3D printing technology news


This is a solved problem. If you want to 3D print something without handling the learning curve involved in running your own printer, you just do the drawing and send it to a commercial printer.
 
"Obtaining military naval quality requires rigorous development. Nearly three years of R&D – carried out by the Technical and Innovation Department in cooperation with the Ecole Centrale de Nantes within the framework of the LabCom Joint Laboratory of Maritime Technology – went into the development of the deposition process of metal wire fusion. Today, we witness a world first. It is the largest metal 3D-printed thruster ever to have been manufactured and the first propeller resulting from this technology, embarked on board a military ship and manufactured for use beyond just sea trials.”

 

I predict that - within the next 5 years - surgeons will 3D print replacement bones inside the patient.

Back in 2014, I needed knee surgery and the surgeon inserted a wedge of cadaver bone into my tibia, then braced it with a stainless steel plate and a few screws.

In the near future, surgeons will no longer need to trim chinks of cadaver bone to size, instead, they will insert a 3D print nozzle and print the wedge in situ.
This will come in especially handy for patients who have shattered large pieces of bone (e.g. victims of road-side bombs).
 

I predict that - within the next 5 years - surgeons will 3D print replacement bones inside the patient.

Back in 2014, I needed knee surgery and the surgeon inserted a wedge of cadaver bone into my tibia, then braced it with a stainless steel plate and a few screws.

In the near future, surgeons will no longer need to trim chinks of cadaver bone to size, instead, they will insert a 3D print nozzle and print the wedge in situ.
This will come in especially handy for patients who have shattered large pieces of bone (e.g. victims of road-side bombs).
They already can do high calcium very pigmented prints using a fatty gel to match the shape of damaged bone with the shape determined from CAT scans. The matrix is a biocompatible material that helps your body regrow your own bone in the damaged area. Not structural as printed so you’d still need pinning or a cast while you heal

 
Have you seen what this researcher has done with a cotton candy/candy floss machine?

 
В России испытали созданный на 3D-принтере авиадвигатель - РИА Новости, 22.07.2020 (ria.ru)

MOSCOW, July 22 - RIA Novosti. For the first time, Russia conducted a successful flight test of an aircraft engine made by 3D printing, its production is scheduled for 2021-2022, told RIA Novosti at the Foundation for Advanced Research ( FPI ).

"In Tatarstan, on the basis of the Kazanbash aviation center, for the first time in Russia, flight tests of the MGTD-20 gas turbine engine manufactured by 3D printing were carried out. This power plant with a thrust of 22 kgf (kilogram-force) was developed within the framework of a joint project of the Foundation for Advanced Research and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise " VIAM " SSC RF with the participation of JSC NPO "OKB im. M.P. Simonov, "the press service said.

The FPI explained that a light unmanned aerial vehicle A30 developed by the NPO MP Simonov Design Bureau was used as a flying laboratory for testing the new engine. The wingspan of the drone is 3 meters, the take-off weight is 40 kilograms, taking into account the payload mass of up to 10 kilograms.

"During the first test flight, according to a given program, the device passed in autopilot mode along the route points at an altitude of 170 meters, reaching a maximum ground speed of 154 kilometers per hour, after which it made a successful landing. The maximum engine speed was 101,600 rpm, the workers - 58,000 rpm, "the fund said.

It is specified that the production time of the main elements of the engines thanks to the new technology was reduced by 20 times, while the cost of their production was reduced by more than two times.

During the implementation of the project, a line of promising small-sized gas turbine engines in the thrust class of 10, 20, 125 and 150 kgf was developed, manufactured and tested. The start of serial production of power plants is scheduled for 2021-2022, taking into account the completion of the stage of development work in the interests of the state defense order.

A joint project of the Foundation for Advanced Study and FSUE "VIAM" on the development of new generation materials for additive technologies for the manufacture of structural elements of aircraft and rocket engines was launched in November 2015. Within the framework of the project, a technology has been created for the manufacture of parts for MGTD and gas turbine plants for industrial use by the method of layer-by-layer laser fusion using metal-powder compositions of heat-resistant and aluminum alloys. A number of developed alloys in terms of strength characteristics exceed their foreign counterparts by more than 20%
 


 
An alternative to 3d printing for aviation:
Rather than recommissioning old dies that could be deformed or worn, Nissan is using "dual-sided dieless forming technology" to produce rear body panels in low volumes. This method "enables the molding of complex shapes through the use of robots pressing rod-shaped molding tools onto opposite sides of a steel sheet to incrementally deform and mold a panel." Thus, rear panels can be produced with relative ease.
 
Some hype in this article as well: http://www.wired.com/design/2013/02/3-d-printing-on-the-moon/

However, from a 2011 link within the article:

NASA-Image-lo-res-e1321417323582.jpg


USC Professors Behrokh Khoshnevis (Engineering), Anders Carlson (Architecture), Neil Leach (Architecture) and Madhu Thangavelu (Astronautics) have completed their first visualization for their NASA research grant into the potential use of Contour Crafting robotic fabrication technology to build structures on the Moon. The image here shows a storage space being constructed by a Contour Crafting robot housed on a version of the Athlete rover developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. The robot prints the structure layer by layer using lunar concrete composed of regolith from the surface of the Moon. Contour Crafting was invented originally for use on earth by Behrokh Khoshnevis at USC, whose alumni include Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the Moon. It was recently voted one of the top 15 innovations most likely to change the World. The question now being addressed is how it will change the Moon. [Visualization by Behnaz Farahi and Connor Wingfield.]
 
