法国工业3D打印机制造商加起来has revealed that a new system it has been helping develop is set to be launched into orbit for testing onboard the国际空间站(ISS).
作为一部分European Space Agency’s（ESA的）“ Metal3D”项目，Addup构建了机器的内部结构和机制，专门针对太空中的3D打印金属零件设计。与常规的基于粉末床的系统相反，据说该演示器会处理固定在其框架上的电线原料，阻止其漂浮，并允许该设备在微重力条件下运行。
addup的地面印刷品组合
Over the last six years, AddUp has built up a portfolio around two of the industry’s leading metal 3D printing technologies: Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) and Directed Energy Deposition (DED). In the case of the former, the firm launched its flagshipFormUp 350system just last year, a machine designed specifically to meet industrial manufacturing challenges such as safety, productivity and quality.
Since then, AddUp hasinstalled the FormUp 350 at Ohio State University, where students and staff alike have begun working on ways to optimize its performance. The company also released three新的流程监视软件包最近，以增强机器的功能。该套件由添加仪表板，重新涂层监控和Meltpool监控组成，旨在为用户提供对部分质量的信心，并解锁系统的最终用途潜力。
就其业务的DED方面而言，Addup继承了其大部分产品acquisition of BeAM Machinesin June 2018. Still sold sporting BeAM branding, the firm’sModulo 250andModulo 4003D printers feature slightly different takes on the technology, with the former geared towards R&D applications, and the latter packing beefed-up specs said to give it industrial-level capabilities.
Using its range of DED and PBF machines, nearly 40 of which have been installed at its French bases in Strasbourg and Salon de Provence, AddUp continues to seek out new applications. While this has previously taken the company to the periphery of the aerospace sector, and it has developed parts such as heat exchangers, its ESA project is now seeing it build a full-blown orbital 3D printer.
Trialing an orbital metal 3D printer
Launched by the ESA, with the goal of creating the world’s first system capable of 3D printing with alloys in orbit, the Metal3D project will see it work with various partners to identify the impact microgravity has on the properties of parts produced.
To achieve this, the ESA has commissioned the construction of two identical demonstrators, with one being built and operated in Toulouse alongsideAirbus，另一个发射到ISS的哥伦布模块。自然，为了准确评估金属印刷组件上的轨道条件，该系统正在开发以在地球和微重力条件下在地球上发挥作用。
其他合作伙伴负责使该计划达到其目标，包括来自克兰菲尔德大学，正在监督该单元的能源和材料输送系统，以及Highftech, an R&D specialist that’s in charge of looking after the build of the machine’s enclosure in addition to its fluid management.
就其参与任务而言，Addup不仅开发了该单元的某些内部内容，而且还开发了用于控制它的可编程逻辑控制器（PLC）以及将允许其通信的接口。根据Addup研发工程师Alexandre Piaget的说法，该公司在Metal3D项目的预先计划阶段中也发挥了关键作用，该阶段“建立了当今机器的基础”。
Piaget解释说：“增加在实现这一任务中起着重要的作用，但是它参与项目的参与可以追溯到必须证明项目可行性的项目前阶段。”“在机器的最终版本中，添加剂将负责移动轴，结构零件和机器的软件。”
In terms of the machine itself, it’s said to be capable of overcoming the issues that prevent regular 3D printers being used in space, i.e. the risks posed by fine powder floating from the build area. The system accomplishes this by using a wire-laser combination (W-DED) process, which sees alloys fixed in place, before being laser fused together on a table that’s moved along 3 linear axes and 1 rotary axis.
The 3D printer is also set to be operated under a nitrogen atmosphere, as a means of limiting the oxidation of materials and reducing the risk of combustion, plus, given that nitrogen is in short supply on the ISS, the system is fitted with filtering and cooling functionality, to limit consumption and recycle as much gas as possible.
Though the machine isn’t expected to be fired into orbit until February 2023, AddUp has revealed that it’s already developing a machine inspired by Metal3D along with Airbus, which will “allow developments on this technology to continue.”
Those interested in finding out more about the progress of Metal3D can check out加起来’s orbital 3D printing updatesvia its YouTube channel, and it has committed to providing more of these insights in the weeks and months ahead.
微重力竞赛
The ISS has become a hotbed for 3D printing research in recent years, on which both commercial and academic researchers have sought to test emerging technologies under microgravity conditions. Working alongside another consortium of partners as part of ‘Project MELT,’ the ESA has previously developed a聚合物微重力3D打印机as well, which was also designed for ISS off-world testing.
在3D生物打印方面，CELLINKpartnered with what was Made in Space (and is nowRedwire) back in 2019, to identify潜在的轨道生物打印机会onboard the ISS. At the time, it was anticipated that the project could have a real-world impact on the drug screening and cancer research carried out here on Earth.
在其他地方，在最近的实验中Iowa State Universityresearchers, a novelzero-gravity electronics 3D printerhas been tested aboard a refitted airplane. By continually flying the plane up and down at 45º angles, the team were able (at the top of this curve), to conduct tests while experiencing short bouts of weightlessness in microgravity.
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Featured image shows a rendering of a mocked-up Metal3D system being used by astronauts. Image via AddUp.
