Much as when injection molding materials were being developed 30 years ago, the current trend in additive production is toward higher melting materials and materials with improved mechanical properties. The latter can be achieved, for example, by fiber embedding. In machine technology, the developments are increasingly aimed at adapting processing times, sensor systems, and quality monitoring to the demands of high-tech companies.  

Materials Manufacturers and Process Developers Face Growing Demands in 3D Printing  

Biokunststoffe

Kohlenstofffasern / -matten

Werkstoffe für additive Verfahren

Additive Fertigung

Rapid Prototyping

Rapid Tooling

Rapid Manufacturing

Selektives Laserschmelzen von Kunststoff, Metall, Keramik

Selektives Lasersintern von Kunststoff, Metall, Keramik

Spritzgießwerkzeuge

Pulver-Spritzgießen

Schleifen, Polieren

Additive Adolescence 

It is a hot runner nozzle such as had never been seen before Fakuma 2021: with a honeycomb structure on the outside and, in the nozzle interior, integrated insulation gaps manufactured in one part by the additive SLM process, in which even the fastening nut is captively printed on the nozzle body. The pride of the concept is the special algorithmic modification of the nozzles for any application case.

A mold-making job with up to 30 nozzles is processed in the SLM machine in about 24 hours. 

16:9

The First Additively Manufactured One-Part Hot Runner Nozzle

Spritzgießen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Doriat, Clemens, Dr.

Verfahren für die additive Fertigung

Pulverbettverfahren

Heißkanalsysteme

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Komponenten für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Algorithmically Modified  Inner Workings

With K 2016 in Düsseldorf, Germany, and formnext in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, professionals with an interest in additive manufacturing had two opportunities last year to gain a sense of the spirit of innovation in the industry. One issue was particularly prominent: the increase in production efficiency. This improves the economy of using the different 3D printing processes. 

A Diversity of Suppliers and Physical Cross-Linking Make Possible New Business Models and Application Scenarios for Additive Manufacturing  

Steuern, Regeln

Faserverarbeitung

Industrieroboter

Qualitätssicherung

All Elements at a Glance 

What AM technology is considered capable of today and how it can be applied in many areas of application is shown (representative) by this expert’s view of medical technology.

To enhance the mobility of the spine, the upper and lower shell of this disc prosthesis are connected with an elastic double spring made of titanium. The core also contains a cushioning silicone filling. The prosthesis can be manufactured according to the patient’s anatomy using the LaserCusing process 

Status and Perspectives for Human Medicine

Anlagen für die Additive Fertigung

Anlagen Additive Fertigung / 3D-Druck, Kunststoff

Medizintechnik

Anlagen Additive Fertigung / 3D-Druck, Metall

Andere Werkstoffe

Medical Applications of Additive Manufacturing

Hybrid production chains have been increasingly in the spotlight in recent years. This also applies to the combination of conventional manufacturing and additive processes in tool construction. With the example of an injection molding tool, it is shown how mold inserts produced by additive manufacturing can greatly shorten cycle times, and thereby significantly reduce unit costs. The important thing is to find a suitable combination of processes from the variety available.

Tool insert for a spacer of a glass fiber-reinforced PA66. The example shows that hybrid manufacturing is suitable and provides added value, even with comparatively simple parts

Additive Manufacturing and Hybrid Molds in Combination with Conventional Machining

HSC- / HPC-Bearbeitung

Spanende Verfahren

Werkzeugkonstruktion

Dienstleistungen

Werkzeug-, Formen- und Modellbau

Werkzeuge für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

The Potential of Redesign and  Part Consolidation

Farsoon Technologies is pleased to share news of doubled revenue growth in the Chinese market during Q1-Q3 of 2020 compared to the same period of time in the previous year.

Falcontech Super AM Factory with currently 20 Farsoon metal 3D printing system.

3D-Druck-Anlage, strahlbasiert, Metall

Farsoon Technologies Grows Revenue Despite Corona

In order to avoid bubble ruptures during the production of blown film, the velocity of the cooling air is often reduced. The use of air guiding systems (AGS) can prevent such bubble instability. A novel AGS was developed at IKV in Aachen, Germany, using iris diaphragms in order to increase the cooling efficiency of blown film extrusion and thus improve the productivity of an existing plant

Flexible air guiding system in blown film allows higher mass throughputs and greater process stability

Increase in Mass Throughput and Improved Mechanical Product Properties

Extrusion

Blasfolienextrusion

Nachhaltigkeit

Umweltmanagement

Kühlanlagen

Konturnahe Kühlung

Energieeffizienz

Extrusionsanlagen

Extrusions-Zubehör

Flexible Guiding Systems  for Cooling Air

The production costs for complex injection molded parts not only depend on material costs but also to a considerable extent on cycle time. The cycle time is divided into the injection, holding pressure, (residual) cooling phases and the tool movements. The cooling phase takes up 60 to 90 % of cycle time, depending on the particular plastic material and part component. Adequate cooling can therefore reduce not only cooling time but also cycle time.

