NetworkNewsWire
Editorial Coverage: 3D-printing technology has arrived and
appears ready to beneficially disrupt every field it touches.
Additive manufacturing, better known as three-dimensional or 3D
printing, has potential to change the world. However, the full
promise of the technology has been stymied due to the high costs
and complexities of end-product inspection and quality control.
With its pioneering PrintRite3D(R) software, Sigma Labs
Inc. (NASDAQ: SGLB) (SGLB
Profile) appears to be ready to help unleash the
transformative forces of 3D printing and usher in what’s been
called the fourth industrial revolution. Aerospace has embraced 3D
printing and, for the first time in the industry, Sigma Labs’
software makes possible nondestructive quality assurance during the
3D printing of metal parts, uniquely allowing errors to be
corrected in real time. The sector has been searching for just such
a validated tool and method to raise quality and cut costs, scale
production, and bring 3D printing even more into mainstream
manufacturing. Using 3D printing, Pratt & Whitney, a division
of United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX),
delivered the first entry-into-service jet-engine parts ever
produced. Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON)
has qualified more 3D-printed aircraft parts with the FAA than any
of its rivals, noting that “3D printing
technology is real and it’s fantastic.” Achieving design
solutions that have been inconceivable in the past, Boeing
(NYSE: BA) has applied the technology to airplanes,
missiles, satellites and spacecraft. These amazing achievements are
made possible by 3D-printing technology, guided and directed by
advanced-engineering simulation software from companies such as
ANSYS (NASDAQ: ANSS) and now, it appears,
significantly accelerated, enhanced and simplified by the quality
assurance software of Sigma Labs.
- The 3D-printing metal industry is impeded by costly, laborious,
post–manufacturing, quality-control processes.
- Sigma Labs’ PrintRite3D is only known solution that enables
real-time, in-process detection and intervention on quality-control
manufacturing anomalies.
- SGLB software reduces waste, cost and time; allows OEMs and end
users to cost effectively scale production.
- PrintRite3D is patented, third-party validated by DARPA.
To view an infographic of this editorial, click here.
Primer and Problem
3D objects can now be printed in more than 250 different
materials, from plastics to titanium, creating complex structures
and printing almost anything from medical prosthetics to jet
engines. Additive manufacturing also reduces costs and weight, in
some cases requiring as little as 10% of raw materials used in
traditional manufacturing. 3D printing is the kind of technological
advancement that could completely revolutionize manufacturing and
totally disrupt business models. With 3D printing, the direct
manufacturing cost per part is the same to create a single item as
it is per part in a production flow of thousands, turning the
economies of scale principle on its head. The technology allows
companies to build digital designs, push “Send” and render fully
formed prototype, customized products or commercial parts in volume
— all while saving money, manpower, weight and time.
Like something from science fiction, additive metal-part
manufacturing continuously welds 10- to 30-micron layers of
powdered metal together with a laser to “sculpt” a final
three-dimensional product. During the manufacture of 3D metal
parts, a machine is creating the metal of a part while
simultaneously forming the shape of the part. The process
synthesizes the metal manufacturing functions of foundry or casting
into the manufacturing process. These new processes and methods
have created new exciting and previously unachievable capabilities.
With 3D metal printing the new methods also created a serious
unintended problem: How can the manufacturer know if the newly
formed metal meets precise specifications in every 10- to 30-micron
layer of a 3D part?
Major aerospace companies have taken to manufacturing 3D metal
parts, reaping substantial benefits from cutting the weight of some
products anywhere from 25% to 40%. The aerospace industry easily
converts weight reduction in aircraft components into increased
cash flow; the lighter the plane, the more “paying weight” can be
carried. Though not readily transferable to other large but less
weight-sensitive industries, aerospace is committed and continues
to pay for costly, post-process, quality-assurance procedures.
Aerospace has also realized a newfound ability to manufacture
subassemblies as a single part, which until 3D metal printing were
composed of 20 or more different parts.
To capitalize on these enormous benefits, aerospace companies
have had to contend with serious risks of flaws in the newly formed
metal. Out of necessity, the aerospace industry developed and has
relied upon effective but costly solutions ranging from
large-production sample runs for preproduction qualifying
procedures of both machines and new parts, repeated until
consistency is achieved, and CT scan inspection, which is effective
but costly. For 3D metal printing to be truly unleashed from the
current restraints of low-quality yields and high post-production
inspection costs and surge into the broader metal-parts markets,
the 3D metal-manufacturing, quality-assurance problem requires a
solution that raises yields and deeply cuts post-process inspection
costs.
Sigma’s Solution
Sigma Labs Inc.
(NASDAQ: SGLB) has created a new archetype in the
development and commercialization of real-time, computer-aided
inspection solutions for additive manufacturing. While that might
seem like a bold statement, Sigma Labs’ PrintRite3D was shown to
ensure process consistency and product quality in metal-additive
manufacturing in a research study
by the prestigious Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA)
conducted in tandem with Honeywell Aerospace. Exactly what the
industry has been searching for — resolution of costly,
quality-control challenges that impede the 3D manufacture of
precision metal parts. Sigma Labs’ breakthrough software may well
be the impetus to truly enable and unleash commercial additive
serial production.
