Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Gearing up for manufacturing
Researchers and companies around the world are trying to create a breakthrough for 3D
printing manufacturing by reducing production times and costs. One of these projects is
High Speed Sintering (HSS), which was invented and patented in 2003 by Loughborough
University in the UK by a research team lead by Neil Hopkinson. HSS is similar to Selective
Laser Sintering (SLS) but uses a combination of Infrared lights (instead of laser), inkjet
printheads and adjustments to the polymer-powder. The increase of speed is achieved by
flashing the whole area (layer) at once with infrared light as compared to tracking a laser
over the outlines of an object. The aim of HSS is to make it fast and cost-effective enough to
compete with plastic injection molding. Parts have already been produced for Burton Snow-
boards and other companies. The UK Technology Strategy Board granted 795 000 £ in the
fall of 2013 to a project running until 2016, aimed at making HSS ready for use in produc-
tion. Unilever, BAE Systems, Cobham CTS and the printhead supplier XAAR are involved
in this project together with Sheffield University's spinoff Farapack Polymers and Lough-
borough University. Unilever plans to use HSS for producing packaging solutions that are
not possible with other technologies. The prototype machine used in the project is called
FACTUM (Latin: to make) and it is many times faster than the fastest currently available
commercial printer.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Lockheed Martin in the US have worked
[li]
together to create “Big Area Additive Manufacturing” (BAAM)
since December 2012.
BAAM is based on robot arms with extruders which means that there is no build area that
limits size. The base material is plastic pellets just like in traditional manufacturing. The
nozzle size of the extruders are bigger than usual which increases speed an enables extru-
sion of fiber-reinforced materials. A bigger nozzle usually means lower resolution, but this
is compensated by an integrated fly cutter which improves the surface finish. In 2014 ORNL
signed an agreement with Cincinnati Inc. in order to increase the speed of the BAAM ma-
chine. This technology upgrade drew upon Cincinnati's experience of designing and manu-
facturing laser cutting systems. The objective was to create a 3D printing machine that was
100s of times faster than other systems. The vision of BAAM is “a swarm of robots de-
[lii]
positing layers of material in close synchronization with each other
”
. The project aims at
making parts up to 30 meters in size, for example whole wings for unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAV).
One of the problems in this project is that large printed parts may warp due to areas with dif-
ferent thicknesses cooling at different rates
. Reinforcing the plastic material with carbon
