“Can you 3D print this part?”
This might be one of the most common questions you get asked when working in the 3D printing industry. What often gets forgotten is to benefit of the Freedom of Design of Additive Manufacturing. Thus, there is a more important question that many people forget to ask:
“Does it make sense to print this part?”
One of the main reasons people want to print parts is to reduce manufacturing costs. While this might be possible for some high-value parts in industries such as aerospace or motorsports, it does not work for many other industries and applications. Identifying the “pain points” that a part creates for you and even more importantly for the end user and then trying to understand how 3D printing can be used to solve these challenges usually leads to the best cases. When the answer to this question is yes, then the you will usually also find a way to print a part. Usually, a re-design is required using the full Freedom of Design of Additive Manufacturing.
One of the primary motivations for adopting 3D printing technology is to reduce manufacturing costs. This is especially true for high-value parts in industries such as aerospace and motorsports, where the benefits of Additive Manufacturing are well-documented. However, the same may not hold true for other industries and applications.
The key lies in identifying the “pain points” that a part creates for you and, more importantly, for the end user. Understanding how 3D printing can be utilized to address these challenges usually leads to the best use cases. When the answer to this question is affirmative, it becomes feasible to find a way to print the part.
One of the most significant advantages of Additive Manufacturing is the freedom of design it offers. Unlike traditional manufacturing methods, which often come with limitations, AM allows for the creation of complex geometries that would be impossible or cost-prohibitive to produce otherwise. This capability enables designers to rethink and redesign parts, leveraging the full potential of AM.
The freedom of design in Additive Manufacturing means that complexity is no longer a constraint but an opportunity. Complex structures, lightweight lattice frameworks, and intricate internal features can all be realized with AM, often without additional costs. This opens up new possibilities for optimizing part performance, reducing material usage, and enhancing functionality.
Material properties play a crucial role in the decision-making process. AM offers a wide range of materials, from plastics to metals, each with its unique characteristics and suitability for different applications. Selecting the right material is essential for achieving the desired performance and durability of the printed part.
Conducting a thorough cost-benefit analysis is essential to determine whether it makes sense to print a part. This involves comparing the costs of traditional manufacturing methods with those of Additive Manufacturing, taking into account factors such as material costs, production time, and post-processing requirements.
Not all parts are suitable for Additive Manufacturing. Assessing the specific application and requirements of the part is critical. Factors such as load-bearing capacity, thermal resistance, and environmental conditions must be considered to ensure the printed part will perform as expected.
In the aerospace sector, Additive Manufacturing has revolutionized the production of complex components, such as turbine blades and fuel nozzles. The ability to produce lightweight, high-strength parts with intricate geometries has led to significant improvements in fuel efficiency and performance. For more insights into aerospace applications, visit Aerospace Additive Manufacturing.
The medical industry has also benefited immensely from the freedom of design offered by AM. Customized implants, prosthetics, and surgical instruments can be tailored to individual patients, improving outcomes and reducing recovery times.
In motorsports and high-performance automotive applications, Additive Manufacturing enables the creation of optimized components that enhance vehicle performance. Lightweight parts with complex geometries contribute to reduced weight and improved aerodynamics.
Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software plays a pivotal role in harnessing the freedom of design in Additive Manufacturing. Advanced CAD tools allow designers to create and iterate complex geometries, simulate performance, and optimize designs for AM.
Generative design is an innovative approach that leverages algorithms to generate optimized part designs based on specific criteria. This technique can produce highly efficient and unique designs that take full advantage of the capabilities of Additive Manufacturing.
Ensuring the quality and consistency of 3D printed parts is a significant challenge. Implementing robust quality control measures, such as in-situ monitoring and post-production testing, is essential to meet industry standards and ensure reliability.
Scaling up Additive Manufacturing for mass production presents its own set of challenges. Strategies such as using multiple printers, optimizing print parameters, and streamlining post-processing can help overcome these hurdles and achieve efficient large-scale production.
The decision to print a part using Additive Manufacturing hinges on various factors, from material selection to application suitability. By leveraging the freedom of design that AM offers, designers and engineers can create innovative solutions that address specific challenges and unlock new possibilities. As the technology continues to evolve, the potential for Additive Manufacturing to transform industries and drive innovation is immense.
For professionals and industrial companies looking to enhance their knowledge and capabilities in Additive Manufacturing, understanding the full spectrum of design freedom and strategic considerations is crucial. Embrace the future of manufacturing by exploring the boundless opportunities that Additive Manufacturing presents.
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Would you like to further increase your 3D Printing knowledge?
You can try out the AM Fundamentals course of the AMPOWER Academy free of charge
Understand the most important topics to get started with Additive Manufacturing
The sinter-based AM (SBAM) technologies have, as the name suggests, the sintering process in common. In this process, the printed green part is consolidated into a dense part and receives its final properties. The green part can be printed in advance using different technologies.They all have in common that metal powder is bound to the desired shape by a binder. The best-known printing technologies include Binder Jetting and Filament Material Extrusion.
In this section, you learn everything about the sinter-based AM process chain and get an overview of the different printing technologies.
This course is aimed at engineers, designers and other professionals that are working closely with sinter-based AM technologies. The goal is to cover the most important aspects that will enable engineers and designers to fully grasp the capabilities and technical limitations of the printing technologies and the sintering process to succeed in technology selection and part design. Besides going through the course from the beginning until the end, this course can also act as a constant source of knowledge while working on AM projects.
The course is structured into the following sections.
This section will start with an overview of the sinter-based AM process chain and its printing technologies, followed by a technology deep dive into the most important aspects of the BJT technology, followed by a closer look at the debinding and sintering step also including sintering simulation .
