Centre for Additive Layer Manufacturing James Bradbury and Richard Davies (ALM Engineers) 7 th March 2012
CALM Business Technology Centre 2.6M investment: The Regional Development Agency (RDA) The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) The University Of Exeter The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) A New 1M Centre based at The University Of Exeter: CALM is an industrial facing initiative Sole focus will be on AM technologies Operational from July 2011
CALM s Vision 1) Continue to Grow and work with SME s on Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) 2) Deliver world class research on Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM)
What is Additive Layer Manufacturing?
What is ALM? Design (CAD) ALM System Functional component
Different ALM processes
Please note: This is part of a promotional video created by EOS GmBh Case Study - Tooling insert application
CALM Equipment and resources
CALM s Equipment High temperature Polymer Laser Sintering (LS) System The only PEK ALM System in the UK Material: PEEK (Polyetheretherketone) Tolerance: >100mm +/-0.5%, <100mm +/-1% Max sizes: 700x380x560mm (x,y,z) Speed (z-height): 6mm/hr or 8mm/hr
CALM s Equipment Polymer LS Systems Material: Nylon 12 (Polyamide/filled) Tolerance: >100mm +/-0.2%, <100mm +/-0.5% Max sizes: 200x250x330mm (x,y,z) Speed (z-height): 20mm/hr
CALM s Equipment Metallic - Powder Bed Laser Melting (LM) System Material: Steel grades, Titanium alloys, Nickel alloys, Aluminium alloys. Tolerance: +/-0.25mm Max sizes: 250x250x300mm (x,y,z) Speed (z-height): 5mm/hr
CALM s Equipment x1 Metallic Powder Feed Laser Consolidation (LC) System. The only ALM System in the Europe Material: Steel grades, Titanium alloys and Nickel alloys, Tolerance: +/-0.25mm Max sizes: 200x200x500mm (x,y,z) Speed (z-height): 10mm/hr
CALM s Equipment Material Extrusion System Material: ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) Tolerance: +/-0.2mm Max sizes: 200x200x300mm (x,y,z) Speed (z-height): 5mm/hr
CALM s Equipment 3D Printing System Material: Acrylic Plastic Tolerance: +/-0.1% Max sizes: 300x185x200mm (x,y,z) Speed (z-height): 12mm/hr
Test Equipment Analysis and Test Equipment: Mechanical testing Thermal Analysis Rheology Microscopy Surface Analysis Spectroscopy Machine Workshop: CNC turning CNC horizontal and vertical milling Drills Grinders 5 axis rotor 4 axis spark eroder
What are the advantages of using Additive Layer Manufacturing?
What Advantages can ALM give you? Environmental aspects Clean No cutting or cooling fluids Product life cycle Single step process Material utilization 90% recycling rate Minimizing material waste Geometry freedom (Design) Organic structure Freeform shapes Complex structures
What Advantages can ALM give you? Repairs Products in service Multi part manufacture Batch manufacture Reduction in Storage and inventory Varying material properties Optimize design CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) FEA (Finite Element Analysis) Design for the application Weight Saving
What Advantages can ALM give you? Functionally graded materials Multiple materials Structured matrix Lead time Design to functional part No tooling required Reverse Engineering In production solutions CAD creation Assemblies Moving parts Multiple part manufacture
Where Additive Layer Manufacturing need to improve from an environmental point of view... High power Laser Power source bonds powder together High use of Energy Gas Atomization Raw material process High use of Energy
Case Study
Topology Optimization of an Additive Layer Manufactured (ALM) Aerospace Part
Existing component cast in HC101 steel and post machined for accuracy
Design optimisation using a new Titanium material, Ti6AI4V
The new design weighs 326g compared to the original 918g, a reduction of 64% For every 1kg reduction in weight, airlines can save around $3,500 of fuel over an aircraft s life
What can CALM offer you?
What can CALM offer businesses? CALM exists to help South West businesses discover how Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) could add value to your products and processes CALM has a range of ways this happens in practice
Individual work package Build an ALM part Computer Aided Design for ALM 3D printing workshops ALM opportunity review site visit Open days CALM Services* Fully defined, research projects * FREE / Subsidised to qualifying SMEs in South West
3D printing workshops Wednesday 28 th March 2012 "It was so helpful to experience the whole process of ALM, tutored by such a knowledgeable team. Opened my eyes to the range of possibilities." Roger Cooper - Valueadding.com "Anyone remotely interested in ALM should attend and they may be surprised by the possibilities." Glyn Cowles - Proximus IT Services Ltd "Excellent workshop. Expectations and objectives met and furthermore exceeded. Very worthwhile. Thanks to the CALM team for a great day." Adrian Ryder - Manage 2 Ltd
Individual consultation Daily individual consultation arranged at your convenience.
Immediate part manufacture Product and component manufacture for customers projects.
On Site ALM opportunity reviews Weekly onsite ALM opportunity reviews at your convenience.
Classification of a Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) Is your business classified as an SME and does your business meet the following criteria? The Business is less than 25% externally owned The Business independent or does not own 25% or more of another business Turnover is less than 50 million OR Balance sheet totals less than 43 million The Business has less than 250 employees Have not received more than 200,000 of government funds over the last 3 years
CALM s Target area Devon: Exeter, Plymouth, Torquay and Paignton Somerset: Taunton, Bath, Bridgewater and Weston-Super-Mare Dorset: Dorchester, Weymouth, Bournemouth and Poole Wiltshire: Bath, Swindon, Salisbury and Chippenham Bristol: Whole county Gloucestershire: Gloucester, Cheltenham, Stroud and Yate
CALM - Case Studies For more information on Case Studies completed by CALM please e-mail calm@exeter.ac.uk;
For more information contact: Sara Flint James Bradbury Richard Davies Ed James calm@exeter.ac.uk www.exeter.ac.uk/calm Tel. 01392 726 618