Cost comparison Connector old

Cost comparison Connector

What are production costs for the connector?

This case study breaks down the production cost of a Connector for suitable technologies. Besides a breakdown of the total cost per part, the manufacturing time and cost per volume for different production quantities is provided. 

What you will find in this section

Connector overview

Valve block not feasible for Material Extrusion and Binder Jetting

This case study breaks down the production cost of a Connector for Powder Bed Fusion (Laser and Electron Beam), Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) and Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM). Due to too big dimensions of ⌀240 mm x 193 mm and volume of 1.956 cm³, the part is not feasible for Material Extrusion and Binder Jetting which are thus excluded from this comparison. The calculation is made for Stainless Steel 17-4PH, which is available for all technologies. The calculation is made for 10 parts, with a comparison of 1 part and 100 parts at the end.

The focus in this section lies exclusively on the cost estimation. The fact that the achievable part quality varies between the technologies must be kept in mind. Especially milling, which is not included in this comparison, will have a significant impact on the cost and lead time for the Connector. 

The following post processing operations are included in the calculation:

  • Unloading and unpacking of parts (All technologies)
  • Heat Treatment (L-PBF, LMD, WAAM)
  • Part separation (L-PBF, E-PBF)

Cost per part (€ and %)

WAAM with lowest cost per part

Comparison of in-house manufacturing cost for the Connector for different technologies
Comparison of the relative in-house manufacturing cost for the Connector for different technologies

The chart on the left compares the manufacturing cost per part for the 4 technologies.

WAAM is the cheapest process with total production costs of ~957 €. The low complexity and relatively big volume make this part an ideal candidate for the technology with low material costs and a high throughput.

Production costs for Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) are ~2.582 €. Costs are calculated using the low resolution nozzle, resulting in an effective build rate of ~67 cm³/h.

Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) leads to cost per part of ~2.330 €. A medium-size system is chosen as the most cost-effective system since even most large systems would only fit 1 part. A high-productivity layer thickness of 90 µm leads to a high build rate of ~42 cm³/h.

Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion (E-PBF) has the highest part costs of ~4.992 €. The relatively high cost are mainly driven by a lower layer thickness of 45 µm.

Production time

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing with lower production time

The chart on the right compares the production time for 10 components between the different technologies. A WAAM printer is capable of producing all 10 components in less than 7 days, which is the main driver for the relatively low production costs. Even though the production time on a medium-sized L-PBF printer is higher compared to LMD, the lower hourly rate of the printer still leads to lower cost per part. E-PBF leads to the highest production time of close to 40 days due to the lower layer thickness.

Production time comparison for the different technologies for the Connector

Cost per cm³

No big price drop for higher quantities

Breakdown of the cost per cm³ for the Connector

When comparing the cost per cm³ for quantities ranging from 1 to 100 parts it can be observed that there is no big price drop with increased quantity for all technologies. This is mainly due to the fact that each technology produces 1 piece at a time and that build time per part is already relatively long. 

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Sinter-based AM technologies and process chain

Sinter-based AM - a technology overview

Many different printing technologies - one sintering process

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.

Goal and structure of this course

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. 

What you will find in this section

Sinter-based AM process chain

From digital model to finished part

Data preparation

Simulation to compensate the deformation during the sintering step, nesting of parts and definition of printing parameters

Printing

Through various printing processes, different feedstocks such as metal powders, filaments, pellets or dispersions are processed into green parts

Unpacking

Unpacking of fragile green parts needs to be done carefully and is typically a manual process.

Debinding

Debinding describes the process of removing the binder which results in a brown part

Sintering

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.

Technology principle

How does Binder Jetting work?

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.

Working Principle of Binder Jetting

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.

Printing Technologies

Metal Binder Jetting

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.

Working Principle of Binder Jetting

Material Extrusion

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.

Working Principle of Binder Jetting

Mold Slurry Deposition

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.

Working Principle of Binder Jetting

Metal Selective Laser Sintering

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.

Working Principle of Binder Jetting