Aserm Shows the reality of the manufacture 3D

The past 19 March celebrated in Barcelona the day ‘Design and 3D Printing: new fields of application' organised by Aserm —Spanish Association of Rapid Manufacturing— and the Museu of the Disseny of Barcelona. They assisted some 500 people interested so much in the reports like the back ‘workshop'.

Conscious of the potential of growth of the additive manufacture and the versatility of this technology, Aserm organised the past 19 March a day in the building DHUB, in the Museu of the Disseny of Barcelona, a day to expose the new concepts of product as well as opportunities of market that involve to his new time models of business (personalised manufacture, biomateriales or intelligent products, among others). The day directed mainly to designers of product, engineers, employers, technicians and emprendedores. Structured in three blocks, the 500 assistants could know the ‘New fields of application', the ‘New processes of manufacture' and assist to the technical demonstrations and presentation of applications in 3D printing in the Workshop of the afternoon.

Opened the first block Joan Guasch, director of public Programs-deprived of Fundació Ascamm, with an introduction on the possibilities that offer the technicians of digitalisation and the technologies of impressesion 3D. In his presentation ‘Customise generates value' stood out the advantages that represents to design, process and materialise the products from a perspective of personalización and adaptation to the final customer. Guasch Admitted that although to that no all can manufacture by means of Rapid Manufacturing, “still”, yes is true that the impressesion 3D has socializado and big part of the population knows what is. Likewise, it commented that “if up to now the design was functional and as a lot emotional, by all that related with the colour, forms, textures, feelings… now the society also demands a manufacture medioambientalmente manager and sustainable”. This comports a production under demand. “For what manufacture in series if there is not demand for this?” Besides, it emphasized in the narrow relation between sustainability and reduction of broadcasts in the transport of products, by what is improving the near production to the user, “which besides does not want to expect long to satisfy his demand”. With all this, today the user is the centre of attention of the production, generating new models of business and giving much more value to the customer. The future goes through to have so many users like products manufacture . That is to say, the personalización to the maximum. “But, can liberalise the design and create to taste of the user?” It asked Guasch. “The boom of the personalización of the product produced does 8-10 years. However, in reality, the ‘customización' convive with us from does much more: who has not bought a T-shirt or a doll where put him the name of a boy? And the personalised pacifiers? And the T-shirts of sportive clubs with the name of the buyer?” For Guasch “the value of a personalised product depends of the economic cost more the personal value (emotional) that the user was had to pay”. In his opinion, the companies that have attained the success in personalised manufacture are interconnected, base in knowledge, do not consume a lot of resources, are very flexible regarding the offer, consider the global market and are very digitalizadas. “But they require of a lot of financial imagination to go out advance and are technologies that demand new multidisciplinary professionals”, concluded.

Kenny Dalgarno, professor and researcher of the Department of mechanical Engineering of the University of Newcastle (Great Britain), stood out the potential that has the inclusion of the additive manufacture in the medical sector and odontológico, from the development of implants, osseous structures with biomateriales, development of human cells, and the field of investigation of future replication of human organs. Dalgarno Centred his presentation in the development of the brackets invisible, that come to substitute the ancient of metal less aesthetic. It treats of a closely tied product to the design CAD, developed by means of a process that supposes a very tied automation to the net production of the product. “A process semi-automated that, through the capture of the geometry and the exploration of the design establishes the archives of game, obtaining a product with form, structure and mechanical properties”. Until today they have processed like this until 60 million pieces. And it is that the process of invisibility is applicable also to other fields of the medicine like the auditsory prostheses, where the traditional manufacture is being displaced by the technologies 3D, allowing customise the product to the form of each user. Also they exist products like staff planted, surgical implants and even the reconstruction of bone in cases of cancer (of jaw like the exposed example) or accidents of motorbike (reconstructions of skulls), substituting the metallic pieces used up to now and that in a lot of occasions caused annoyances. “It treats of a model of business that allows to do almost any form in almost any material. The impressesion 3D facilitates the obtaining of the correct form in the most adapted material for concrete sanitary ware applications. Besides, it opens the possibilities to the coprocesado of new materials and to the repair of materials in situ, between other new applications”. For Dalgarno, the success of these applications goes through the integration the value added and the satisfaction of the needs of the user.

The first block put on the table the opportunities that can generate, and generates, the impressesion 3D in the industrial world. Photo: Museu of the Disseny of Barcelona. Xavier Padrós.

