts, I can print a few different variations on the forming dies and play around with the same flat parts to find the geometry that works the best. BUT WHY DO WE CARE ABOUT SPEED? is it because we're impatient? no it's because we can't buy the schedule back once the time is gone... and if you are designing something new to the world, the faster you can disprove your assumptions, the faster you can find ideas that work. the faster you find ideas 💡 that work, the faster you can get to testing the faster you get to testing the faster you get user feedback and user feedback is the holy grail in product development. people do weird and unexpected things with our products and so it's best to learn what they are going to do with it get out there and build something! #3dprinting #additivemanufacturing #rapidprototyping #design #engineering

Our latest study, published today in Nature Communications (https://lnkd.in/dvQFUPu9), demonstrates how adjusting the composition of a specific alloy can disrupt columnar grain growth in #additivemanufacturing and achieve grain refinement, leading to a more uniform material. This was accomplished by tuning the stability of different phases that form as the material solidifies. Using the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) and our lab's custom printer integrated at the beamline, we captured fraction-of-a-second phase changes, revealing an intermediate phase that helps refine grain structure. Capturing real-time data was crucial, as these intermediate phases were metastable and completely disappeared after solidification. We hope this research inspires new approaches to #alloydesign for additive manufacturing. Instead of relying on external post-processing, we can design alloys that self-optimize during printing. Congradulations to my PhD student, Akane Wakai, the lead author who graduated this past summer! 🎉 This work was also a collaboration with Tim Smith at NASA Glenn and Wei Xiong and Noah Sargent at the University of Pittsburgh. A special thank you to FAST beamline scientists Kate Shanks and Amlan Das, who were instrumental in enabling these experiments. Thank you to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and James Dorman for being the primary source of funding for this work You can read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/dvQFUPu9 Cornell Engineering Cornell University Cornell Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Nature Portfolio

One of the areas of advance in additive manufacturing that I continue to watch is the INCREASING PRECISION OF DIRECTED ENERGY DEPOSITION. DED offers a way to 3D print big metal forms quickly; that hasn't changed. However, DED technology providers ALSO are getting better at controlling resolution to print fine geometries. The example here is by Nikon Advanced Manufacturing. These tubes made of 625 nickel alloy are about 53 mm tall. Don't know diameter, but for visual reference, the base is about 15 mm wide. I snapped this photo at the most recent Formnext - Where ideas take shape. Nikon produced the part on a small precise DED machine I first saw about 3 years ago, and they continue to improve what it can do. Printing this part took just 17 minutes. But the value of DED precision potentially also applies to VERY LARGE PARTS with much longer build times. Example: A NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration rocket engine employing DED by RPM Innovations, Inc. to produce fine cooling channels all around its form. See links in the comments for more.

The potential of Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM) for Batteries 🔋    Imagine a combination of 3D printing and ultrasonic bonding and you get UAM – a process that uses “sound” to merge layers of (dissimilar) metals at low temperatures.     Here are 3 ways UAM could innovate the battery market – let me know if you see more! 🤩    1️⃣ EMBEDDED SENSORS: UAM allows a seamless integration of e.g. strain or temperature sensors, accelerometers, or fiber optic sensor into metals.     💡Imagine “smart busbars” identifying temperature hotspots or mechanical swelling, or incorporating accelerometers in structural parts to detect vibrations. I see applications ranging from battery testing to production modules.     2️⃣ LAYERED BUSBARS: UAM allows joining dissimilar metals irrespective of their thickness.    💡 Picture a layered busbar combining mechanical stiffness from one material with conductivity from another, creating a flexible, lighter, cost-effective alternative to traditional Copper busbars.    3️⃣ BATTERY (SUB-) CELL ASSEMBLY: In my opinion, UAM could have the potential to redefine cell manufacturing and assembly.     💡 Envision a scenario where traditional laser welding or wire bonding processes are obsolete, removing constraints on material selection, shape, or thickness. How would we reimagine sub-cell components, from separators to the materials and processes involved in cell current collectors, all the way to cell-to-cell connections?     I am working with Fabrisonic LLC to explore these topics. Please feel free to share your experience and ideas and reach out if you are interested to INNOVATE! 🤩     #battery #manufacturing #electrification  

We often think about technological advancement in terms of faster devices or smarter apps, but innovative solutions are making a difference well beyond our screens. Take the work of Open Bionics, for example. They’re combining artificial intelligence with advanced manufacturing techniques to build bionic limbs that can improve daily life for individuals who’ve lost an arm. How are they doing it? - Precision Through 3D Printing: Instead of traditional, one-size-fits-all solutions, each prosthetic is custom-built to snugly fit the wearer. By using 3D printers, they can speed up production and bring costs down. - AI-Driven Movement: Equipped with sensors that read muscle activity from the user’s residual limb, these bionic arms move in direct response to the wearer’s intentions. The goal is to make the prosthetic feel more like an extension of the body rather than a piece of equipment. - More Reach, Less Cost: Streamlining processes and using new materials makes these advanced prosthetics more affordable. As a result, more people who need them can gain access to these life-changing devices. This blend of tech and human-centered design shows how AI can play a crucial role in restoring mobility and independence. It’s a reminder that innovation doesn’t just make our gadgets sleeker - it can help people overcome real-world challenges, enhance their quality of life, and broaden what’s possible for everyone. Where else do you see AI-driven approaches helping people navigate physical challenges or improve their daily routines? #innovation #technology #future #management #startups