NSF INVESTS IN 3-D PRINTING AND CUSTOM MANUFACTORING

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 
3-D printing and custom manufacturing: from concept to classroom
Strategic investments from NSF help engineers revolutionize the manufacturing process.

Additive manufacturing, the technological innovation behind 3-D printing, has revolutionized the way we conceive of and build everything from electronic devices to jewelry to artificial organs.

It is not surprising that this field has enjoyed enormous economic returns, which are projected to grow over the coming decade. According to a recent industry report prepared by Wohlers Associates, 3-D printing contributed to more than $2.2 billion in global industry in 2012 and is poised to grow to more than $6 billion by 2017.

While both public and private investments contributed to the development of this technology, the National Science Foundation (NSF) provided early funding and continues to provide support for additive manufacturing, totaling approximately $200 million in 2005 adjusted dollars from more than 600 grants awarded from 1986-2012.

Although a wide range of programs across NSF have supported this endeavor, greater than two-thirds of the awards and more than half of the agency's total financial support for additive manufacturing was provided by NSF's Directorate for Engineering, which promotes fundamental and transformative engineering research and education through a broad range of programs and funding mechanisms.

"Additive manufacturing is a great example of how early NSF support for high-risk research can ultimately lead to large-scale changes in a major industry," says Steve McKnight, director of the Engineering Directorate's division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI).

What is additive manufacturing?

Compared to traditional manufacturing techniques, in which objects are carved out of a larger block of material or cast in molds and dies, additive manufacturing builds objects, layer by layer, according to precise design specifications.

Because there are no dies or molds to be cast, design changes can be made more quickly and at a lower cost than ever before, increasing the level of customization that individuals and businesses can achieve "in house."

"Additive manufacturing technologies have changed the way we think about the manufacturing process," says NSF Assistant Director for Engineering Pramod Khargonekar. "It has reduced the time, cost, and equipment and infrastructure needs that once prevented individuals and small businesses from creating truly customized items, and accelerated the speed at which new products can be brought to market."

Recognizing potential in risky ideas

The Engineering Directorate's Strategic Manufacturing (STRATMAN) Initiative, led by CMMI in the late 1980s and early 1990s, proved pivotal in establishing the foundational technologies of additive manufacturing.

Five awards, totaling nearly $3.5 million in 2005 dollars, were made under this initiative to additive manufacturing-related research projects. Two of the four patents identified as foundational for the field of additive manufacturing were associated with STRATMAN-funded projects.

"The STRATMAN came at an incredibly important time," says University of Texas at Austin mechanical engineer Joseph Beaman. "We had some of the IP [intellectual property] there, but we needed a way to get the basic engineering done to show that we could really make it work."

Beaman and then UT graduate student Carl Deckard were the first to demonstrate and commercialize a process known as selective laser sintering, in which a high powered laser is used to fuse small particles into precise 3-D shapes.

"The purpose of the STRATMAN Initiative was to provide critical early funding to radically new ideas with the potential to impact future manufacturing technology," says Bruce Kramer, the CMMI program officer who made the original award to Beaman. "The research that Joe and Carl did with the STRATMAN hit a home run by laying the foundation for one of the key additive manufacturing technologies in use today."

Setting goals for a fledgling field

In addition to contributing to transformative fundamental research, the Engineering Directorate has supported a number of workshops and conferences designed to establish roadmaps and benchmarks for the field as it evolves.

Together with support from agencies including the Department of Energy, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Engineering Directorate has sponsored workshops on rapid prototyping, additive and subtractive manufacturing and has consistently provided support for student travel to additive manufacturing conferences.

A 2009 workshop sponsored by NSF and ONR intended to identify the future of freeform processing is widely recognized as having been critical in defining future research directions in the field.

Transitioning research to the marketplace

Initial investments by the Engineering Directorate's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program also were made to two key early firms in the additive manufacturing field including: DTM, acquired by 3D systems and founded by Carl Deckard, to develop the selective laser sintering process and Helisys, formerly Hydronetics and founded by Michael Feygin, to commercialize the sheet lamination process.

"The SBIR program helps scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs at early-stage start-ups mitigate risks, develop the technology into a marketable and scalable product and be better positioned in the marketplace," says Grace Wang, director of the Engineering Directorate's Industrial Innovation and Partnerships division.

While neither firm exists today, their contributions live on in the form of the universal industry standards they helped establish.

Preparing the next-generation workforce

Perhaps one of the greatest impacts additive manufacturing has had is in the realm of education and outreach. With the advent of desktop 3-D printers, students can experience the challenges and opportunities of manufacturing first-hand. The NSF-funded RapidTech Center at the University of California, Irvine, brings additive manufacturing to the classroom, engaging UCI students and students from a number of community college partners in the manufacturing process. Educational programs like RapidTech enhance engineering curriculum and boost interest in engineering as a profession.

"The RapidTech Center has increased the number of students who transfer into UCI Engineering programs and improved current engineering student's performance," says Celeste Carter, a program director in NSF's Directorate for Education and Human Resources. "Programs like this are, and will continue to be, incredibly important in preparing the future engineering workforce."

Looking to the future

As part of the president's plan to catalyze manufacturing innovation, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, recently rebranded as "America Makes," was launched in August 2012.

The institute, which was convened on the recommendation of experts from NSF, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, represents a partnership that includes manufacturing firms, government agencies, universities, community colleges and non-profit organizations. The goal of the institute is to accelerate additive manufacturing innovation by bridging the gap between basic research and scalable technologies.

