Devens, Massachusetts — The machine, 20 feet high and weighing 60,000 pounds, represents the technological frontier of 3D printing.
Each machine deploys 150 laser beams that are projected from the gantry and move quickly back and forth to manufacture high-tech components for enterprise customers in areas such as aerospace, semiconductors, defense, and medical implants.
Parts of titanium and other materials, each about as thin as human hair, are created layer by layer, up to 20,000 layers, depending on the design of the part. The machine is sealed. The internal atmosphere is primarily argon, which is the least reactive of the gas and reduces the possibility of impurities causing defects in the component.
The 3D Printing Foundry in Devens, Massachusetts, about 40 miles northwest of Boston, is owned by Vulcan Forms, a start-up from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Raised $ 355 million in venture funding. With hiring from major manufacturers such as General Electric and Pratt & Whitney, as well as technology companies such as Google and Autodesk, the workforce has grown six-fold to 360 in the past year.
John Hart, co-founder of VulcanForms and professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, said:
According to manufacturing experts, executives and investors, 3D printing, which originated in the 1980s, could finally set the tech, economic and investment trends towards a commercial breakout in the industry.
They say that 3D printing, also known as layered modeling, is no longer a novelty for a small number of consumer and industrial products, or for creating prototype design concepts.
Jörg Demus, a manufacturing expert at McKinsey & Company, said: He is the lead author of a recent report by a consulting firm and “Mainstreaming additive manufacturing.”
3D printing refers to creating something from scratch, one layer at a time. Computer-guided laser beams melt powders of metal, plastic, or composite materials to create layers. In traditional “subtractive” manufacturing, for example, a block of metal is cast and then a machine tool is used to carve the part into shape.
In recent years, some companies have used additive technology to manufacture specialty parts. General Electric relies on 3D printing to make fuel nozzles for jet engines, strikers make spinal implants, and Adidas prints grid soles for high-end running shoes. Dental implants and orthodontic appliances are 3D printed. During the Covid-19 pandemic, 3D printers produced emergency supplies for face shields and ventilator components.
Today, experts say the possibilities are much wider than the relatively few niche products. According to the company, the 3D printing market is expected to triple worldwide by 2026 to nearly $ 45 billion. Report by HubManufacturing service market.
The Biden administration is considering 3D printing to lead the revival of the American manufacturing industry. Addition technology, along with robotics and artificial intelligence, will be one of the “foundations of modern manufacturing in the 21st century,” said Elizabeth Reynolds, a special aide to the president of manufacturing and economic development.
In May, President Biden visited Cincinnati and made a presentation. Additive Manufacturing Forward, An initiative coordinated by the White House in collaboration with major manufacturers. Five early corporate members, GE Aviation, Honeywell, Siemens Energy, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin, are increasing the use of laminated molding and are committed to helping small and medium-sized American suppliers adopt this technology. increase.
Voluntary efforts aim to accelerate investment and expand the domestic base of laminated modeling skills. Because 3D printing is a high-tech digital manufacturing process, it demonstrates America’s strength in software, according to management authorities. They add that additive manufacturing makes American manufacturing less dependent on casting and metalworking abroad, especially in China.
Additive Manufacturing also promises an environmental bonus. Much less waste than traditional manufacturing casting, forging and cutting. For some metal parts, 3D printing can reduce material costs by 90% and energy consumption by 50%.
According to experts, industrial 3D printing could significantly reduce the total cost of manufacturing specialty parts if the technology could be manufactured at sufficient speed and efficiency for mass production.
VulcanForms Established in 2015 Dr. Hart And one of his graduate students, Martin Feldman. They pursued a new approach to 3D printing that uses far more laser beam arrays than existing systems. Choreographing the complex dance of laser beams requires innovations in laser optics, sensors, and software.
By 2017, they have made enough progress to think that they can make machines, but they will need money to do so. With the addition of cereal startup veteran Anupam Gildyal, who became part of the Vulcan Forms team, the pair went to Silicon Valley.They secured a seed round of $ 2 million from Eclipse Ventures..
Eclipse partner Greg Reichow recalled that VulcanForms technology was trying to address the three shortcomings of 3D printing: too slow, too high, and too many flaws.
The startup had a hard time building the first machine that proved that the concept worked. But it was finally successful. And later versions are bigger, more powerful and more accurate.
According to VulcanForms, the company’s printers now generate 100 times more laser energy than most 3D printers and can produce parts many times faster. Its printing technology is the company’s core intellectual property, protected by dozens of patents.
However, Vulcan Forms has decided not to sell the machine. The strategy is to become a supplier to customers who need custom-made parts.
This approach gives Vulcan Forms control over the entire manufacturing process. But it’s also a concession to the reality of the lack of a layered ecosystem. The company builds each stage of the manufacturing process itself, creates its own printers, designs parts, and performs final machining and testing.
Chief Executive Officer Feldman said: “The factory is a product.”
The Devens facility has six huge printers. The company said it should have 20 people by next year. VulcanForms scouted four locations for the second factory. The company hopes to run several 3D printing factories in five years.
Do-it-yourself strategies also increase the risk and cost of startups. However, the company is convinced that the hot new employee roster is well worth the risk.
Brent Brunel joined Vulcan Forms from General Electric last year and was an expert in layered modeling. The concept of using a large array of lasers for 3D printing isn’t new, Brunell said, but no one has really stopped it. After he joined Vulcan Forms and explored its technology, he said, “It was clear that these people were working on the next architecture, and they had a working process.” ..
Next to each machine in the VulcanForms facility, operators monitor their performance using a stream of sensor data piped to a computer screen and a camera image of a working laser beam. The factory sound is a low, electronic hum, like a data center.
The factory itself can be a powerful recruiting tool. “I’ll bring them here and show them the machines,” said Kip Wyman, a former senior manufacturing manager at Pratt & Whitney, Head of Operations at Vulcan Forms. “The usual reaction is’Heck, I want to be part of it.'”
For some industrial parts, 3D printing alone is not enough. Final heat treatment and metalworking are required.Recognizing that, Vulcan Forms acquired Arwood machine this year.
Arwood works primarily for the Department of Defense and is a modern machine shop that manufactures parts for fighters, underwater drones, and missiles. Under VulcanForms, Arwood will triple its investment and workforce in plans for the next few years, now with 90 people.
Vulcan Forms, a private company, does not disclose its revenue. However, sales are growing rapidly, and orders are increasing tenfold every quarter.
Sustainable growth of VulcanForms depends on increasing sales to customers, including: Celebrus, Create special semiconductor systems for artificial intelligence applications. Last year, Cerebras looked for Vulcan Forms to help manufacture complex components for water cooling powerful computer processors.
The semiconductor company sent VulcanForms a computer blueprint of the concept, a complex web of small titanium tubes. Andrew Feldman, CEO of Cerebras, recalled that Vulcan Forms returned with the parts within 48 hours. Engineers from both companies have worked on further improvements and are now using cooling systems.
Accelerating the pace of experimentation and innovation is one promise of layered modeling. However, according to Feldman, modern 3D printing also allows engineers to create new, complex designs that improve performance. “We couldn’t make the water-cooled parts in any other way,” Feldman said.
“Additive manufacturing allows us to rethink how we make things,” he said. “That’s our current situation, and it’s a big change.”
