Alright. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to day 4 at NPE. In today’s presentation, we’re going to talk about metal 3D printing. So I am Rohit Reddy. I’m a process engineer in the metals group at Endeavor 3D. I have about 4 years of experience in additive manufacturing. I started my career at HP where I was working on sintering and new material development. A little bit about Endeavor 3D, we are one of the largest contract manufacturers in the Southeastern United States. We started with a blank slate and transformed a 65,000-square-foot facility into a state-of-the-art, additive manufacturing plant.
We specialize in the full range of services from product design and prototyping to full-scale production and fulfillment services. We are ISO certified and ITAR listed as well. We are located about 30 minutes west of Atlanta, Georgia. Endeavor 3D is also proud to announce that we are one of the handful of companies in North America that are part of HP’s digital manufacturing partner network. This indicates that we have passed a series of on-site inspections that show that we are prepared to provide a best-in-class, product with 3D printing. In this presentation, we are going to go over the technology, the materials, and how metal jet printing fits in at Endeavor 3D.
What is metal jetting?
So what is metal jetting? Metal jetting is a high throughput form of additive manufacturing that relies on centering for the final part consolidation process. Similar to laser bed powder fusion, we’re using a layer-by-layer process. So in our machine, we’re spreading a layer of powder, but instead of applying heat or a laser directly to the print bed, we are applying a binding agent.
Once the binding agent is put down, we have heat lamps that evaporate water and other components out of the binder so we’re not bleeding into the next layer, and the process continues. We spread another layer of powder. We spread another layer of binding agent. Once we have laid down enough layers for the part to be completed, we go through a curing process so the polymer-based binder can be set. Once the curing process is complete, the parts are strong enough to handle, so we retrieve the parts out of the powder bed, clean them off through a decaking process, and the parts are loaded into a sintering furnace for the final consolidation process.
Benefits of Metal Jet Technology?
So what are the benefits of metal jet technology compared to other technologies? We are seeing better isotropic properties in the x and y direction. Since we are not providing heat directly into the print bed, we do not need supports or tooling, which allows for more design freedom. Given the fact that we’re using a binder-based process, we can print more complex parts.
So what are the design advantages of using metal jet technology? As we can see here, due to the fact that we don’t have a need for molds or tooling, we can print very complex geometries. So this gear part I have in my hand here, the way it is built with the ladder structure cannot be made with CNC or traditional manufacturing. So this part is not only lighter than the original part, but it still matches the required specifications, for this gear to be used. Since we have no tooling requirements, we can move very quickly. Once we receive the part file, we can have the parts printed in a number of days.
And so an example I like to give is we are working with a tier-one automotive supplier that had a manufacturing process go down because a fixture needed to be repaired. We received the files on a Tuesday, and we were able to have the part in their hand on Friday. They were able to resume production. So once we have the prototype done, as we’re making that prototype, we’re also developing the specific process for that part so we can move on to full-scale production very quickly. An additional advantage of binder jet is since the supports aren’t required, we utilize the full build box so we can print in multiple layers and we can use the full x and y space of the build bed. At Endeavor 3D, we are currently printing in 2 different grades of stainless steel (316L and 17-4 PH).
But with binder jet technology, there are several materials available to use as long as they’re compatible with the sintering process. Due to the lack of tooling required, we can be very cost-competitive and we can move quickly as well so we’re able to get you back into production.
So why metal jetting?
All around the world, we’re seeing a big push to increase efficiency and a big push for electric vehicles. And due to the unique features that you’re able to print with binder jet, we can create lighter parts that still serve the same purpose. This increases efficiency, increases electric vehicle range, and can reduce fuel consumption. Another advantage of using metal jet technology is we can print multiple parts within the same build box, which allows for a high mix, and we can customize parts very easily. The last advantage we’ll cover today is supply chain optimization. With metal jet technology, we’re only relying on the precursor powdered material. From there, we can cut out a big part of the manufacturing process.
As we mentioned before, we have no tooling requirements. We can move very quickly from a CAD file to a print part. So we currently offer 2 different grades of stainless steel, the first being, 17-4 PH material. So this is a martensitic precipitation hardening stainless steel that offers a good combination of high strength and mechanical properties with good corrosion and wear resistance. This makes the material applicable in a number of different industries. This could be automotive, aerospace, or food processing.
17-4 is used in many spaces as a structural material. So in the food processing space, due to its high strength and wear resistance, 17-4 can be used in parts that may need to move or spin quickly. The second material that we offer is 316 stainless steel. This is a low-carbon austenitic stainless steel that offers very good corrosion resistance and good mechanical properties with very high elongation. Compared to 17-4 PH, this is good in corrosive environments and applications where the material can be in contact with fluid, oil, and gas.
