3D Printing News Briefs, September 7, 2024: Ceramics & e-Beam, 3D Circuits, & More

In 3D Printing News Briefs, Sandia acquired a second LCM 3D printer from Lithoz, and Freemelt successfully installed its e-MELT-iD at WEAREAM. Bright Laser Technologies now offers high-precision metal LPBF for microscale parts. Then, university researchers are 3D printing advanced bioprinting materials, as well as self-healing circuit boards. Finally, a not-for-profit has inaugurated the first 3D printing laboratory in India dedicated to ancient manuscript preservation.

Sandia Acquires 2nd CeraFab LCM 3D Printer from Lithoz

Lithoz, a leader in ceramics 3D printing, announced that it has installed a second industrial CeraFab S65 3D printer at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. Sandia can already print next-generation ceramic parts with complex geometries at greatly reduced costs using Lithoz technology. Now, by doubling its capacity of Lithoz printers, driven by Lithography-based Ceramic Manufacturing (LCM), the lab will be able to increase its R&D efforts, and scale up production of optimized AM ceramic subcomponents. Thanks to the CeraFab S65 3D printer’s automation, option of easily editing and improving designs, and efficiency, Sandia is now shortening development cycles for these parts from months to less than a week.

“By combining LCM technology with the attractive material properties of AM ceramic, Sandia have already opened the door to printing ceramic shapes and parts previously impossible to produce. We look forward to seeing their future achievements with the greater capacity of a second Lithoz printer!” said Shawn Allan, Vice President of Lithoz America.

eMELT Successfully Installed at WEAREAM Center of Excellence

Swedish company Freemelt, known for its open architecture electron beam 3D printers, announced the successful installation of its e-MELT-iD system at Italian research institute WEAREAM. The metal printer was developed specifically for e-beam research from idea all the way to commercialization, which is the institute’s main focus. Freemelt and WEAREAM completed pre-installation, setup, dry runs, functional tests, and safety certifications of the e-MELT-iD printer within two weeks, according to Freemelt Service Technician Emil Freed. Basic operator training is complete, and advanced user training will further empower WEAREAM to use the machine to efficiently print high-quality components.

“The past few weeks have been incredibly productive as we have welcomed Freemelt and the eMELT-iD into our facility. From pre-installation and configuration to hands-on operator training, the expertise of the Freemelt team has been appreciated and valuable. We’ve completed all the required steps to start operating the machine in a way that meets our expectations. With my extensive experience of E-PBF technology and from implementing new machine models, I am very impressed with the efficient site acceptance test process and the machine reliability,” said Maurizio Romeo, the CTO of WEAREAM.

“Our team is excited to start operating the eMELT machine, and we look forward to the upcoming advanced user training to unlock its full potential, so we can progress in our ongoing discussions with industrial partners. Our initial focus will be in Ti64, Tungsten and Molybdenum applications.”

BLT Enables Micro-Part 3D Printing with High-Precision Metal LPBF

Stainless steel threaded part

Xi’an Bright Laser Technologies (BLT) announced the development of high-precision metal laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology, which will allow the company to manufacture microscale parts with excellent surface finish. Typical metal LPBF printing can fabricate complex components, but instead of small, intricate parts, it’s really better for printing parts with larger feature sizes, manufacturing precision above 0.1mm, and surface roughness ranging from 5-20μm. BLT saw the need for smaller, more precise metal LPBF components, and has spent years optimizing its processes, software, equipment, and raw material to enable its new solution, which addresses the limitations of other metal LPBF processes. The company says it can now achieve microscale 3D printed parts with precision below 0.05mm and surface roughness as low as Ra 2-3μm.

To showcase the capabilities, BLT used algorithmic digital design to make an F-RD topology structure model; F-RD is a kind of periodic minimal surface with complex curvature variations and distinct hyperbolic features. The final formed part shows the effects of various inclinations on the model’s “local surface texture within the same layer thickness.” Parts printed with the high-precision metal LPBF were compared to ones formed with traditional 60μm, 40μm, and 20μm layers, and the company says the results were excellent, with decreased roughness and improved surface quality for the metal LPBF parts. This versatile technology has already been used in a variety of industries, and these projects have been detailed in BLT case studies. For instance, BLT’s high-precision metal LPBF technology was used to print a medical structural component with all eight 0.3mm fluid channels intact. Another example is a stainless steel threaded part without support structures, a forming angle of 30°, and a minimum thickness of 0.1mm.

