3D Printing News Briefs, December 28, 2024: Awards, Fast-Curing Silicone Ink, & More

We’re starting off with awards in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, and then moving on to some interesting AM materials news. Read on for all the details!

SME Recognizes Manufacturing Excellence to Meet Warfighter Needs

Nonprofit SME represents the entire North American manufacturing industry and works to accelerate the adoption of manufacturing technologies. At the Defense Manufacturing Conference in Austin, Texas this month, the organization joined the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Joint Defense Manufacturing Technology Panel (JDMTP) in celebrating the 2024 Defense Manufacturing Technology Achievement Awards (DMTAA). These awards recognize excellence and technical accomplishments in projects that work to advance the vision of the DoD Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program, which aims to rapidly and affordably meet the needs of the warfighter through a responsive manufacturing capability. There were five award categories, such as Enhancing Military Capability, Readiness Improvement, and Supply Chain Improvement, and multiple individuals from government, academia, and industry were recognized for their excellence performance in both executing and delivering ManTech solutions to the DoD.

“SME is honored to support the 2024 DMTAA and plans to continue to do so in 2025, due to importance of these awards and the close alignment with our organization’s purpose to advance manufacturing to drive competitiveness, resiliency and national security. Several significant innovations commonly used today such as GPS originated in the defense sector. It’s important to recognize the awardee’s achievements and encourage individuals and organizations like these to continue using ingenuity and collaboration in meeting Warfighters needs along with national defense,” said Jeannine Kunz, Chief Workforce Development officer at SME and newly appointed CEO beginning Jan 1.

Meltio M600 Wins 3DPI’s Enterprise 3D Printer of the Year (Metals) Award

Spanish multinational Meltio is pleased to announce that the international additive manufacturing community has chosen the Meltio M600 wire-laser metal 3D printer as winner of the Enterprise 3D Printer of the Year (Metals) in the 2024 3D Printing Industry Awards. Trade news publication 3D Printing Industry (3DPI) introduced the awards in 2016, and they highlight the innovations, individuals, and enterprises that move the AM sector forward. In addition to public nominations, the awards take into consideration insights from an expert committee of seasoned industry professionals, who work with the public to come up with shortlists and select the winners. There’s a range of categories, including 3D Designer of the Year, Community Advocate, Sustainability in Additive Manufacturing, Innovation of the Year, Enterprise 3D Printer of the Year (Polymers), and Enterprise 3D Printer of the Year (Metals), which is what Meltio achieved with the industrial M600. Released in March 2024, the blue laser-powered system is easy to use but works like a machine tool, designed for lights-out manufacturing.

“We thank the entire audience and the 3DPI AM family for the award given this year 2024 to Meltio and its new and most powerful industrial metal 3D printer, Meltio M600,” said Lukas Hoppe, Meltio‘s Research & Development Director. “This recognition is a support to all the innovation effort of all the teams that are part of Meltio. The design brief for the new Meltio M600 was to imagine what the perfect 3D printer for the machine shop would look like. The vast majority of metal 3D printed parts require post-processing which is carried out in the machine shop and since our ambition is to push the large-scale adoption of metal additive manufacturing we have a very clear vision that the modern machine shop is the ideal point of entry. Manufacturing faces many challenges globally, from long lead times and stock-keeping costs caused by long and fragile supply chains to an ever-growing pressure to lower costs and reduce emissions.”

LLNL Researchers Develop New Method for 3D Printing Silicone

Silicone is known for its flexibility, biocompatibility, and resilience, and 3D printing makes the polymer even more versatile, thanks to its ability to manufacture hollow or porous structures. Direct ink writing (DIW) is a good printing method for highly viscous materials like silicone, but because silicone-based inks have low self-supporting capabilities, it’s limited to fairly simple, planar designs. But researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have come up with a new method for 3D printing sturdy silicone structures that are thinner, taller, and more porous. Their two-part Fast Cure (FC) ink for DIW separates the catalyst and cross-linker in silicone until just before the material is extruded, when they’re continuously mixed while flowing through the nozzle. This allows the chemicals to gel quickly and solidify even faster, which negates extra steps to cure or harden the materials, and enables structures to stand tall, not sag or collapse. As they explained in their research, the formulation also allows researchers to control the mix-to-print-to-cure time, which improved shape retention and self-supportive capabilities.

“There are other methods for silicone direct-ink writing, but this is the simplest solution and the bulletproof one. There is nothing extra to worry about; you can just print,” said Anna Güell Izard, a postdoc in the Materials Engineering Division (MED) and the paper’s first author.

“Since the ink is kept separate, you don’t have to worry about the print time because it is not going to solidify in the syringes. It’s also sturdier because the layers are gelling as you’re printing, so your structure will not start sagging.”

Pavilion Built with 3D Printed Wood Waste & Japanese Joinery

Japanese firm Mitsubishi Jisho Design created a teahouse pavilion, called The Warp, for Dubai Design Week, using modular tiles 3D printed out of leftover sawdust. The tiles were joined without any extra fixings, and the entire project showcases the firm’s Regenerative Wood production system. Constructed from approximately 900 differently-shaped panels, the pavilion was built using a filament made from wood waste and bioplastic, and the individually numbered components can be easily slotted together, thanks to special joints based on traditional Japanese woodworking methods. All parts can be packaged in standard-sized cardboard boxes for shipping, and once reassembled at Dubai Design Week, the pavilion occupied a 32-square-meter site next to a Japanese garden, and invited visitors to experience a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. This is the firm’s third prototype for the Regenerative Wood project, which is part of a network that uses waste from MEC Industry to achieve a goal of zero waste during lumber processing, while also supporting increased wood-based construction.

“The Warp is more than just a pavilion, it is a statement about the future of architecture and design. By blending ancient carpentry with modern 3D printing, we have created a new language of architectural expression,” said Kei Atsumi, one of the architects who developed the pavilion.

“The pavilion demonstrates that technology can breathe new life into age-old traditions, offering a vision of a future where innovation and sustainability go hand in hand.”