The second section will provide an overview of the different materials that are available as well as part characteristics that can be achieved with the BJT process and typical methods for quality assurance. Finally, several common defects in the BJT process are presented.
The last section will act as a guideline for designers. Besides generally describing the process when designing for Additive Manufacturing, actionable restrictions and guidelines for the BJT process are provided. The final section will present several design examples from different industries.
Simulation to compensate the deformation during the sintering step, nesting of parts and definition of printing parameters
Through various printing processes, different feedstocks such as metal powders, filaments, pellets or dispersions are processed into green parts
Unpacking of fragile green parts needs to be done carefully and is typically a manual process.
Debinding describes the process of removing the binder which results in a brown part
To reach the structural integrity of a metal part, a sinter process is required. The powder particles fuse together to a coherent, solid structure via a mass transport that occurs at the atomic scale driven via diffusional forces.
The brown part shrinks ~13-21 % in each direction.
The process chain of sinter-based technologies differs from other AM Technologies. Especially the post-printing processes (debinding and sintering) are crucial to achieve the intended mechanical properties.
Binder Jetting is a powder based Additive Manufacturing technology in which a liquid polymer binder is selectively deposited onto the powder bed binding the metal particles and forming a green body.
The metal powder is applied to a build platform in a typical layer thickness of 40 µm to 100 µm. Subsequently a modified 2D print head apply a binder selectively onto the powder bed. Depending on machine technology a hardening or curing process of the binder is performed in parallel for each layer and/or at the end of the whole build. During the in-situ curing process a heat source is used to solidify the binder and form a solid polymer – metal powder composite.
Afterwards the build platform moves downward by the amount of one layer thickness and a new layer of powder is applied. Again, the liquid binder is deposited and hardened in the required regions of the next layer to form the green body. This process is repeated until the complete part is printed. After the complete printing process is finished the parts have to be removed from the “powder cake” meaning the surrounding loose but densified powder. To improve the removal of the excess powder from the green body often brushes or a blasting gun with air pressure are used.
To create a dense metal part the 3D printed green body has to be post-processed in a debinding and sintering process. Similar to the metal injection molding process BJT parts are placed in a high temperature furnace, where the binder is burnt out and the remaining metal particles are sintered together. The sintering results in densification of the 3D printed green body to a metal part with high densities of 97 % to 99,5%, dependent of the material.
In classic Binder Jetting systems such as the ones distributed by EXONE or DIGITAL METAL the liquid binding agent is selectively deposited with a single print head. Meaning the width of the print head does not cover the full width of the powder bed. Therefore, the print head moves multiple times in xy-direction over the powder bed to completely cover the printing area and distributing the polymer binder.
The SINGLE PASS JETTING technology was developed by DESKTOP METAL and HEWLETT PACKARD. The width of the printing head covers the full width of the powder bed. When the printhead passes over the powder bed, binder is released from more than 30,000 small nozzles and the whole powder layer is selectively immersed in binder in one pass. The process is bi-directional which means that the binder deposition takes place in both moving directions of the printhead. With these modifications the printing speed is significantly increased.
A similarly fast technology is the METAL JET process by HEWLETT PACKARD. In a single pass, a liquid printing agent is applied to the powder layer and subsequently partially evaporated to form the binding polymer around the metal powder. After the completion of the print an additional curing to achieve the full green body stability is needed.
3DEO combines the Binder Jetting process with a subsequent machining process. Different from conventional Binder Jetting processes, the binder is not only deposited selectively but onto the entire powder layer. After hardening of the complete layer, the part geometry is shaped through a milling process every couple of layers by cutting the part contour out of the binder powder composite.
Binder Jetting is a powder based Additive Manufacturing technology in which a liquid polymer binder is selectively deposited onto the powder bed binding the metal particles and forming a green body.
The metal powder is applied to a build platform in a typical layer thickness of 40 µm to 100 µm. Subsequently a modified 2D print head apply a binder selectively onto the powder bed. Depending on machine technology a hardening or curing process of the binder is performed in parallel for each layer and/or at the end of the whole build. During the in-situ curing process a heat source is used to solidify the binder and form a solid polymer – metal powder composite.
Binder Jetting is a powder based Additive Manufacturing technology in which a liquid polymer binder is selectively deposited onto the powder bed binding the metal particles and forming a green body.
The metal powder is applied to a build platform in a typical layer thickness of 40 µm to 100 µm. Subsequently a modified 2D print head apply a binder selectively onto the powder bed. Depending on machine technology a hardening or curing process of the binder is performed in parallel for each layer and/or at the end of the whole build. During the in-situ curing process a heat source is used to solidify the binder and form a solid polymer – metal powder composite.
Binder Jetting is a powder based Additive Manufacturing technology in which a liquid polymer binder is selectively deposited onto the powder bed binding the metal particles and forming a green body.
The metal powder is applied to a build platform in a typical layer thickness of 40 µm to 100 µm. Subsequently a modified 2D print head apply a binder selectively onto the powder bed. Depending on machine technology a hardening or curing process of the binder is performed in parallel for each layer and/or at the end of the whole build. During the in-situ curing process a heat source is used to solidify the binder and form a solid polymer – metal powder composite.
Binder Jetting is a powder based Additive Manufacturing technology in which a liquid polymer binder is selectively deposited onto the powder bed binding the metal particles and forming a green body.
The metal powder is applied to a build platform in a typical layer thickness of 40 µm to 100 µm. Subsequently a modified 2D print head apply a binder selectively onto the powder bed. Depending on machine technology a hardening or curing process of the binder is performed in parallel for each layer and/or at the end of the whole build. During the in-situ curing process a heat source is used to solidify the binder and form a solid polymer – metal powder composite.
