AARON JOHNSON, VP OF MARKETING AND CUSTOMER STRATEGY, ACCUMOLD
There are two current global trends in manufacturing. The first is the move towards miniaturisation, which demands parts and components with highly precise micron and sub-micron level resolutions. The other is the move towards digital manufacturing and Industry 4.0, for which additive manufacturing (AM), otherwise known as 3D printing, is a key enabling technology.
AM facilitates shorter product life cycles, allows for the creation of parts that have geometric complexities not achievable using traditional manufacturing technologies and opens up the possibility of mass customisation. The low setup costs of AM compared with traditional manufacturing technologies explains why it is now an established manufacturing technology adopted by a growing number of manufacturers across the world. However, until recently, AM has not been able achieve the micron and sub-micron accuracy and resolution demanded by many manufacturers, meaning the only viable production technology was traditional injection micromoulding.
An injection micromoulded two-shot injection part. Injection micromoulding is a highly specialised manufacturing process that produces extremely small, high-precision thermoplastic parts and components with micron tolerances. It involves shooting two different plastic materials in sync so that only one operation is required.
In recent months, this situation has changed and there are now additive micromanufacturing (AµM) technologies that can work alongside injection micromoulding technologies to give manufacturers an enhanced range of possible manufacturing outcomes for a range of production volumes. As predicted by many, in the area of precision plastic part production, as will be the case across industry, AM is not a technology that will replace traditional manufacturing processes, but rather it will complement them and promote true innovation in product development.
AM is regularly cited as being disruptive to traditional manufacturing processes. Indeed, there are existing AM production applications today across varied vertical sectors that support this position, optimised components and parts that would be either impossible or uneconomic to produce using traditional methodologies being made using AM technologies. In this way, AM is truly disruptive and promotes innovation across numerous industry sectors.
For some manufacturers in the aerospace, automotive, medical and a variety of other markets, AM has already become an established production and, in some instances, mass manufacturing technology. However, some barriers to adoption of AM as a production technology still exist, key among these being: high initial capital investment and expensive ongoing running costs; consumable costs (particularly for refined materials); inconsistent material properties, which are a significant prohibitor for critical components; extensive pre- and post-processing requirements (and costs); and, often, a failure to understand when and how to apply AM to maximise its benefits.
The final reason is the focus of much attention today. AM has made the shift from a prototyping technology to a true production technology, but many people lack insight in terms of what it can be used to really achieve and its inherent characteristics, which afford significant advantages when it comes to complexity, cost and timeliness of manufacture.
It seems likely that the manufacturers of AM systems are aware of this barrier to adoption, as many, mainly at the high end of the AM system spectrum, have been refining and developing their respective processes by adding value propositions pre-, in- and post-process specifically for production applications. The corresponding vernacular that has emerged and is increasing in use across AM marketing campaigns and in-depth conversations about AM for production applications is end-to-end manufacturing solutions.
In addition, serious players in the AM sector are seeking out niches that are either underserved, or in some instances, completely unserved. One unserved niche until relatively recently was the area of micromanufacturing, for which there was no viable AM technology that could reach the resolution and repeatability required.
When viewed from the perspective that across industry today there is an inexorable shift towards miniaturisation, with many applications demanding extremely exacting levels of micron and sub-micron precision on macro and micro parts, there is huge potential for AM technologies that can service this trend. There is a raft of conventional production technologies catering for this demand, but until recently, the ability for AM to achieve such precision at all, let alone at volume production levels, has been impossible.
AM
To date, AM technology developers have struggled to get resolution under 50 µm, and the few companies that have strived to provide an AµM solution are either extremely expensive in terms of machine costs and cost per part, extremely slow or can only print parts that are very restricted in size.
In today’s crowded market, AM technology developers need to focus on advances in areas that allow for innovation and the manufacture of products and components hitherto impossible using AM. Successful AµM technologies have identified applications where there is a burgeoning demand for an alternative manufacturing process, where the only route to market is through sometimes disproportionately expensive or restrictive traditional manufacturing technologies and where the use of AµM can open up significant advances in terms of design and functionality.
