Five research projects set to focus on Binder Jetting in collaboration with ExOne have received grants from the Manufacturing PA Programme.
In total, around $2.8m has been awarded to Pennsylvania universities across 43 separate projects. Of those, five, carried out by researchers from Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, Villanova University and Carnegie Mellon University will look to advance ExOne’s binder jetting technology.
Carnegie Mellon University will be involved in two of the projects. The first, ‘Binder Jet 3D Printing from Powder Produced by Metal Attrition,’ will focus on the optimisation of parameters and densification of irregularly shaped powders. The second, ‘Optimal Parts Consolidation and Structural Redesign for Additive Manufacturing to Reduce Weight, Production Costs and Lifecycle Fuel Use, will be carried out with Kennametal and Ansys and work to develop a software tool to help consolidate components to reduce weight and cost.
University of Pittsburgh will also team up with Ansys in its ‘A Computational Tool for Stimulating the Sintering Behaviour in Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing’ project. They will look to develop a computational tool for simulating the deformation and porosity of sintered 316L stainless steel parts.
The Penn State project, ‘Advanced Manufacturing of Ceramics for PA Industries,’ will aim to develop pa new class of ceramic materials for binder jetting technology, boasting high-temperature stability, corrosion resistance and toughness. Meanwhile, Villanova University’s ‘Wetting of Binder Solution on Porous Bed of Microparticles’ project will investigate how to best wet porous particles with binder and generate guidelines or parameters for this form of 3D printing.
“The Manufacturing PA programme is helping ExOne to expand our research and development efforts in important ways with the assistance of Pennsylvania’s outstanding universities and other technology companies,” commented John Hartner, ExOne CEO. “The projects funded by this programme will help ExOne unlock the commercial and sustainability value that binder jet 3D printing has to offer, such as delivering lighter weight vehicles that are more fuel-efficient as well as all-new innovations.
“We strongly value our relationships with the academic R&D community, and we appreciate their support enhancing our competitiveness and advancing this important 3D printing field. We congratulate our partners and all other the other universities and companies receiving Manufacturing PA Innovation funding.”
