Articles

Composites

Louisville Slugger Uses Formlabs Technology to Accelerate Innovation

Louisville Slugger relies on Formlabs’ Form 3 stereolithography 3D printer to create both prototypes and manufacturing aids for designs of the composite and aluminum bats swung by youth and collegiate players.

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Automation

Looking to Secure the Supply Chain for Castings? Don't Overlook 3D Printed Sand Cores and Molds

Concerns about casting lead times and costs have many OEMs looking to 3D print parts directly in metal. But don’t overlook the advantages of 3D printed sand cores and molds applied for conventional metal casting, says Humtown leader.

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Materials

Overcoming Challenges with 3D Printing Nitinol (and Other Oxygen-Sensitive Alloys) Through Atmospheric Control

3D printed nitinol has potential applications in dental, medical and more but oxygen pickup can make this material challenging to process. Linde shares how atmospheric monitoring and the use of special gas mixtures can help maintain the correct atmosphere for printing this shape alloy and other metals.

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Polymer

Faster Iteration, Flexible Production: How This Inflation System OEM Wins With 3D Printing

Haltec Corp., a manufacturer of tire valves and inflation systems, finds utility in 3D printing for rapid prototyping and production of components for its modular and customizable products.

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Tooling

Mantle: 3D Printed Molds Address Plastics Industry Lead Time and Skills Shortage

Company now shipping production systems. Steel mold tooling from its TrueShape process can be printed, shaped and sintered in days, and with fewer steps, compared to weeks of lead time for molds made conventionally.

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Metal

3D Printing Molds With Metal Paste: The Mantle Process Explained (Video)

Metal paste is the starting point for a process using 3D printing, CNC shaping and sintering to deliver precise H13 or P20 steel tooling for plastics injection molding. Peter Zelinski talks through the steps of the process in this video filmed with Mantle equipment.

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Additive Manufacturing in Space: Failing Upward

Not all 3D printed parts destined for space need to adhere to the standards of human space flight. Yet all parts made for space programs require some type of qualification and certification. NASA and The Barnes Global Advisors explore Q&C for these parts.

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Cool Parts

3D Printed Preforms Improve Strength of Composite Brackets: The Cool Parts Show Bonus

On this episode, we look at a pin bracket for the overhead bin of an airplane made in two composite versions: one with continuous fiber 3D printed reinforcements plus chopped fiber material, and one molded from chopped fiber alone.

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Data: The Dark (and Light) Side of Additive Manufacturing: AM Radio #41

Additive manufacturing relies on and creates large amounts of data. On AM Radio, Stephanie Hendrixson and Dr. Tim Simpson discuss concerns around protecting AM data, plus how data security can bring greater opportunities for this technology. 

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Velo3D Founder on the 3 Biggest Challenges of 3D Printing Metal Parts

Velo3D CEO and founder Benny Buller offers this perspective on cost, qualification and ease of development as they apply to the progress of AM adoption in the future.

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The Arrival of the AM Factory: How Proprietary Processes Deliver Production 3D Printing

Various recent articles report on companies using internally developed technology to equip factories and deliver on the promise of AM for production.

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Software

User-Friendly Mass Spectrometry Tool to Enable AM

The Massbox is a technology designed to simplify mass spectrometry by bypassing the need to send samples to the lab for characterization and testing purposes. Exum Instruments’ debut tool is suitable for AM as it can assist with quality assurance, material characterization and failure analysis.

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