The aforementioned applications typically exist in the life sciences, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), microelectronics, microfluidics, optics and semiconductors markets. Microfluidics is a good example of how a true AµM technology can act as a viable alternative to traditional manufacturing processes. Microfluidic channels are used to move incredibly small volumes of liquid, and many of them incorporate functioning components such as filters and pumps. Traditional micromanufacturing processes such as injection micromoulding limit the freedom of design for such channels, and it is sometimes difficult to manufacture functional substructures in them using such processes. AµM processes can overcome these barriers without compromising precision or quality.
AM and opportunities
Recently developed AµM technologies are bringing AM into new markets and enabling new applications. For the first time, manufacturers that require micron and sub-micron levels of accuracy and resolution have an AM technology available and are benefitting from the inherent advantages of AM.
Perhaps of key interest is the fact that AM is relatively agnostic to part complexity, and it is possible to design and manufacture unique geometries. As such, AµM becomes an enabling technology and a true stimulator of innovation, making the manufacture of parts and features previously impossible, possible.
Another significant benefit of AM is that there are no setup costs. The tooling required for traditional manufacturing technologies has a negative impact on time to market and makes such technologies uneconomical for small- or medium-sized production runs. No tooling is required for AM technologies, therefore time to market is faster and small- and medium-sized runs are cost-effective.
Add into the mix that AM allows for mass customisation, personalisation and use of the same manufacturing technology for prototyping, small batches and mass manufacturing, and one begins to see the myriad of possibilities that now exist for micromanufacturers.
Accumold uses a Fabrica 2.0 AµM machine from Nano Dimension alongside its injection micromoulding machines to meet customer demand for high-precision plastic parts at volume and in a cost-effective and efficient manner. Furthermore, the accuracy of Nano Dimension’s AµM technology and the robustness of the materials developed mean that direct rapid soft tooling (DRST) for traditional injection moulding machines can be produced. This unlocks new business possibilities for manufacturers that have so far been restricted to the use of long lead times and expensive traditionally manufactured mould tools for the achievement of any volume of injection micromoulding, from prototype runs all the way through to mass manufacture.
AM stimulates the business case for a process chain that includes DRST, with the possibility of dramatically shorter lead times from file to injected part and at costs reduced from thousands of dollars to tens. This will be a game changer for some manufacturers.
Design for AM (DFAM)
As design engineers and manufacturers assess the possibilities that exist for the use of AM to sit alongside traditional manufacturing processes, there needs to be a quantum shift in the way that they approach the entire design to manufacturing process. This begins with re-evaluating product design, and the subject of DfAM has become a fertile area for discussion and debate.
AM users are beginning to take advantage of DfAM for macro applications, but there is little to no understanding of DfAM for micro applications. It is because of this that it is important that manufacturers looking to take advantage of this technology fully understand (or work alongside a product development partner that fully understands) the vagaries of DfAM.
An additively micromanufactured microfilter, featuring fine details, exacting and complex internal geometries, and 580 holes, each with a perfect 50 µm diameter.
Summary
The history of manufacturing is characterised by leaps in technological developments. In the recent Industry 4.0 revolution, AM is a key technology and is a huge reason why digital manufacturing is being incorporated to work alongside traditional manufacturing in many sectors.
AM has been a disruptive technology for a number of years, but until now it has not been able to achieve the exacting precision and resolution that is required by manufacturers at the forefront of miniaturisaton and micromanufacturing. Some new AµM technologies are groundbreaking in their ability to mass manufacture to micron-level resolutions and as such, appeal to an array of manufacturers that up until now have been unable to cost-effectively or efficiently fulfil design intent using traditional manufacturing processes.
Existing at the interface of AM for production and the industry-wide drive towards miniaturisation, AµM technology lifts the lid for designers and manufacturers in their quest to embrace the inherent advantage of AM. At last, they can exploit the ability that exists with AM to build complex parts in small, medium and high volumes in a cost-effective and efficient fashion and take advantage of the opportunities that exist through the use of DRST.
Accumold