Page 8 - 3D Metal Printing Winter 2020

3D TECH UPDATE
Cobra, Renishaw Team Up to Optimize Engine Design
Formula 1 racecars, and a host of other products for the likes of Airbus, Lock- heed Martin and the U.S. Air Force.
Other opportunities involve medical- device manufacturers, and companies that wish to reduce the development efforts needed for bespoke hip implants, knee replacements, spinal components and more.
nTopology: www.ntopology.com
Tier One Racecar Supplier
Selects Velo3D to Print
Next-Gen Heat Exchangers
Velo3D, Campbell, CA, has announced a collaborative partnership with Indianapolis, IN-based PWR, a glob- al provider of cooling solutions for F1, NASCAR and other racing series—as well as the custom-automotive OEM, military and aerospace industries.
The Velo3D and PWR collaboration aims to set a new standard in heat-trans- fer parts for racing and industrial cooling applications. The two companies will col- laborate on aluminum alloy designs with thinner and more-complex heat exchange features and best-in-class sur- face finishes. PWR will employ a Velo3D Sapphire 3D metal printer.
“The Sapphire printer demonstrated the ability to produce class-leading thin-wall capabilities and high-quality surfaces with zero porosity,” says Matthew Bryson, general manager, engineering, for PWR. “Heat exchanger weight and pressure-drop characteris- tics have a huge impact on performance and are significant factors in all motor- sport categories,” he continues. “Using additive manufacturing to print light- weight structures, and enhancing per- formance with freedom-of-design, gives us the ability to further optimize these characteristics to the customer’s requirements while providing the neces- sary cooling.”
www.velo3D.com www.pwr.com.au
Cobra Aero designed a lattice structure to increase air- flow in an engine design.
Renishaw, with U.S. operations in West Dundee, IL, recently teamed with engine man- ufacturing company Cobra Aero to optimize Cobra’s design processes for air- craft and motorcycle engines. Cobra invested in the Renishaw AM 400 laser powder bed fusion system to increase its additive manufacturing (AM) capabilities and col-
laborated with Renishaw to improve the design of a cylinder for an unmanned aerial vehicle. The result: a single part with complex lattice structures to increase airflow.
“Investing in AM allows us to develop tools and new products for high-value, small- volume applications; speed the manufacturing process; and produce designs that would not be possible using conventional subtractive machining,” says Sean Hilbert, president of Cobra Aero.
Renishaw: www.renishaw.com
Markforged Releases Superalloy for 3D Printing
Markforged, Watertown, MA, has announced that Inconel 625 nickel-based super alloy now is available with the Markforged Metal X system. Highly resistant to corro- sion and high temperatures, the material is ideal for harsh-environment applications in aerospace, mining and chemical processing. The Metal X bound-powder extrusion process combines metal injection molding and fused filament fabrication technologies to create complex metal parts.
Markforged: www.markforged.com
Software Enables Complext Parts, Tooling
Increasingly complex 3D printed parts call for innovative tooling. That begins with the software; in some cases, the same software used to design and optimize 3D print- ed parts.
That’s true of nTopology’s nTop Platform, which allows engineers to streamline design, analysis and simulation within the same software system, and in a fraction of the time needed with conventional software tools.
“Think about an injection mold,” says nTopology’s Christopher Cho, senior applica- tion engineer at nTopology. “In a traditional manufacturing process, the tooling engi- neer relies on his or her experience to place cooling channels around the mold cavity; if they misjudge, workpiece quality might suffer, or the mold may become damaged. With nTop Platform, we can simulate the thermal effects of the molding process and then generate or augment conformal-cooling channels, thus optimizing heat transfer in regions near those hotspots.
nTop Platform is not limited to tooling applications. The software has been used to design and optimize 3D-printed rocket engines, drones, tennis shoes, brake pedals for
6 | 3D METAL PRINTING • WINTER 2020
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