In addition to contributing oversight and management to the America Makes initiative, NSF has invested in programs designed to facilitate collaboration and engage NSF-sponsored researchers and educational programs in the institute's activities.

"We are only beginning to see what is now possible because of additive manufacturing," Khargonekar says. "The Engineering Directorate is proud to have been among the many public and private organizations to provide early and continued research support leading to this significant and impactful innovation."

NSF DISCUSSES ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING AS IT PERTAINS TO 3-D PRINTING

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 
The engineering behind additive manufacturing and the 3-D printing revolution
December 3, 2013

While 3-D pens and printers are enjoyed by students, artists and makers, innovative American companies are using similar equipment to manufacture aerospace, automotive and medical technologies. The number of technologies customized and created using additive manufacturing processes is growing each year.

But understanding how the processes work takes more than prying open your 3-D pen.

Many of the foundational techniques for additive manufacturing, briefly described below, were discovered and patented in the 1980s. The development of three of these methods--selective laser sintering, sheet lamination and 3-D printing--had critical support from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Additive manufacturing is a way of making 3-D objects by building up material, layer upon layer, with the guidance of a digital design. The processes are engineered to use material more efficiently, give designs more flexibility and produce objects more precisely. Above all, they make things quickly.

"Early research led to making prototypes to determine the form and fit of the parts in an assembly, such as an engine," said Kesh Narayanan, deputy assistant director for NSF's Engineering Directorate. "Large-scale manufacturing of parts, especially critical components, at attractive cost is the ongoing challenge for broader use of additive manufacturing."

More and more companies are taking on the challenge of commercializing these foundational technologies, including the very first one, stereolithography.

Stereolithography was invented by Charles Hull, the founder of 3D Systems, Inc. (patent 4575330 filed in 1984, awarded in 1986). This process, sometimes called vat photopolymerization, begins with a vat filled with a special resin; resins are thick liquids that can permanently harden into solids. Some resins cure rapidly when exposed to a certain light spectrum. Dentists use similar light-activated materials as adhesives, because they can be set quickly with the help of a laser.

Next, following a digital design, a laser targets an area just above a platform within the vat, causing the liquid resin there to selectively harden. Then, the platform moves down slightly, and the laser activates the next layer of liquid resin, linking the molecules together in a process called polymerization to form a solid object.

Selective laser sintering was invented by a University of Texas at Austin graduate student, Carl Deckard, and his advisor, Joseph Beaman (patent 4863538 filed in 1986, awarded in 1989). Also known as powder bed fusion, the technique uses a computer-controlled laser to selectively "sinter," or fuse, cross-sections of powder into a solid. The powder can be ceramic, metal, plastic or polymer, depending on what properties the object must have.

The energy from the laser heats the powder just enough to join the pieces together, similar to how the gentle warmth of hands can form powdery snow into a solid snowball. After one layer is sintered, the next layer of powder is applied and sintered according to the design.

Sheet lamination, also known as laminated object manufacturing, was invented by Michael Feygin, the founder of Helisys, Inc., formerly Hydronetics, Inc. (patent 4752352 filed in 1987, awarded in 1988). In this process, a laser cuts a thin sheet of paper, plastic or metal into the desired shape, and then another layer is bonded on top and also cut. By repeating these steps, objects with intricate, complicated shapes can be quickly formed at low cost.

Material extrusion was invented by S. Scott Crump, founder of Stratasys Ltd. (patent 5121329 filed in 1989, awarded in 1992). The process, sometimes called fused deposition modeling, pushes liquid plastic or metal out through a nozzle, right along the path on the digital map. A similar technique is used by a pastry chef while piping a layer of melted chocolate through the pointy tip of a pastry bag.

The molten material quickly cools and hardens, and a new layer can then be added on top. Just as chefs may use different concoctions and piping tips to create unique shapes with exactly the flavor, stiffness or other properties needed, material extrusion allows engineers--and enthusiasts--to quickly make new designs into objects meeting their specifications.

3-D printing was developed by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology team led by Emanuel Sachs (patent 5204055 filed in 1989, awarded in 1993). Also known as binder jetting, the technique involves laying down a layer of a powder and then squirting a liquid binder on the areas to be solidified. While similar to conventional ink jet printers, 3-D printers are able to build additional layers on top of previous ones to construct 3-D objects, even sophisticated objects that could serve one day as medical implants.

Other additive manufacturing techniques include various material jetting processes and directed energy deposition.

The origins of additive manufacturing processes can be traced to the 1970s and 1980s, when researchers began exploring new ways to make things. Then, as now, common manufacturing processes included casting/molding, forming, joining and machining.

At this same time, new techniques for solid modeling were coming to fruition. The modeling techniques enabled researchers to translate 3-D geometries into mathematical terms, which could then serve as instructions for equipment control systems.

The new additive processes, combined with advances in solid modeling, today enable rapid fabrication from a digital model, in a range of geometries beyond the capabilities of other methods.

"Additive manufacturing--with its versatility, efficiency and ability to quickly link geometric design to distributed production--can really accelerate product deployment," said Steve McKnight, director of the NSF Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation.

McKnight continued, "To realize the full promise of additive manufacturing, researchers will need to discover new ways to increase speed, lower costs, improve consistency and develop and qualify novel materials for all kinds of applications. It will take the ingenuity of engineers, students and makers."

NSF's investment in additive manufacturing is part of a broader effort to accelerate the convergence of frontier research in materials, cyber-enabled systems and manufacturing science with the goal of spurring U.S. marketplace innovation to yield high-technology jobs and industrial growth.