3D printed LH2 tank for UAV (double posting from the Fuel-Cell thread):
 
In order to take full advantage of this switch to metal 3D printing, the standard part was completely redesigned, resulting in a total weight reduction of around 15%. Due to the stringent regulation surrounding aerospace parts, and the strength the landing gear would require to handle the aircraft’s load, it was also produced using a resilient titanium alloy.

Once printed, the nose[wheel] piece measured 455 x 295 x 805 mm, and featured excellent mechanical properties such as high durability, and a natural resistance to corrosion without requiring surface treatment. The SLM 800, meanwhile, proved to be reliable throughout, providing engineers with the ability to rapidly modify, print and test parts, while effectively minimizing the equipment’s R&D time.
 
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Do you use custom software for 3dprinting? However, small businesses may not be able to justify the cost of hiring dedicated people to code their application development solutions alone. In this case, a smaller business needs to consider outsourcing. Found and advise this company https://mlsdev.com/services/web-development
 
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3D printing is everything in terms of a future in space. We can send a rover to the moon that can build other 3D printers, and then an army of printers printing everything one could need, besides food and water anyhow.
Power supply and available feedstock would be stumbling blocks though.
 
From May, regarding the Russian 'Factory of the Future' program, part of TechNet aka the National Technology Initiative:

"The key task of the Factory of the Future is the formation of a complex of world-class competencies based on the integration of advanced production technologies and business models. The idea of the "Factory of the Future" implies maximum digitalization of production processes, reduction of costs and time for product design, as well as improvement of its quality through more accurate modelling," says Oleg Yevtushenko, executive director of Rostec State Corporation.

At the same time, digitalization implies not only the design stage of certain elements of the power plant in CAD systems, but also the introduction of a new bench base, the use of digital services to facilitate technical maintenance of equipment, and the integration of all machines into a single network.

The enterprises of the United Engine Corporation, a part of Rostec, were selected as the testing ground for the Factory of the Future, in particular, the concept is being implemented at UEC-Saturn.

“In the engine-building industry today there are practically no test benches that are controlled by analog methods, everything has been digitized long ago. For comparison, the old bench base under the control of operators could simultaneously monitor and control about a hundred parameters that the product produces. Digital control systems allow monitoring thousands of parameters simultaneously. This makes it possible to increase the accuracy and quality of the use of this technique ", - notes UEC production director Valery Teplov.

In addition, the use of additive technologies plays a significant role in the implementation of the "Factory of the Future" concept. These technologies, along with smart design and modelling, the integration of industrial facilities into a single Internet of things and high performance computing, are among the most advanced today.

The use of 3D printing has several key advantages when working on the design and manufacture of a product, including: customization at the request of the customer, increased product functionality, and market reactivity.

In new engines, up to 20% of the mass will be made up of parts designed and manufactured using additive technologies. Due to new design technologies, including through topological optimization, the number of parts and assembly units in engines will be reduced by more than half.

In turn, the reduction in the time and cost of technological preparation of production will reduce the development time of experimental parts manufactured by additive technologies by 80%, the production cycle of serial parts will be reduced by up to 3 times, and the manufacturing cost - by up to 2 times. Such an approach in aircraft engine building allows to significantly reduce the time needed to create units - up to 10 times.

“Additively, you can grow a combustion chamber prototype about ten times faster than traditional technologies. First, you would design special rigging, stamps [with the traditional method], then you would make a sheet from which you would form the appearance of the combustion chamber by various methods, then you would implement it all - put it into experimental work ... In general, the advantage is obvious,” - Teplov says.

The demand for this technology is confirmed by numbers - if in 2019, approximately 4.5 thousand parts were produced in the UEC in an additive way, then this year it is expected to be about 8.5 thousand. That is, almost a twofold increase.

Rostec State Corporation seems to be the primary agency/contractor on the 'Factory of the Future' program.
 
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3D printing is everything in terms of a future in space. We can send a rover to the moon that can build other 3D printers, and then an army of printers printing everything one could need, besides food and water anyhow.

Building structures is one thing. But there are items we're orders of magnitude away from being able to print: electronics, for example.
Then there's the feedstock for the printer. If you want to do more than just heat/melt regolith, you have to start mining/refining operations to separate useful materials from the regolith.
Something like wiring requires a supply of condictive material like copper or aluminium.
 

Sensor solutions provider HENSOLDT is strengthening its commitment to the future technology of 3D printing: together with 3D printer manufacturer Nano Dimension, HENSOLDT is founding a joint venture under the name J.A.M.E.S. (Jetted Additively Manufactured Electronics Sources), based in Taufkirchen/Germany, which will combine the strengths of both companies and further advance the development of 3D-printed electronic components.
 
View: https://twitter.com/GEAdditive/status/1402268643594063875


Engine sumps are usually low pressure and low temperature. They rarely exceed the operating temperature of engine lubricating oil. Not a fancy part, but definitely a step in the right direction.
 

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