3D Printing News Briefs: April 28, 2017

In this week’s second edition of 3D Printing News Briefs, we’ve got information about the latest partnerships in the additive manufacturing business world, a company launching a new branding identity, and some news on 3D printers, materials, and enclosures. PARC has been chosen by DARPA for a partnership that involves 3D printing, Dassault Systèmes teams up with Sogeti, and Spatial Corp. joins the ADAPT consortium, while Arcam unified its three businesses with a new branding identity. Shapeways announced that early access is now available for the HP MJF 3D printer it’s been testing, Zortrax announced that its 3D printers now support external materials, and 3D Platform introduces some new enclosures for its WorkSeries machines.

PARC to Advance Product Design and Digital Manufacturing for DARPA

DARPA has chosen PARC, a Xerox company, to develop and deliver a whole new computational paradigm, in order to equip engineers and designers with new integrated analysis and feedback tools, and remove the limitations from existing design platforms. The project, called FIELDS (Fabricating with Interoperable Engineering, pLanning, Design, and analysiS), will change the computer-aided engineering (CAE) field, as well as how the next generation of complex engineered systems are designed. PARC, along with Oregon State University and Intact Solutions, will create the computational design paradigm, which will utilize high-performance computing capabilities and be adapted to specific manufacturing processes, including additive manufacturing.

Ersin Uzun, Vice President and Director of PARC’s System Sciences Lab, said, “PARC and its partners will bridge the gaps between CAD, CAE, CAM and new innovative manufacturing techniques. Today’s fragmented approach has been holding digital manufacturing from enjoying what technology can provide today. The team is set to transform design and manufacturing by maintaining four in-depth views of an artifact (as-designed, as-planned, as-manufactured, as-analyzed) as it passes through the computational workflow from synthesis to fabrication. At each view, the structure of the physical artifact will be modeled representing shape, topology, and heterogeneous anisotropic material structure at six size scales. This computational framework will automatically provide manufacturability and performance feedback for synthesized designs and will compile design requirements into a valid design with fabrication instructions. This paradigm will alleviate the burden on the designer to integrate computational and practical expertise from diverse disciplines, which is a significant bottleneck in today’s product lifecycle management systems. The framework will be adapted to specific manufacturing processes such as combined metal additive manufacturing and machining, and manufacturing with graded materials.”

Dassault Systèmes and Sogeti High Tech Negotiating Additive Manufacturing Alliance Partnership

3D design software manufacturer Dassault Systèmes and Sogeti High Tech, a Capgemini Group subsidiary, have entered the negotiation phase of an additive manufacturing project development and management alliance partnership. The goal of the partnership is to accelerate the industry adoption of additive manufacturing, and help companies, from aerospace and defense to energy and transportation, reach new innovation milestones. More and more, global companies are examining the possible benefits of additive manufacturing, beyond short manufacturing runs and building prototypes. Sogeti will leverage Dassault Systèmes’ additive manufacturing business experience platform, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, and use it to deliver engineering and deployment services, integration, and consulting to its customers all over the world, so they can implement additive manufacturing into industrial workflows.

“Our forthcoming alliance partnership with Dassault Systèmes will bring a disruptive offering of technologies, knowledge, methods, processes, support, services and workforce training to business needs in the digital manufacturing era. By leveraging each company’s core capabilities, we can help customers to integrate the necessary manufacturing requirements from the early stages of design and make additive manufacturing accessible at an industrial level,” said Jean-Pierre Petit, CEO, Sogeti High Tech.

Spatial Corp. Joins ADAPT 3D Printing Research Consortium

Speaking of Dassault Systèmes, its subsidiary Spatial Corp., which provides 3D software development toolkits (SDKs) for design, manufacturing, and engineering solutions, is the newest member of ADAPT, the Alliance for the Development of Additive Processing Technologies in Colorado. Spatial’s various SDKs, including 3D visualization, 3D modeling, and 3D interoperability, allow its customers to keep costs and time-to-market down, while keeping the focus on core competencies. The company will be a welcome addition to the R&D consortium, and thinks of its new ADAPT membership as “a valuable extension to the company’s additive manufacturing market strategy.”