This mold determined the maximum cycle times (rendering)

Improving Conformal Cooling with Design, Simulation, and Processing Know-How

Werkzeug- und Formenbau

Kühlelemente, aktive

Elektromechanik

Kühlkörper

Fine Channels, Maximum Efficiency

At JEC World Composites Show 2017 Cevotec GmbH, Taufkirchen, Germany, introduced the first industrial solution for the automated production of complex carbon composites in high volumes: the preforming system Samba and the matching CAD-CAM software Artist Studio. The novel system is based on the Fiber Patch Placement (FPP) technology which enables the fully automated production of complex 3D composite geometries – in a continuous process from digital design to the final fiber product. 

Industrial Fiber Patch Placement  

Preforming System Samba 

Additive manufacturing is leaving the confines of prototyping behind it and breaking out into mass production. Coobx AG, Balzers, Liechtenstein, offers three different production lines with different degrees of automation to specifically target different customer requirements. 

Fully Automated Production Lines for Additive Manufacturing 

Automatisierungskomponenten

Breaking out of the Niche 

The production of plastic profiles and film is carried out with highly developed dies in which the geometries are coordinated precisely to the flow properties of the plastics. This coordination often requires long iteration loops in simulation and experiment. These loops represent a considerable cost and time factor, and threaten the prospects of manufacturing in high-wage countries.  

Additively manufactured demonstrator die (© IKV/Fröls) 

Excellence Clusters Studies Additively Manufactured Extrusion Dies 

Extrusionswerkzeuge

Technik Trend

kunststoffe-international.com

Fast Product Change in Extrusion  

Everybody knows 3D, but 4D? Scientists use the term 4D printing to refer to the simple production of objects that can transform their shape at different times. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now taken this approach one major step further by developing a construction principle that can produce load-bearing and predictable structures. 

Researchers Develop New 4D Printing Process 

Kautschuk / Elastomere

Fabrication Technology in the Fourth Dimension 

Until now, experts saw the prospects for additive manufacturing in medicine mostly in the individualization of therapeutic products. However, the manufacturing of bioreactors can profit from advancements in generative processes as well. Building them using additive manufacturing procedures is not only easier but it also provides bioreactors, which mimic biological conditions more realistically. 

High-Function Integrated Plastics Systems for the Cell-Based Laboratory Medicine 

Biomimicry – One Layer at a Time 

From aerospace and defense to digital dentistry and medical devices, 3D printed parts are used in a variety of industries. They are comprised of many thin layers of materials, plastics in this case, deposited on top of each other to form a desired shape. These layers are prone to fracturing, causing issues with the durability and reliability of the part when used in a real-world application, for example a custom printed medical device. That is why they are currently used only in the prototyping phase of materials or as a toy for display.Brandon Sweeney and his advisor Dr. Micah Green discovered a way to make 3-D printed parts stronger and immediately useful in real-world applications. Sweeney and Green applied the traditional welding concepts to bond the submillimeter layers in a 3-D printed part together, while in a microwave. 

Welding of 3D Printed Carbon Nanotube-Polymer Composites 

Stronger 3D Printed Parts 

SMS Group, Düsseldorf, Germany, introduces 3D spray heads that cut cycle time and increase tool service life in closed-die forging. 

Spray heads printed to the 3D method have less weight, are process-optimized in design and more flexible in use (© SMS)  

3D Spray Heads 

90 Percent Lighter than Steel Parts 

 Erofio Group 3D Produces Mold Core on GE Additive Concept Laser M Line.

Erofio Group, a long-standing user of GE Additive’s DMLM laser technology (Direct Metal Laser Melting), was selected to test and put the GE Additive Concept Laser M Line through its paces ahead of its commercial readiness. Less than three months since receiving and installing an M Line system at its mold making facility in Batalha, Portugal, Erofio has successfully 3D-printed its first mold core.

The Core was manufactured using M300 hot work tool steel – a material often used for the production of injection molding and die-casting tool inserts with conformal cooling, as well as functional components. The Core contains more than eight independent, internal conformal cooling channels, stretching over 8 m in length and between 5 to 8 mm in diameter. Additively manufacturing the part affords the team the design freedom to enable conformal cooling to create a more efficient heat exchange. This improved cooling will increase the overall plastic injection process productivity through decreased cooling cycle time and warpage, and the improvement of the injected plastic part aesthetics.

In addition to the benefits of geometric freedom on the design of inner channels, using additive manufacturing has reduced finishing requirements by 90 %. Another advantage identified, when compared with conventional manufacturing processes, was a reduction in the total manufacturing time – from powder to mold assembly -- by 30 %. According to the company, this involved making only very minimal changes to the existing parameters of the Concept Laser M2 Series 5 to adapt it for the M-Line system. Following remote optimization support from the GE Additive team in Lichtenfels, the part was successfully printed on its first attempt, over a six-day period.

CONCEPT Laser GmbH  

https://www.concept-laser.de

The finished tool insert made of M300 hot work tool steel produced on a Concept Laser M Line

3D view of the eight conformal cooling channels

2021-11-22 GE_Additive_cd

issue 03/2022

issue 02/2022

issue 01/2022

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