2023-11-12 08:13:48
Wow, what an edition of Formnext. As one of the few international industry fairs, Formnext has narrowly exceeded the peak of 2019 – the last pre-Corona edition. What were the striking things on the exhibition floor? In this part mainly in the field of 3D metal printing.
Anyone who looked closely around the four halls of the exhibition complex in Frankfurt saw many F1 cars, including: Additive Industries in 3D Systems, lots of bicycles and lots of aerospace parts. The budgets probably do not yet allow for a complete segment of a rocket or a lunar lander. Then just put the parts on the stand.
Customers of Farsoon large format metal printers run 510,000 production hours in a year
China is developing very quickly
Back to content, metal printing. What stood out in Frankfurt? European manufacturers of 3D metal printers appear to be losing the race for the most lasers in an LPBF system to China. Or do they deliberately ignore this? They were Chinese manufacturers like Farson in EPlus 3D who presented large multilaser systems at the fair. 12 or 16 lasers is apparently common in the Chinese aviation industry, even systems with 20 lasers are available. Farsoon has installed 60 systems from the FS621M (construction cylinder 620 by 620 by 100 mm) at customers since October 2022. Together they have now completed more than 510,000 production hours; some systems have an occupancy rate of 80%. Farsoon has sold the first machine of this type to a European customer. It typifies the difference in speed in the European and Asian AM markets. Anyone who follows the larger Chinese manufacturers will see extremely rapid development. BLT clearly communicated that it was the first and so far only manufacturer with certified 3D metal printers for Boeing in Asia. Chinese AM manufacturers exude self-confidence. Even VDMA AM Working Group Director Markus Heering noted at the start of Formnext that the Chinese competition is technically at the same level as the Western European providers. The manufacturers of powder bed metal printers paid a lot of attention to the semiconductor industry. Several parties showed prototypes of 3D printed wafer tables.
Market is under pressure
Meanwhile, it appears that the marketing budgets of some American players have dried up. Desktop Metal was on the stand of one of the German partners. Velo3D has decided that the Austrian branch of Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Technology, a supplier to the oil and gas industry, becomes the European partner for contract manufacturing. The Austrians will be the only contract manufacturer in the Velo3D network for the DACH region. The day before Formnext, Velo3D published its quarterly results. In Q3 it posted revenue of $24 million, a quarter more than a year ago. This does not alter the fact that the company is cutting costs and wants to reduce them by 40% in the first quarter of 2024. The net loss in Q3 was $17.1 million. By the end of the quarter, Velo3D still had $72 million in cash on hand. The American players are no exception. Off the record you often heard in Frankfurt that the market is under strong pressure. “None of the 3D metal printer manufacturers here at the fair are making money,” said an exhibitor. This probably also applies to suppliers and producers of metal powders. That number is still growing much faster than the consumer market.
Halving the cycle time
The innovations currently mainly come from the software side. Renishaw has developed a new algorithm for the scanner in the Renishaw RenAM500 systems that improve productivity by up to 50%. Tempus technology shortens cycle time without negatively affecting quality. Chris Dimery, sales & marketing manager at Renishaw, said: “This brings us one step closer to AM as a mainstream production technology. This opens doors for new applications and industries.” The existing machines of the RenAM 500 platform can be retrofitted with the new algorithm. The new Ultra platform contains the 4 lasers as well as the new algorithms and the most extensive monitoring software.
New EBM process
Also with GE Additive the real news was in a piece of software. Only a few weeks ago the group received a patent on the MeltPoint technology for the EBM metal printers. That’s why it wasn’t announced in a big way yet, but the first workpieces printed with the new technology were on display at Formnext. EBM traditionally exposes with a line. GE Additive now adds point-by-point illumination, just like with the LPBF systems. The result is that the need for support to dissipate heat is completely eliminated and much finer details and better surface qualities can be printed. The surface roughness is now below 20 µm. By the way, EBM as a technology is on the rise. The Japanese Jeol announced in Frankfurt that it will install the first EBM machine in Europe at the University of Munich in April 2024. What is special regarding Jeol’s machine is that it can print without shielding gas.
DED technology is gaining momentum
Direct Energy Deposition is now really starting to gain momentum. Presented in Frankfurt MX3D the new large WAAM cell for parts up to 5 tons. MX3D recently received its first order from the US Department of Defense for this cell. Meltio has launched the Robot Cell, also a turnkey solution for 3D printing of large workpieces. The Spaniards use laser technology to melt welding wire. Fronius Although it had announced at Schweissen und Schneiden in September that it would come up with new parameters for welding systems, at Formnext it presented the technology in a complete cell with a welding manipulator for 3D printing of components. There were many more exhibitors with similar solutions, such as Metalworn.
Newcomers from the machine industry
Under machine tool manufacturer Makino has chosen DED technology for the first metal printer. Unique to the Japanese concept is that they are the first to use high-speed laser cladding, a process originally developed by partner Fraunhofer ILT was developed for lathes and is used by Makino in a 5-axis CNC milling machine. The Makino AML500 cell was presented including automation for post-processing and workpiece recognition. Obviously for a machine builder from the metal industry, still a rarity on Formnext.
Multi-material printing
Also the Korean machine builder HWacheon makes the step from CNC machining to 3D metal printing. The new laser head from DED is also interesting Insstek. A zoom lens is integrated into this. Insstek can now vary the beam diameter during 3D printing and thus influence speed and accuracy. One of the themes that all DED providers are working on is multi-material 3D printing. DMG Mori lLet’s see some nice examples made on the Lasertec 3000 DED Hybrid, with the blue laser to print better copper.
Bottom of the market
Walking across Formnext, you sometimes got the impression that the market for 3D metal printing is mainly in aerospace and Formula 1 racing. One Click Metal, part of Index Traub (another party from the machining field) showed a part that it prints for its own machine. With a construction chamber extended in the Z direction, it 3D prints not 144 but 255 of these components at once. In this case, that reduces the cost price by 8 to 12 percent. By printing the part, a feather key can be printed directly. This saves a clamping element, which alone costs more than what printing and post-processing of the part currently costs together.
Aluminum printing
Someone from Belgium (read a extensive article in Solutions Magazine) showed Minerva aluminum printer. This uses aluminum welding wire that quickly prints aluminum parts via the Molten Metal Deposition process. The reactions to the fair are positive, overwhelming, according to CEO Jonas Galle. “The first machine is really intended for universities. We make this clear to visitors. But if we get the business case from them, we can make a cost forecast and we will be ready to go when the production model arrives next year.”
In short: many developments, more and more providers, but is the market really that big?
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