ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING is the magazine devoted to industrial applications of 3D printing and digital layering technology. We cover the promise and the challenges of this technology for making functional tooling and end-use production parts.
Issue link: https://am.epubxp.com/i/667993
AM / The Long View on Additive additivemanufacturing.media 33 working toward a promising new product or technology that can be realized only through AM. In many cases, these products call for some advance in AM knowledge or capability beyond what has been put into practice today, because something about the part geometry or material necessitates this leap. In these cases, Albers looks for the chance to enter into strategic partnerships so that rp+m and the customer can work together on the development, and proft together as well. She says some kind of partnership is needed because, without this, there is an incentive problem inhibiting AM's advance. An OEM with a good idea about how to dramatically improve its product with additive manufacturing might lack the expertise to realize this idea, let alone the justifcation to buy the equipment for this work. Meanwhile, an additive service provider that does have the equipment and expertise would be reckless to invest in the development efort if that meant its role might be fnished once the development was done. That is why, for the time being, partnerships will be as important as any other factor in enabling AM to realize its potential. Collimators One strategic partnership is easy for rp+m to openly discuss be- cause the partner is also owned by Hlavin. Radiation Protection Technologies (RPT) is a company he founded after learning of a tungsten-flled polymer as dense as lead (developed for a military application) that could be used as a lead substitute in medical imaging systems. The problem with applying the material to medical systems' radiation shielding components— called collimators—is that these parts are made in quantities too low to justify mold tooling. Enter additive manufacturing. Making complex parts without molds is among the challenges AM is suited to solve. Yet not just any AM process would do. The high melting point of the material precluded a process using melting. The company instead turned to Binder Jetting, the melt-free additive process from ExOne. This process uses a liquid binder to hold the powder material (metal or non-metal) in a precise 3D shape until oven curing can harden the form. Development work related to the lead substi- tute began with rp+m making parts at ExOne, but now the company has an "M-Flex" machine on-site for continuing this work. That all this work still constitutes "devel- opment" is signifcant, because it hints at the timeframe and forward view that the most advanced applications of AM often require. Today, lead is still an An obstacle to applying tungsten-flled polymer to make a collimator is the cost of producing a mold to work with this material. Additive manufacturing overcomes this obstacle—no tooling is needed. ExOne's Binder Jetting is used because the tungsten material's melting point is too high for other additive processes. Binder Jetting builds 3D forms without requiring melting.