Penn State’s CIMP-3D recently demonstrated its capabilities for large format multi-laser powder bed fusion by fabricating three large aluminum components representative of fittings on industrial-scale piping systems. Working alongside 3D Systems, the entire production process was executed from start-to-finish, including: design-for-AM, fabrication, post-processing, and inspection.
Compliant mechanisms enable engineered motion, force transmission, and energy absorption without linkages or assemblies. Dr. Jared Butler (PSU ME) has been developing compliant mechanisms for a wide range of applications, and with doctoral student Connor Huxman, has recently turned his attention to medical applications. One exciting development they’re pioneering is compliant bone plates1,2, which promote healing in comminuted fractures by enabling prescribed axial strain while preventing shear. These compliant mechanisms are typically cut from sheet, but CIMP-3D teamed up with Dr. Butler to fabricate a Ti6Al4V version of this compliant mechanism using powder bed fusion additive manufacturing (3D Systems ProX 320).
Guha Manogharan, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State, has been appointed as the co-director of the Center for Innovative Materials Processing through Direct Digital Deposition. Following Tim Simpson, who held the position since the center`s establishment in 2012.
Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory has been supporting maintenance and sustainment activities for the DoD over the past 30 years. Recently, the Defense Logistics Agency along with U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center (CCDC AvMC) has completed an effort to determine the viability of additive manufacturing, specifically laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), for producing components used for aircraft sustainment. To ascertain the potential of additively manufactured components and the requirements to verify the performance of additively manufactured components used in aircraft, a UH-60 fuel elbow was redesigned and built at the Center for Innovative Materials Processing through Direct Digital Deposition (CIMP-3D) of the Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State (ARL-PSU).
In-Situ Laser Ultrasound-Based Rayleigh Wave Process Monitoring of DED-AM Metals
CIMP-3D is honored to have supported a project that the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) designated as one of the Outstanding Papers of 2022.