ASME Recognizes “Best-in-Class” Additive Manufacturing Technologies with First AM Innovation Awards
The AM Tech Forum powered by ASME concluded with a much-anticipated awards presentation based on the day’s nearly 40 technology demonstrations. These solutions covered every application area and industry, showcasing machines and processes, materials, software, and measurement and analysis.
Winners were chosen based on multiple criteria including impact on speed, cost, and quality; range of potential use across applications and industries; level of innovation—from an improvement to a game changer; and how likely they would purchase. By combining scores of a diverse judging panel of AM industry experts in medical devices, aerospace, automotive, energy, consumer goods and other sectors, with ratings from the audience, winners were announced in five categories:
- Machines & Processes
- Materials
- Software
- Measurement & Analysis
- Startup
A sixth award, Customer Choice, was presented based solely on the audience vote.
Demonstrations can be viewed on-demand through September 17 at: https://amtechforum.vfairs.com/ (Free registration required to access.)
And the winners are:
MACHINES & PROCESSES
Nexa3D: Transforming AM
The NXE 400, an efficient and remarkably fast machine, can produce parts with SL-like details and thermoplastic-grade mechanical properties. Combined with the NexaX 2.0 software which can optimize CAD models for AM by maximizing each part’s mechanical performance and consistency, reducing production cycles from days to minutes, and minimizing material usage and waste, the complete Nexa3D system provides significant productivity and performance features.
MATERIALS
3D Systems: Advancing the Revolution in Photopolymer 3D Printing Performance
The Figure 4 3D printing solution, including platform, software and materials. Ultra-fast print speeds, batch-run processing, part quality comparable to injection molding are now combined with material chemistry that ensures printed parts remain functional and stable for prolonged durations in any environment. Materials include:
Figure 4 Tough 60C White resin suitable for repeatable, high mechanical loads.
Figure 4 Tough 65C Black resins suitable for repeatable, high mechanical loads.
Figure 4 Rigid Gray resin ideal for all types of rigid static plastic parts.
Figure 4 High Temp 150C FR Black, halogen-free resin material with a very high HDT for all types of flame retardant applications.
SOFTWARE
Intellegens: Deep Learning for Additive Manufacturing
Alchemite™ software uses unique deep learning algorithms first developed at the University of Cambridge, to help AM teams extract value from their data, optimizing build parameters and ensuring more repeatable AM processes, while greatly reducing the need for testing. The software allows users to find which process parameters are really controlling target properties, identify optimal process parameters and conditions, gain a quantitative understanding of uncertainties to focus on the most reliable routes, and predict the likely performance of candidate processes.
MEASUREMENT & ANALYSIS
Sigma Labs: Quality Assurance with PrintRite 3D—The Features You’ve Been Asking For
The latest release of the PrintRite3D monitoring solution includes new features that make it easier to find anomalies in the process data, as well as production fleet optionality with machine-to-machine qualifications, and multi-laser system support. Included are:
- Using horizontal cross-sections providing a new way to visualize in-process build data and insight into how defects persist throughout a build
- Multi-laser detection alerts to the interaction of 2 or more lasers and the effects on the build process.
- Machine learning identifies patterns across all measurement types to determine if an anomaly is or is not a true flaw
- Direct temperature measurements of exact degree, allowing temperature calibration for machine-to-machine comparisons to validate a machine fleet
STARTUP
Intellegens: Deep Learning for Additive Manufacturing
Intellegens was founded in 2017, with a team of interdisciplinary and multicultural PhDs, physicists, data & computer scientists, software developers and industry professionals with a mission to help clients extract the most valuable information from their data. Their mission is to help clients accelerate innovation by using unique deep learning solutions to extract valuable information from existing processes and data. Their technology originated from the work of Dr Gareth Conduit and collaborators at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. This work has been further developed to build a unique Artificial Intelligence (AI) toolset that can train deep neural networks from sparse or noisy data through their first commercial product, Alchemite™.
CUSTOMER CHOICE
AM-Flow: Regaining Control of Your Production with AM Post Processing Automation
AM-Flow’s stack of software integrates with AM production hardware provides building blocks to end-to-end automate the 3D-printing process.
Combining 3D-shape identification, industrial machine vision and AI software, and MES software, AM-Flow delivers scalability, workflow efficiency, tracking & tracing, certifiable production process, automatic data entry, automatic counting, and an Industry 4.0 Digital thread.
Congratulations to these first-ever ASME AM Innovation Award winners. These demonstrations and others are available on-demand through mid-September. Visit the AM Tech Forum virtual event site to find solutions you can use and connect with the winners and more: https://amtechforum.vfairs.com/ (Free registration required to access.)