Also Albert Sleeves, Industrial Engineer and manager of the department of innovation and development of business of Avinent Implant System, explained how the digital technologies and the 3D printing had allowed to realizar an international expansion and help to the laboratories odontológicos to modernizarse and give a much faster service and of quality to the final users. It was the case of Avinent, when they decided does some years bet for diversifying his offer and expand the portafolio with the service of production by means of additive manufacture, what gave them access to new businesses and to collaborate with important universities and technology centres. Sleeves did also an extensive review to the technicians of production used in the company to give life to crowd of products by means of the impressesion 3D.

By his part, Martín Sáez, responsible of Materialise Industrial Spain, presented the industrial vision and the paper that plays the additive manufacture for the companies, so much in what atañe to the reduction of time of development or costs of toolings as to modify directly designs of pieces or components. But puntualizó: “Further of the design, in Materialise speak of manufacture. The impressesion 3D facilitates that a designer, without need of anybody more, can manufacture or produce the object that wants”. Sáez aimed that “today everything is ‘rapid' and the true is that yes it seems that the products age faster, by what the companies have the need to manufacture to high speed not to lose the opportunity without increasing the costs of the product”. In this sense admitted that the impressesion 3D allows to obtain the final product, “but without losing of sight that is a business so it is necessary to attain profits”. On the other hand, it affirmed rotundo that “the impressesion 3D is not the panacea: it is not the solution to any project but yes can be a serious alternative in front of determinate productions”. For him, in all those developments that the impressesion 3D contributes a positive value, the additive manufacture will be the most suitable option, always fulfilling the triad of advantages: time/costs/value. Like this they work in Materialise. The election of the susceptible product to develop via impressesion 3D depends on the reduction of time of product and of costs associated —“basically because it is not necessary the use of tooling”— that suppose. And it is that for Sáez, precisely “one of the advantages of the manufacture 3D is the reduction of the time and of the quantity of pieces that can realizar in an alone attacked, without assembling. Neither it requires of investment in tooling neither changes of moulds or manipulation of pieces”. On the other hand, it supposes also an advantage in those susceptible products of modifications. In impressesion 3D a small change in the design only comports a modification in the program of manufacture, no a change of mould. “And a lower investment in stock. It seems platitudinous but is not it. The manufacturers in 3D do not require of a big stock of pieces since in 2-5 days can print them”.

Regarding the future, showed very trusted the next advances: “17 years ago they advanced me that in a future, the one who wanted to buy some zapatillas sportive no would buy them ‘to him' in shop but, in reality, would pay for accessing to a file and would print them to him in the domicile. It is this possible nowadays? No of the all, but almost”.

However Sáez alerted also of the rejection that supposes still the manufacture 3D for those who consider it only the previous step, “link it to the prototyping”, admitted. “The impressesion 3D is already, in himself same, manufacture. It supposes a total freedom of design and allows to tackle unfeasible projects by means of traditional methods, well by the cost or by the weight of the material and the impossibility to manipulate it. Equally it allows ‘customizar', customise products…”.

In a future no so far…

In the second block called ‘New processes of manufacture', Bernat Cuní, of Cunicode, presented the advantages that offer the technologies of 3D printing to the designers and creative, allowing create complex geometries and visualise the advances of project that have in course. Another presentation ran to charge of Areti Markopoulou, director of the Máster of architecture Advanced of the IAAC, that stood out the capacity to investigate in the field of new materials, for the construction of houses, using technical digital, robots and impressesion 3D, and ensured that the future of the cities goes through to obtain constructions and intelligent materials that allow to save costs and increase the sustainability. Finally, it closed the second block with the presentation of Juan Carlos Dürsteller, boss of the department of Innovation of Indo, that presented the results of the European project ‘Made4you', oriented to the personalización and ‘customización' of glasses. In this project stand out the infinite possibilities that has the final customer to have the pair of glasses that really wants to, creating his own design, the own colour of lens, etc.). A project at present in a phase of study of exploitation and commercialisation.

The third block of the day consisted in a ‘workshop' oriented to expose the different technologies of impressesion 3D and realizar demonstrations of pieces in the zone of the ‘Foyer' of the DHUB. Each company participant presented also the technical characteristics, material and applications that allow to realizar each one of these technologies. Between them they found Comher-Stratasys, EntresD, ReprapBCN, Stalactite, Natural Machines, 3D-SEED and the Fablab (of the IAAC).