Many believe that Sigma Labs has the solution. The company’s
patented PrintRite3D version 5.1 software integrates inspection,
feedback, data collection and critical analysis into a unified
platform. Unlike anything else on the market, Sigma Labs’
PrintRite3D 5.1 version:
- Is platform independent and available as a third-party add-on
or retrofit package for existing machines
- Mines and identifies thermal signatures of melt-pool
disturbances and respective discontinuities using thermal emission
spectroscopy
- Harnesses co-axial planck thermometry to provide a verified
thermal signature in both temperature and coordinates
- Uses in-process quality metrics, thermal emission density and
thermal emission planck to analyze internal thermal signatures and
melt-pool disturbances
- Contains a graphical user interface for real-time display of
live-part quality results; automated anomaly detection on thermal
mapping images provides location and anomalous region size
- Collects data with fixed spatial resolution in the X/Y plane
but variable resolution depending on layer height used during the
manufacturing process.
Unheard of in the industry, PrintRite3D 5.1 uniquely leverages
thermal signatures to monitor the quality of each product part in
the production process, layer by layer and in real time. This
allows operators to correct or stop production of a defective part,
resulting in reduced error rates and higher yields. This incredibly
sophisticated and powerful technology may hold enormous potential
value.
Sigma Labs has surrounded its IP portfolio with 34 issued and
pending patents, both domestically and across the globe. These
patents encompass the fundamental technologies underlying Sigma
Labs’ melt-pool process control, data analytics, anomaly detection,
signature identification and future closed-loop-control of 3D metal
printing. Third-party validation of PrintRite3D’s efficacy was
demonstrated in research by DARPA, and further validation can be
found in the recent announcement that Sigma Labs was awarded an upgraded Phase 2 contract by the premier
industry and research network for additive manufacturing, the
Fraunhofer Research Institution for Additive Manufacturing
Technologies (IAPT).
Commercialization
To date, Sigma Labs has engaged 19 beta customers, including
many of the biggest names in the industry, with more evaluation
programs likely to follow. Two of these programs have already
awarded Sigma Labs Phase 2 contracts for its rapid test and
evaluation program, the last step before full commercial orders.
The first Phase 2
contract, revealed on the Q3 earnings call,
was awarded by Baker Hughes; the second contract was recently
awarded by IAPT.
“The third quarter of 2019 was highlighted by continued success
in engaging both OEMs and end users as PrintRite3D customers,
driving continued industry awareness and developing promising
commercial opportunities,” said Sigma Labs chairman and CEO John
Rice. It appears that the question isn’t if Sigma Labs will receive
large commercial orders but rather a matter of when.
3D printing unlocks vast new opportunities for innovative
production techniques, novel products, mass customization and
systematic perfection. Major international advancements in additive
manufacturing are accelerating these trends at breakneck speeds and
giving birth to new convergent applications. Given the magnitude
and ramifications of PrintRite3D, it’s no surprise that the
software is being evaluated by multiple tier-1 aerospace and OEM
partners worldwide. All indications are that Sigma Labs appears
ready to deliver the requisite software that truly unleashes the
disruptive forces of 3D metal printing.
Committed to 3D Printing
Sigma Labs isn’t the only savvy company committed to the power,
potential and future of 3D printing. Multinational conglomerate
United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX) has
significant business concentrations in aerospace products and
services, including jet engines. The company established a $75 million Additive Manufacturing Center of Expertise
last year. The company’s Pratt & Whitney division has joined
other industry leaders in exploring the applicability of titanium
3D printing for highly demanding and critical rotating engine parts
which will be the first additively manufactured rotating part for
Pratt & Whitney development programs.
Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) is a
global leader in engineering services and aerospace systems.
Honeywell Aerospace, which previously entered into 3D-printing R&D contracts with Sigma Labs and 3D
Systems, granted Sintavia, a metal additive manufacturing company,
approval last year to manufacture components for Honeywell
Aerospace using powder bed fusion technology. Sigma Labs’ quality
assurance software is designed to simplify quality control, reduce
costs and improve yields in the powder bed fusion 3D printing metal
process.
Boeing (NYSE: BA) is a multinational
corporation that designs, manufactures and sells airplanes,
rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment and
missiles worldwide. The company has stated that
“additive manufacturing — also known as 3D printing — enables an
efficient design process that can achieve design solutions that we
could not have imagined in the past.” With a systems approach to
additive manufacturing, Boeing’s first significant application of
additive manufacturing was to the SES–15 spacecraft.
Software giant ANSYS (NASDAQ: ANSS) offers a
complete simulation workflow for additive manufacturing that allows
the transition from R&D efforts for metal-additive
manufacturing into a successful manufacturing operation. ANSYS is
the global leader in engineering simulation. Through its strategy
of pervasive engineering simulation, ANSYS helps the world’s most
innovative companies deliver radically better products to their
customers.
For more information on Sigma Labs, visit
Sigma Labs Inc.
(NASDAQ: SGLB)
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