“Spatial will use its membership in ADAPT to bolster our technical expertise in additive manufacturing and strengthen our relationships in the industry,” said Ray Bagley, Director of Product Management for 3D Modeling and Additive Manufacturing. “We also believe that our existing partnerships with many AM hardware and software providers can expand ADAPT’s capabilities.”

Arcam Releases 2016 Annual Report, Launches New Branding Identity

Just a few months ago, metal additive manufacturing solutions provider Arcam AB released its 2016 financial results and was looking ahead to its future with GE Additive, which began the process of acquiring the company back in September, and now holds 76.15% of all Arcam shares. That future really begins now, as the company has launched a new branding identity for the Arcam Group, effectively uniting Arcam EBM, AP&C and DTI under a common mark and endorsing the operations as a part of GE Additive.

“Arcam and the industry have evolved considerably since our original brand more than 20 years ago. Bringing together our offerings in industrial additive manufacturing systems through Arcam EBM, metal powders through AP&C and contract manufacturing through DTI under one common brand structure will make it easier for us to efficiently address the market,” said Magnus René, Arcam CEO. “With the endorsement from GE Additive we can communicate the power behind our new brand and the solutions we can provide customers.”

Arcam has also released the first document under its new branding structure, the company’s 2016 Annual Report, available in full on its website.

HP’s Multi Jet Fusion 3D 4200 Printer Available for Early Access Signups

Bracelets by Shapeways designer mulderendevries

In 2014, Hewlett Packard unveiled its Multi Jet Fusion technology, and we’ve been eagerly following its progress since then. Shapeways has also been on board since the beginning, testing and refining HP’s breakthrough Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) 3D 4200 printer. The printer itself offers greater precision, at faster build speeds, and an 80% post-printing material reusability. Shapeways announced that, after months of 3D printing trials, customers can now sign up for early access for HP’s MJF 4200, and for its new nylon plastic 3D printing material, which is dense, smooth, and super strong.

In a Shapeways blog post, Angela Linneman wrote, “Thanks to your always-expanding variety of designs, we’ve been able to work with HP to drive the evolution of the MJF printer. We’ve tested a huge array of geometries and print orientations, and we’re excited to invite you to further test the MJF printer and refine how we use it. So, give us your most complex, innovative, mind-bending 3D models. Push your imagination (and this material) to the limit. We can’t wait to see what you come up with.”

External Materials Now Supported by Zortrax 3D Printers

3D printing hardware, software, and materials manufacturer Zortrax is introducing the newest version of its Z-SUITE software, and it now supports external printing material profiles, so Zortrax M200 and M300 3D printer users will have the freedom to try materials other than the original seven for Zortrax’s M series.

“We have received signals from users who wanted to experiment with external printing materials not included in our current material range,” explained Rafał Tomasiak, Zortrax Chairman of the Management Board. “The newest software update is a response to those signals. Please keep in mind, only way to ensure the top quality and hardware reliability of our solutions is by using Zortrax materials.”

Z-SUITE users can already easily change 3D printing settings, model splicing, infill level, printing speed, and size control, but now it has separate settings related to the selected printing material. This way, the 3D printer can adjust the operating temperature that correlates with the chosen material properties in order to offer the top print quality. The Z-SUITE 1.10 version is now available for download on the company’s website.

3D Platform Releasing Machine Enclosures for WorkSeries Portfolio

Industrial 3D printer manufacturer 3D Platform, which recently announced several new offerings it would be demonstrating at the upcoming RAPID + TCT show in Pittsburgh, will also be releasing new enclosures for its WorkSeries portfolio. The new environmental enclosures will prevent shrinkage and warping, as well as provide stability, and can be easily installed in the field without the use of a 3D printing technician. Features of the new enclosures include air filter and heater add-ons and a filament warming box that fits two 5 lb filament spools while preventing moisture and pre-warming the material for printing.

Jonathan Schroeder, 3D Platform President, said, “The enclosures were designed to be backwards compatible. Meaning, they will be backwards compatible with every machine that we have produced and sold.”

Two sizes are available: one for the 400 series, and one for the 100, 200, and 300 series, which will also retrofit to the x1000 machines, though you’ll need an adapter kit. Visit 3D Platform at booth #937 at the RAPID + TCT show from May 8-11 to learn more about the new enclosures.

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