Six Years After Launch, OSU Has a Leading Facility for Metal AM

The Ohio State University’s metal additive manufacturing lab has 35 engineering students involved in laser powder bed fusion, binder jetting, ultrasonic additive manufacturing and other metal AM processes, though not as part of any AM degree program.

The students are employees of the lab. They are mostly undergraduates.

And the lab itself has what would seem to be as many or more metal AM modalities than any other university facility. In addition to the capabilities listed above, others include electron beam melting (EBM), powder-fed directed energy deposition (DED) and wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM).

All of this has come since 2017. Former Director of Additive Manufacturing Ed Herderick led the facility through its conception and launch, and was leading it when I visited earlier this year. Unknown to me, I was visiting at a transitional moment. Herderick left the position; new director John Middendorf has been announced. What follows is based on my conversation with the previous director. Herderick says the university invested in none of its metal AM machines — the 12 metal 3D printing systems in the lab, from eight different AM technology providers, all came via donation, consignment or grant — but the university did invest in the staff and facility sufficient to receive a donated or consigned machine without any added expense for the originating company. Thus, standing in the lab and describing the range of machines, he was able to say, “You’re looking at about $11 million worth of equipment from outside and seven figures of facility investment from us.”

The lab performs research focused on production and industrialization of metal 3D printing capabilities. AM Technology Leader Ben DiMarco oversees this work and the operation of the equipment. He says the combination of major funding via grants aimed at defense and energy-sector research, plus smaller grants from companies, means there is about $100,000 worth of active projects in work within the lab at any given time.

The undergraduate students staffing the lab each work 15 hours per week. The employment is paid, and where degrees in AM tend to be at the graduate level, the work in the OSU lab gives undergrads more direct practical experience with metal AM than many graduate students studying the technology.

During my visit, the work I was able to see involved ultrasonic AM and laser powder bed fusion in combination, the application of annulus-shaped rather than spot-focused lasers, and test specimens for comparing the mechanical properties of various lattice designs. The work done with and for individual companies tends to be proprietary, but this work also represents an important value of the lab.

Herderick gives an example of a company that saw the value of additive for its production, but was challenged with getting started. He says, “They worked with us initially just by coming here, standing beside Ben, and watching what he was doing. Then they rented time on a machine. Now, they are in the process of buying their own machine.”

DiMarco adds, “They did crawl-walk-run really well.” The first step is often what is missing. With facilities like the OSU lab offering a way for manufacturers to attain a low-stakes entry to additive, he says, “We can make it so the way forward can start with crawl and doesn’t have to be just walk-run.”