Articles
Material Extrusion: Now with Metal
Challenging our thinking about materials in metal additive manufacturing and the possibilities with material extrusion technology.
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Video: The STL File Can Produce Surface Defects in 3D-Printed Parts
Timothy Simpson of Penn State University discusses the influence of model definition in additive manufacturing and what to do about its effects.
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Video: Support Structures Are Misnamed! How to Understand Anchors in Additive Manufacturing
Supports or anchors can account for a significant share of both the engineering investment and material use in metal additive manufacturing. Michael Hansen of SLM Solutions discusses the role and importance of support structures.
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The Results Are In: Autoclave Tooling and Large Format Additive Manufacturing
SABIC and the University of Dayton Research Institute studied large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM) for metal autoclave tooling. The results are promising.
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Video: Metal AM Affects Plastics Production via Conformal Cooling
Additive manufacturing allows cooling channels within mold tooling inserts to follow the form of the tool rather than being straight drilled holes. Here’s why this matters.
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Video: The Impact of Part Orientation on Cost and Build Time in AM
A different build orientation might mean fewer layers and less support structure, though the part might need to be redesigned to take advantage of this different orientation.
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Video: How Simulation Assists Directed Energy Deposition
Scrapping an AM part is potentially as costly as scrapping a machined part. Directed energy deposition is an additive process that can benefit from a resource that safeguards machining: simulation software.
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What Is Material Extrusion 3D Printing?
Material extrusion extrudes material through a nozzle and selectively deposits it layer-by-layer to form an object. After three decades of material advancements and a diverse array of start-ups and applications, the use cases for this technology are still going strong.
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Video: What is Directed Energy Deposition?
DED is an additive manufacturing process that builds features or parts in metal by placing material where needed.
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Robot Is Production Solution for Laser Metal Deposition
The move from prototyping to production might involve a move from machine tool to robot, but development work between Formalloy and the robot suppliers means the process and programming do not have to change.
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How 3D Printing Enables Sustainability in a High-Turnover Consumer Market
Pengraff UK built its business initially providing mounting solutions for routers and telecommunications equipment, hardware with built-in obsolescence. 3D printing and sustainable materials enable the company to live its values while manufacturing products with a limited lifespan.
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Robots, Assemble! A New Path to Autonomous Mobile 3D Printing
Robot swarms may sound alarming, but research at the University of Arkansas reveals that they may enable a new, ultra-efficient era of automated manufacturing and 3D printing.
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