Due to its high elongation properties, 316 is the optimal choice if you have a part that can be constantly loaded and unloaded. So in this chart, we can see the mechanical properties that we typically see with our 2 stainless steel. So we test all of our materials in-house according to ASTM standards. As you can see in the chart with a process that we have developed with HP, we’re consistently meeting or exceeding MPIF standards. So in the top lines of the chart, you can see the big difference between our 2 stainless steels.
17-4 has a much higher tensile strength and yield strength than 316L. This makes 17-4 useful, more useful in structural applications, but as you can see, the elongation for 316 is much higher. So as mentioned before, 316 is more useful not only in corrosive environments but in in an application where the material can be loaded and unloaded many times. Moving down in the chart, we can also see that 17-4 is a much harder material than 316. So the 17-4 properties can be tailored to meet your specifications through various heat treatment processes, but this high hardness makes 17-4 a good application for molds.
So metal jetting is commonly compared to MIM or metal injection molding. And taking a look at our 316 material, we can see that our mechanical properties and density are very closely matched to MIM. So looking at the tolerances between metal injection molding and metal jetting, metal injection molding typically sees a deviation from nominal plus or minus 0.3%. With metal jetting, we have the additional challenge of nonuniform shrinkage in the x and y direction. We counteract this through design optimization for additive manufacturing as well as using sintering simulation software. So we typically see deviations from nominal of about plus or minus 1%, but I’ve seen with the well-designed application, we’ve seen under half a percent as well.
So what are the common metal jet applications?
First and foremost, metal jetting can be used as an alternative for casting. We have no tooling requirements, so there’s very little development time that needs to go into metal jetting. Once we receive the file, we’ll take a look. If any design changes need to be made, we will work through that process with you. As we talked about before, there are many use cases in the automotive industry. So we can make components for, brackets, housings, manifolds, and many components that are used under the hood of a car. Our 316 material, as we mentioned, is highly corrosion-resistant. This makes it useful in fluid handling devices for liquid, air, and gas. Industrial components such as impellers, gears, and turbines are traditionally manufactured with casting and have to be machined.
Whereas with metal jetting, we can print and use the part as is with very little machining afterward. Another big advantage of 3D printing is that we can move and scale very quickly, parts need to be repaired, tools need to be fixed, and we can print jigs and fixtures very quickly.
So how does metal jet 3D printing fit in at Endeavor 3D?
Our first step is technology discovery. We’ll work with you to identify a part that is currently manufactured using a different technology, and we can help you optimize the design to be used with metal jetting. We can start from the ground up and start with a brand new project that we have optimized for the metal jetting process. Our engineers will review the application and work with you to determine if our material will meet your specifications and any changes that need to be made. So once the application is determined, we’ll move on to the prototyping phase. In conjunction with prototyping, we’ll also develop the unique process that, may need to be, developed for that specific part. Once we validate that the prototype works, again, because we have no tooling, we can utilize the full build space and move quickly into full-scale production. With this process, from start to finish on a project, we can typically send you your parts in 5 to 7 business days.
So this part is a case study we recently did. So this is a Remington 870 extractor that is traditionally manufactured using MIM technology. Using this part, we scanned it on-site with our optical CMM scanner. We’re able to print this part on our metal jet printer, and we’re able to match the results of the main part very closely.
So in the case that this part went out of production or you’re unable to find the part, we would we would be able to reverse-engineer it and print it, just within a couple of days. So here are a few parts that we have printed at Endeavor 3D. On the far left, you can see an impeller that we printed with 316L material. So normally, this part would have to be cast and then machined, but we can print it and center it in one piece as is. So this would be of great use in fluid handling applications, in a water pump, oil, and gas, anywhere that the part would be touching liquid or a corrosive environment.
The part to the right of that is a suspension upright that was printed in 17-4 PH material. So, again, this part would traditionally be cast. We were able to modify the design with the cutouts and unique features so that it is lighter than the original part, but it still matches the original specifications. And the part on the right was to show that apart, this was a piece we did to showcase our technology. This part may be traditionally made in several pieces and have to be assembled.
We were able to print it in one continuous piece and also showcase that the strings on the part are less than a millimeter each in diameter, so it can showcase the fine features that we’re able to achieve using this technology. So the available services we have at Endeavor 3 d are design engineering, metal 3 d printing and sintering, polymer 3 d printing, post-processing and dyeing, a full range of testing in our quality assurance lab, and fulfillment and packaging as well. Thank you.