July/August_AMP_Digital

6 4 A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8 3D PRINTSHOP NANODROPLETS MAKE A SPLASH IN METAL AND CERAMIC AM XJet, Israel, is poised to transform the metal and ceramic additive manu- facturing (AM) industries. With over a decade of research behind them, devel- opers unveiled the XJet Carmel AM sys- tem featuring the company’s patented NanoParticle Jetting (NPJ) technology. According to company officials, NPJ enables production of metal or ceram- ic parts with the ease of inkjet printing and without compromising throughput or quality. Requiring no powder vat, ultrafine “ink” layers produce sharp details and smooth surfaces with high accuracy. Nanoparticles are suspended in a liquid formula and jetted from the printing heads, eliminating the use of lasers. The liquid metal or ceramic dispersion is contained in enclosed cartridges. NPJ technology, which is different from oth- er AM processes such as stereolithog- raphy and binder jetting, delivers high quality, near net shape ceramic parts with excellent dimensional tolerances. XJet selected the Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI) in Ohio as the site of its first U.S. installation of the Carmel system. YBI coordinates their The XJet Carmel 1400 AM systemmade its U.S. debut in April at the RAPID + TCT event in Fort Worth, Texas. AM efforts with its neighbors, including America Makes and Youngstown State University. During the beta period, the Youngstown team’s focus will be on ce- ramic materials for both R&D and parts production for the aerospace and bio- medical industries. x jet3d.com . NAVY FLOATS FUNDING FOR 3D-PRINTED PARTS Researchers at Lawrence Liver- more National Laboratory (LLNL), Ca- lif., are lending their expertise in met- al additive manufacturing t o a new collaboration aimed at 3D printing critical replacement parts for the U.S. Navy. The Office of Naval Research announced an award of $9 million to fund a collaboration led by GE Global Research to develop a rapid process for creating exact digital models of re- placement or newly designed parts for naval, marine, and aviation assets. The collaboration involves scientists and engineers from LLNL, GE’s aviation and additive divisions, Honeywell, Penn State University, the Nuclear National Lab, and the National Center for De- fense Manufacturing and Machining. During the four-year project, the goal is to build digital twins frommodel and sensor-based data, enabling sci- entists and engineers to dramatically speed up the qualification and certifica- tion process for metal 3D-printed parts. They plan to reduce the lengthy ap- proval process from years to weeks. The project will culminate in making parts for the Navy using a 3D direct metal laser melting printer. Researchers hope to substitute traditional manufacturing processes with AM and produce legacy replacement parts that are no longer manufactured by conventional meth- ods. llnl.gov. Livermore researchers are lending their expertise in metal additive manufacturing to a new collaboration aimed at 3D printing replacement parts for the U.S. Navy. Courtesy of LLNL. Staff from XJet Ltd. of Israel were all smiles after showcasing their new AM system for metal and ceramic parts at the Youngstown Business Incubator in Ohio.