3D Printing: Foundations for Mainstream Adoption
By Mary Page Bailey |
The seemingly boundless versatility of additive manufacturing makes it an area ripe for fast evolution, but critical industrial applications also demand verification and reliability
There is no doubt that 3D printing (also known industrially as additive manufacturing; AM) has set off a true manufacturing transformation, and the chemical process industries (CPI) are among numerous industrial sectors that are benefitting from its use. From rapid delivery of spare or replacement parts to design customization, the myriad AM technologies can help streamline maintenance activities, process improvements and research. Concurrently, materials engineers are actively expanding the boundaries of printable materials to include not only plastics and metals, but also nanomaterials, bio-based substances and more. However, as 3D-printed parts make their way into more end-use applications, and more companies begin operating their own in-house 3D-printing operations, it becomes clear that standardization and inspection are crucial for ensuring safety and reliability.
Building the baseline
The unprecedented flexibility available to manufacturers with modern 3D-printing/AM technologies also introduces some sensitive issues that the industry…
Related Content Würth Industry North America (WINA), a group company of The Würth Group (Kunzelsau, Germany) and Baker Hughes (Houston) announced a…
Arkema S.A. (Colombes, France) leads the Series B investment in Adaptive3D, an innovative company and premium additive manufacturing photopolymer resin…
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA (Düsseldorf, Germany) and Carbon have announced a partnership agreement to collaborate for Loctite branded formulations…
Sandvik’s new powder plant in Sweden has recently received the ‘ISO 13485:2016’ medical certification for Osprey titanium powders, now approved…
Altana AG (Wesel, Germany) is acquiring the business of TLS Technik GmbH & Co. Spezialpulver KG, an internationally leading manufacturer…
Breakthrough Technologies
Chemical Engineering publishes FREE eletters that bring our original content to our readers
in an easily accessible email format about once a week.
Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now
Job Listings