Insiders and analysts have made their predictions on the3D打印趋势to watch out for. Find out more in our series focused on the future of 3D printing.
Quality assurance software developerSigma Labshas partnered with 3D printing service providerMaterialiseto develop a technology that allows for the real-time correction of errors during metal additive manufacturing.
Effectively a combination of Sigma Labs’PrintRite3D系统和物质化Control Platform, the setup is unique in that it allows users to identify and address issues that arise as alloy powders are fused together. Hailing the new platform as a “breakthrough” in metal 3D printing, Materialise says that it could now allow adopters to enhance the consistency and scalability of their workflows.
“The platform is open and flexible allowing manufacturers to take control of their specific processes to fit their unique applications,” explains Materialise CTO Bart van der Schueren. “This makes it possible for customers to leverage their expertise and truly take advantage of the customization and localization benefits that AM provides.”
“我们开发的平台消除了对利用金属添加剂制造进行串行生产的制造商的最常见的障碍之一。”雷电竞充值
Sigma Labs’ QA expertise
While Materialise has its fingers in many pies, with software, manufacturing and consultancy offerings, Sigma Labs focuses solely on quality assurance in production. Through its main product, PrintRite3D, the firm markets a solution made up of software and hardware tracking modules, that use real-time data to uncover part defects, before deploying machine learning to map their root causes.
设计与平台无关,系统可以either be installed as a retrofit to an existing machine, or requested as a factory option from printer manufacturers. However, despite the broad compatibility and part defect analysis benefits of its main product offering,Sigma Labs’ revenue remains low因此，它继续寻求新的采用者和解决更广泛的3D印刷市场的方式。
In March last year, for instance, the company was洛克希德马丁授予合同, which saw the viability of its technologies assessed for various defense and civil space programs, while on the R&D front, it has sincemade PrintRite3D polymer-compatible, in a move that has effectively expanded the system’s applications.
现在，在揭幕后的Sigma实验室和实现新平台之后，该公司的首席执行官Mark Ruport表示，业务将来可以继续共同努力，扩大金属3D印刷的可扩展性和吸引力。
“We believe the combination of the Materialise Control Platform with Sigma’s real-time melt pool monitoring and analytics software, has created a significant breakthrough in the AM industry,” adds Ruport. “I look forward to future opportunities to collaborate and find ways to continue to improve the quality and consistency of 3D metal printing, as more companies go into production in the coming years.”
A metal 3D printing “breakthrough”
In order to create their new monitoring system, Sigma Labs and Materialise have essentially merged their respective PrintRite3D software and Control Platform hardware technologies together. The main component of the latter is basically an add-on, which can be embedded by users into laser-based machines, as a means of gaining enhanced print parameter control.
在其传统的幌子中，该技术允许采用者访问250多个设置以识别理想的生产设置，而其架构建立在最多16激光多视镜系统。据说与所有PBF和SLM系统兼容，Materialize的平台还包括自动校准工具API，这旨在使用户能够容易地最大化其制造效率。
By combining this platform with Sigma Labs’ PrintRite3D technology, the companies have developed a means of pinpointing potential quality issues, and intervening to correct them before prints are spoiled beyond recovery. In doing so, Materialise says that the firms have come up with a way of improving metal 3D printing’s productivity and efficiency, that enables adopters to scale into serial production.
What’s more, the company believes that the new platform also has the potential to address the “need for post-build inspection and quality assurance” that can make metal 3D printing more expensive than many traditional technologies, especially given that it can either be installed on new machines or fitted to improve the print quality of existing systems.
Real-time metal printing monitoring
虽然许多金属实时3 d打印onitoring solutions have been developed over the last few years, these have largely remained experimental, and not been applied within commercial settings. Late last year, a team atLawrence Livermore National Laboratorycame up with a novelhigh-speed videography-based approachto optimizing the metal material jetting process.
当涉及到监测基于粉末的系统时，研究人员Oak Ridge National Laboratory也开发了一个基于AI的实时跟踪软件。该算法被称为'Peregrine'算法旨在评估生产过程中的零件质量，并用作昂贵的实验室表征设备的潜在经济效益的替代方案。
In the past, similar technologies have also attracted military backing, with metal 3D printing projects at the德克萨斯大学在El Paso获得美国陆军研究实验室资金，最近，森佛尔’smachine learning software beingawarded fresh investmentby theUS Department of Defense, to expand on its ‘ML’ platform’s additive manufacturing material and process qualification capabilities.
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对于深入潜入的添加剂制造，您现在可以订阅我们的雷电竞充值Youtubechannel, featuring discussion, debriefs, and shots of 3D printing in-action.
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精选图像显示使用Sigma的PrintRITE3D软件监控时的3D打印的零件。照片通过Sigma Labs。
