AM Voices chats with our Founder and President of Elementum3D, Dr Jacob Nuechterlein and Director of Business Development, Alex Janzen. They speak about current expansion and how our materials aid in the advancement of 3D printed production parts and groundbreaking applications.

TOPICS INCLUDE:

• Rhenium material development (DARPA funded) update
• Hypersonic – nickel alloys
• Metal matrix composites – ODS materials
• Heat exchanger applications
• NASA to F1 racing and beyond

Lübeck, Germany – November 29th, 2022. Metal-based additive manufacturing requires a need for collaboration between hardware OEMs and material providers to work together to solve for their customers’ problems. SLM Solutions recently announced the record-breaking NXG XII 600E and a flexible manufacturing solution, providing an answer to some of the biggest challenges of the AM industry regarding build envelope limitation. However, the lack of material options still lingers and is key to unlocking high-performing parts with high-performance material requirements. The aerospace and space industries are eager to integrate new materials but have faced various challenges with difficult-to-print, highly sought-after, alloys that are prone to cracking. Nevertheless, they are used due to their versatility, high strength, and corrosion resistance. A real pain point for the hyperactive aerospace industry.

SLM Solutions and Elementum 3D collaborate to solve these challenges by designing exclusive aluminum alloys 2024 and 6061 or aerospace grade 7050 and 7075 for SLM® technology in 2023. In this way, both companies are teaming up to further enhance material offerings on the 12-laser technology used to print end-use parts traveling to space. Elementum 3D’s RAM technology ensures safe processing and successful outcome of additively manufactured parts with these difficult-to-print materials and therefore opens completely new possibilities in terms of component size, processing speeds, and material properties.

FULL ARTICLE

We invite our readers to attend Deep-Tech Showcase’s “Pushing the Limits of Copper in Additive Manufacturing” webinar on Wednesday, November 2 at 11am (ET). This live webinar will feature technical experts from NASA, 3D Systems, and Elementum 3D.

Plan on walking away from this webinar with a clear understanding of the most current technology development and real-world solutions to copper material/printing process development and copper applications in the rocket propulsion and thermal management industries.

Plan on walking away from this webinar with an overview on valuable real-world insights into the ever-widening capabilities of copper in an additive manufacturing environment and its impact on rocket propulsion and thermal management applications.

An interactive Q&A session will follow.

Key takeaways:

• Learn why AM copper has emerged as a highly desired material in rocket propulsion and thermal management.
• Understand how revolutionary advances in material/printing process development combined with innovative part design have made the near-impossible goal of printing AM copper applications possible.
• See real-world examples of new and innovative AM copper applications.

REM Surface Engineering and Elementum 3D first crossed paths at Rapid+TCT in 2018.

Justin Michaud, President and CEO of REM, attended a talk given by Jacob Nuechterlein, Founder and President of Elementum 3D. Jacob was presenting on the novel approach to additive materials the company was developing. While this was an interesting subject to Justin, what really caught his attention was how well Jacob knew his material — so well that when the A/V system cut out, he just kept going. Describing the slides his audience would see had the screen continued working, Jacob carried on with his presentation, with only his words and his knowledge keeping the audience captivated. Justin was impressed by both the technology and the man behind it, and an early alliance was formed.

REM Surface Engineering has been in the metals industry for 57 years. One of the secrets to REM’s success has perhaps been their adaptability to the changing needs of the industry they serve. When Justin first encountered metal in additive manufacturing (AM) he knew he needed to learn more about this developing field and how REM’s technology could impact this. He quickly discovered that metals produced in AM are a completely different animal than cast/wrought products. Working with various aerospace industry partners and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), REM began learning how their surface finish improvements could be tailored to suit the needs of the AM industry.

Elementum 3D is, of course, a much younger company, formed in 2014 as an AM materials R&D company. The primary focus of Elementum 3D’s work is developing powder feedstocks with the goal of expanding the library of printable alloys available in the industry. A6061 — one of the most widely used aluminum grades in traditional manufacturing but known to crack extensively in AM — was an early target of Elementum 3D’s efforts

Justin reviewed several materials in the early stages of research and Elementum 3D’s aluminum alloy A6061-RAM2 was selected to be the subject of REM’s first Air Force Phase 1 SBIR proposal. REM had experienced issues with L-PBF AlSi10Mg in the form of sub-surface porosity which limited the achievable surface finish and mechanical performance of printed parts. Though A6061-RAM2 has an excellent as-built surface finish and low porosity on its own, REM developed a process to further optimize the finish of this material, helping to maximize its material properties. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) subsequently adopted A6061-RAM2 as a primary material for L-PBF use and implemented REM’s developed surface finishing process. Through REM’s work with NASA JPL, A6061-RAM2 materials are now being evaluated for use in spacecraft.

To move into the AM market, REM had to adapt to new standards. Justin knew that REM’s technology had to change to meet this need, and through experimentation developed new process technologies capable of removing 0.020” (500 µm) or more in a single process to address the more significant surface roughness as well as the near surface defects that are present on AM components. This development was a significant departure from REM’s standard process technology for traditionally manufacturing components which typically only requires 0.0001 – 0.0004” (2.5 – 10 µm) to produce an ultra-low roughness surface. AM printed parts have a typically granular and wavy surface, and the first step is to eliminate this granularity and reduce this waviness using a chemical process to bring the surface finish closer to that of a machined part. Once this is achieved, a chemical-mechanical process is employed to gradually and gently perfect the finish while maintaining the complex geometric features achievable using AM.

One of the biggest issues with AM production has always been surface finish. While dialing in parameter settings and improving the printability of metal powders is Elementum 3D’s forte, obtaining a near-perfect surface finish is REM’s. The marriage of these technologies has created an unparalleled surface finish in A6061-RAM2. “REM has worked with a number of AM-based aluminum alloys and the material that we have found to consistently have the best surface finishing potential is Elementum 3D’s A6061-RAM2 due to its high subsurface density.” Justin says.

To best illustrate the combined effect of our technologies, E3D and REM have partnered in producing and treating A6061-RAM2 LPBF manufactured piston heads and cylinders. The delicate and complex geometry of the parts is perfect for demonstrating how precisely material can be removed without altering the part itself. Below is an untreated piston head and cylinder as they are removed from the printer. We will share photos of the treated and finished parts in next month’s newsletter.