ILMA Compoundings - May 2020 - 32

"How 3D printing will most likely
impact the U.S. market for lubricants and metalworking fluids
will be via the rapid prototyping
of parts, the verification of engineering designs and perhaps the
immediate implementation of that
part in the production line."
Peter Gottlick, president, CGF Inc.
"How 3D printing will most likely
impact the U.S. market for lubricants
and metalworking fluids will be via
the rapid prototyping of parts, the
verification of engineering designs and
perhaps the immediate implementation of that part in the production
line. The faster companies can turn
ideas into functional parts, the more
productive and profitable they will
remain. From that standpoint, 3D
printing could provide lubricant and
metalworking fluid providers with
a market where current demand for
such fluids is maintained."
It likely will be years before additive
printers can scale up production to

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MAY 2020

| COMPOUNDINGS | ILMA.ORG

compete effectively with traditional
metal fabricating, either through
in-printer advancements or a sizable
increase in printer installations. When it
comes to producing parts of competitive
quality, however, companies around the
world are working to make that a reality.
Israel-based Sharon Tuvia is using
additive-metal printing to produce
titanium parts for aerospace companies and for use in commercial
satellites. CEO Ronen Sharon noted
that the company put its printed parts
through an extensive battery of tests,
"evaluating elongation, stress, fatigue,
micro-structure analysis and other
factors," he said. The parts performed
"without parallel."
"The results were especially extraordinary," he added, "when checking for
lack of fusion, also called incomplete
fusion," which would lead to brittleness and, eventually, failure of the part.
"Most parts produced using metal
3D-printing technologies will reveal
lack of fusion. When we tested the
titanium parts, ... there was absolutely
no lack of fusion."
That level of quality does not come
out of a desktop 3D printer, however.
And it doesn't come cheap. Sharon Tuvia
is printing with a DMP Flex 350 from
3D Systems, an industrial machine with
a base price of nearly $600,000.
Automaker Honda is another
proponent of high-end additive
manufacturing. The company has
been using the technology to produce
seat belt brackets, engine-control units
and motorcycle frames, achieving
significant weight reductions across
the board. In 2019, the company
decided to look at printing a part that
would experience far more stress: an
automotive crankshaft. The goal was
to create a crankshaft that could withstand combustion pressure, maintain
rotational balance and yet be 30%
lighter than the current generation.
The resulting component ended up
being 50% lighter.

Hirosumi Todaka, a mechanical and
fluid machinery designer at Honda
R&D, said, "While there is still much
that can be done to lighten parts, we
can now see a way forward to reach
our goals. In the future, I expect that
innovative products created using
generative design will be the norm. I
think it is up to us to research further
applications for this technology as part
of our work."
As more and more companies
bring additive-metal printers online
- or hire third-party contractors to
print their creations, a market that
is quickly growing thanks to the
internet - it is inevitable that the
resulting parts will find their way into
working machines, spurring the need
for lubricants tailored to their unique
properties. Those lubricants do not
currently exist.

Taking the Lead
Clarkson believes independent
lubricant manufacturers might be best
suited to meet the needs of the nascent
additive-metal market with new formulations and customized products.
"Larger lubricant manufacturers are
going to have more resources that they
can devote to it, of course," she said.
"But some of the smaller operations
really excel at focusing on specific
niches. They can look at unique
application spaces and tailor different
solutions. So, when I think about the
companies that might actually lead
the way in this space, I would probably say it's going to be a medium- to a
smaller-sized company versus one of
the larger places."
The need for such solutions will not
arise overnight. Still, that impact is
on its way. As Clarkson pointed out,
"It's important that we're aware of the
topic and its potential effect."
Bittner is a Michigan-based freelance journalist
and a frequent Compoundings contributor.
http://www.ILMA.ORG
ILMA Compoundings - May 2020

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