Boehlerit Magazin 2016-EN

boehlerit takes machining to the next level Additive manufacturing – challenge and opportunity for the machining industry Additive manufacturing methods – until recently used almost exclusively in rapid prototyping – are about to become widely adopted also in industrial production. What is still called by its simplifying name “3D printing” is sure to have a lasting impact on machining. As always, Boehlerit is keeping pace with the times thanks to its close cooperation with leading steel industry enter- prises and sees this new technology creating both challenges and opportunities. 3D printing is a technology that goes back to a stereolithogra- phy apparatus developed as early as 1983. American engineer Chuck Hull developed the first apparatus that allowed for the creation of work pieces by adding successive layers of material, thus producing complex geometric structures on the basis of digital 3D construction data. The modern term “additive” (or generative) manufacturing better describes this professional production method that differs significantly from con- ventional (subtractive) processing techniques where a work piece is cut out from a solid block of material by removing layers. Additive manufac- turing has also undergone a significant development process since the days of stereolithography, thanks to the use of liquid polymers. In recent years, a wide range of processes have arrived that differ both in terms of how the work piece is made and in terms of the materials that may be used in the manufacturing process. Examples include extrusion processes where a plastic thread is melted by a heated nozzle and then reconstructed on the basis of a geometric design. The processes that are mostly used for rapid manufacturing today are powder-based techniques where a powdered base material is applied to the working surface in a thin layer. As a next step, the material is melted at localised points using a laser. When the material resolidifies, it binds with the underlying structures and their immediate surroundings. This process is repeated layer by layer using fresh powder. The laser process does not only work with plastics – metals, too, may processed using selective laser melting. Work pieces that are manufactured using this method have such excellent mechanical properties that they may be used as finished products. Foto: ©iStock 008 BOEHLERIT MAGAZINE

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