UC Boulder & U Penn Researchers 3D Print Patch for Damaged Tissue Repair

Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and University of Pennsylvania collaborated on a new 3D printing method to create materials that replicate the flexibility and strength of human tissue. Continuous-curing after Light Exposure Aided by Redox initiation (CLEAR) will be used to create advanced, durable biomaterials with the toughness to hold up under joint pressure, the flexibility to survive constant heartbeats, and the adaptability to meet the needs of different patients. Inspired by the complex entanglement you see with worms, CLEAR works by interweaving long molecules within 3D printed materials, and the resulting structures can adhere to moist tissues. Possible applications include cartilage patches, needleless sutures, and drug-infused heart bandages. The research team has filed a preliminary patent for their CLEAR method.

“Cardiac and cartilage tissues have very limited capacity to repair themselves. Once damaged, they can’t be restored,” explained Jason Burdick, senior author of the team’s research paper. “By developing new, more resilient materials to aid in the repair process, we can significantly impact patient outcomes.”

Singapore Researchers 3D Print Self-Healing Circuit Boards

Researchers from the National University of Singapore developed a novel 3D printing technique, called CHARM3D, for fabricating circuit boards that can heal themselves! With vertical manufacturing methods like 3D printing, electronics can be stacked up and have smaller footprints, but methods like direct ink writing (DIW) make this difficult to achieve, due to viscous composite inks that require support materials. CHARM3D, on the other hand, uses a metal alloy called Field’s metal—made from indium, tin, and bismuth—that flows smoothly, has a very low melting point, and quickly self-solidifies. This enables the printing of smooth, uniform 3D metal microstructures that are as thin as a few human hairs. Plus, if a circuit is scratched or deformed, it can self-heal from the damage and re-solidify once it’s heated up past the melting point. There are many exciting applications for this technique, including healthcare; the team has already 3D printed a wearable battery-free temperature sensor and antennas for wireless monitoring of vital signs.

Benjamin Tee, an associate professor at NUS who led the research, said, “By offering a faster and simpler approach to 3D metal printing as a solution for advanced electronic circuit manufacturing, CHARM3D holds immense promise for the industrial-scale production and widespread adoption of intricate 3D electronic circuits.”

India’s First 3D Printing Lab for Manuscript Preservation

Dr. Shrinivasa Varakhedi, Vice Chancellor, Central Sanskriti University, New Delhi, along with Prof P R Mukund, Founding Trustee, Tara Prakashana, inaugurating the 3D printing laboratory.

Finally, not-for-profit trust Tara Prakashana, established in 2006 by Founding Trustee Prof. P.R. Mukund for the purpose of preserving and disseminating Vedic knowledge, has inaugurated the first 3D printing laboratory in India that’s dedicated to preserving ancient manuscripts. In 16 years, the Bangalore-based organization has saved over 3,300 manuscripts using the latest technologies, including multi-spectral imaging and now 3D printing. The machines in the lab will replicate and preserve these important manuscripts with precision, to help achieve the important need of conserving the country’s literary heritage from physical and environmental degradation. The first initiative on which the laboratory will focus is 3D printing the world’s oldest copy of the Bhagavad Gita Hindu scripture, ensuring that the sacred text is preserved for hundreds of years.

“Technology can be used for both positive and negative purposes,” said Dr. Shrinivasa Varakhedi, Vice Chancellor, Central Sanskrit University, New Delhi, who inaugurated the laboratory. “Naturally, these polymers have a lasting property that has been used to preserve knowledge for several centuries by Dr. Mukund and his team at Tara Prakashana. This is the first application of 3D printing towards manuscript preservation in India, and I see applications of this across India to preserve our culture and knowledge. This is the next generation of technology applied to preservation that requires research and widespread application.”