Last September 15, the second Brightlands 3D Print Café was organized. It was one of the first events in Auditorium “Arthur” in the new Center Court at Brightlands Chemelot Campus. The event was attended by representatives from companies and organizations active in the field of Additive Manufacturing.
Materials research
The plenary session was chaired by Tessa ten Cate, Program Manager Additive Manufacturing at Brightlands Materials Center (BMC). She said that Additive Manufacturing is one of the research programs at BMC. The research is aimed at developing additive manufacturing materials with improved quality and durability, and to incorporate new functionality in these materials. Application fields include personalized products (e.g., biomedical) and spare parts or light-weight complex parts (e.g., automotive and industrial). Tessa remarked that the sector is moving from prototyping to manufacturing, from gadgets to functional products.
New concepts
Han Goossens, Senior Manager Polymer Physics at SABIC told that SABIC has a long history in the Additive Manufacturing industry. He explained how polymers can provide a solution to enable new concepts. He mentioned two concrete examples: world’s first 3D printed car, the Strati, and the Gavari aircraft seat. SABIC has developed specific products for these applications, THERMOCOMPTM carbon fiber reinforced ABS compounds respectively ULTEMTM 9085 resin. Further developments at SABIC in the field of Additive Manufacturing concern topology optimization and the design of structures with lattices. According to Han, the challenge for SABIC as a supplier lies in being engaged early in the design process.
From analog to digital
Shapeways offers a very wide range of 3D printed objects to a general and professional customer base, told Maarten van Dijk, Manager of Manufacturing at Shapeways. He convinced the audience that Additive Manufacturing transforms the way products are manufactured. The development is from analog to digital, from centralized to decentralized, and from months to hours. Quality, lead time and price are important for all customers. Quality issues include surface quality, dimensional accuracy and part strength – Shapeways has to deal with these issues. At the same time, the customers expect ever faster delivery.
Accelerate3
The Brightlands 3D Print Café is supported by the European Union via the Interreg Flanders-Netherlands project Accelerate3.
For the next Brightlands 3D Print Café will attract a wider audience.
