Titomic & Fincantieri to test materials in first step of evaluating AM for shipbuilding

Since partnering with shipbuilding company Fincantieri last month, Australian metal AM company Titomic has signed a Material Science Testing (MST) agreement with Fincantieri Australia. The agreement is the first step in evaluating Titomic’s Kinetic Fusion technology’s viability for Fincantieri’s manufacturing processes.

As part of the new agreement, Titomic will conduct various tests on a Fincantieri specified alloy (following ASTM International Standards) using its AM process to achieve desired mechanical and chemical properties. The tests will include hardness, strength, porosity and chemistry analysis tests. The goal of these tests will be to offer insight into the material properties, performance and costs of Titomic’s additive manufacturing process.

“We are pleased to kick off this first project with Fincantieri as part of our MoU,” said Jeff Lang, CTO of Titomic. “We will be producing test samples at our new state of the art facility in Melbourne in order to conduct the stringent tests required. This is the first step towards manufacturing large marine parts on our metal 3D printers of limitless scale.”

As part of the companies’ agreement, Titomic’s technology and operational team recently made a trip to the Riva Trigoso Shipyard in Italy to learn how Fincantieri’s mechanical ship components are designers, developed and produced. Eventually, the aim is to transfer Fincantieri’s marine technology to Australia.

“Titomic’s technology combined with Fincantieri’s technology transfer program to Australia creates the potential to return Australia’s capability in mechanical componentry,” said Sean Costello, Director at Fincantieri Australia. “Our aim is to return high-value jobs to Australia, reduce costs and become sovereign as a shipbuilding nation.”

Fincantieri

May 14: Titomic signs MoU with Fincantieri

In a world first for AM adoption by the Marine sector, Titomic signed a MoU to work with Fincantieri to evaluate the potential for the Company’s additive manufacturing process, Titomic Kinetic Fusion, to be used in Fincantieri’s manufacturing activities. Effective immediately and with a 12 months duration, Titomic’s signing with Fincantieri explores the Company’s proprietary processes to complement and improve existing manufacturing process and is the start of a synergistic partnership.

“This agreement with Fincantieri marks a significant milestone for future shipbuilding and industrial scale additive manufacturing,” said Jeff Lang, CEO and CTO of Titomic. “Titomic’s signing with Fincantieri to evaluate our Titomic Kinetic Fusion process will not only add value to existing manufacturing and repair activities, it will lead to the creation of next generation high tech vessels.”

With 20 shipyards across four continents, Fincantieri S.p.A is one of the world’s largest shipbuilding groups and number one by diversification and innovation. It is the leader in cruise ship design and construction, and a reference player in all high-tech shipbuilding industry sectors – from naval to offshore vessels, from high-complexity special vessels and ferries – to mega-yachts, ship repairs and conversions, systems and equipment production, and after-sales services.

Fincantieri also carries out maintenance and refurbishment of cruise ships – a major and growing international industry. The company is also one of the shortlisted bidders for The Future Frigates SEA 5000 program. Titomic was awarded Best Maritime Innovation award at Pacific 2017 International Maritime Exposition. This MoU affirms Titomic’s entrance into the shipbuilding and offshore industries. The initial R&D phase will take place at Titomic’s Melbourne facility.

Dario Deste, Chairman of Fincantieri Australia also commented on the deal: “We are pleased to partner with Titomic, an innovative advanced manufacturing company, to pursue new technological development, continuous improvement and value creation for all our stakeholders. The significance of this partnership examines how we can introduce new manufacturing technologies to make Australia sovereign in advanced naval technology and improve our solutions on the world-wide market.”

Miss South Africa contestants wear Bare Beauty swimwear adorned with 3D printed flowers

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: 3D printing is an incredibly versatile manufacturing process. From 3D printed race car parts, to sports equipment, to coral (and that’s just this week), additive manufacturing has found applications in many industries and for many, many purposes. Polish 3D printer manufacturer Sinterit recently drew out attention to another novel use of Selective Laser Sintering technology (SLS): swimwear.

Ciska Barnard, the swimwear designer for Bambshell, an exclusive swimwear label started by former Miss South Africa Melinda Bam, recently integrated 3D printed floral details into a swimwear collection for the finalists of the Miss South Africa competition.

The swimwear collection, called Bare Beauty, was inspired by natural beauty and skintones. “Bare Beauty showcases pieces, custom made to suit each finalists skin tone & body shape,” reads a post on Bambshell’s Instagram. “The concept of this range is to showcase each contestant’s natural beauty, with nude tones to match & compliment their complexion. At second glance, you’ll notice the detail and textures of intricately 3D printed Build Volume Flowers and custom embroidered details.” 

The collection is also notable for its floral details, which were made using SLS 3D printing. Build Volume, a South African 3D printing company, collaborated with Bambshell on the collection and used its Sinterit Lisa 3D printer to manufacture the flowers. To ensure the flowers were flexible and could be worn comfortably, they were printed from Flexa Black, a TPU-based material known for its smooth and flexible properties.

“Most of our clients use hard materials like PA12,” said Konrad Glowacki, co-founder of Sinterit. “It becomes a standard for a broad range of industries. But fashion needs more flexible solutions. It is not so easy to find a dependable, flexible material that would be a perfect match for the fashion industry and available for 3D printers…We are happy to provide two reliable products: Flexa Black and Flexa Gray.”

The finished 3D printed flowers bring something new to the swimwear collection. Finished in the same colour as the bathing suits, they offer a subtle and delicate refinement to the swimwear akin to lace but in three dimensions.

BIOLIFE4D demonstrates ability to bioprint human cardiac tissue patch

Chicago-based biotech company BIOLIFE4D announced this week that it has successfully 3D bioprinted a human cardiac tissue patch, bringing the company a small step closer to its ultimate goal of 3D bioprinting a viable and transplantable human heart.

In the world of bioprinting, many tend not to look past a headline, leading some to believe that 3D printed transplantable organs are close on the horizon. And while we know this isn’t quite the case—it is still interesting to track what bioprinting companies whose goal it is to print organs are up to.

BIOLIFE4D is one such company and it is undoubtedly excited to have achieved an important milestone in its bioprinting research. According to the biotech firm, it successfully demonstrated its ability to bioprint a cardiac patch just days after the opening of its new JLABS research facility in Houston in May.

The bioprinted tissue reportedly contains multiple cell types (as opposed to just cardiomyocytes), similar to a real human heart and integrates “preliminary vascularization.” Spearheaded by Dr. Ravi Birla, Chief Science Officer of BIOLIFE4D, the innovative bioprinted cardiac patches could be used to restore myocardial contractility in patients with acute heart failure.

“We are extremely excited to have achieved this milestone and to successfully demonstrate our ability to 3D print human cardiac tissue,” said Dr. Birla. “When we began this process, we knew this would be a key step in validating our technology and scientific approach, so we are pleased to be able to have accomplished this so quickly.”

biolife4d

“We have always believed that our scientific approach, as well as the tremendous team we have assembled, positioned us for rapid scientific accomplishment. The speed at which we bioprinted 3D human cardiac patches, within days, is unheard of within the scientific community. These efforts clearly demonstrate our ability to bioprint human tissue and provide a clear and rapid pathway towards bioprinting human hearts.”

The speed at which BIOLIFE4D succeeded in bioprinting the cardiac patches seems to have come as a surprise to the company itself, as most research indicates that bioprinted human cardiac patches require six to eight months to develop. With the promising early start, the company says it will now begin to focus on other constructs including valves, blood vessels and a mini heart.

BIOLIFE4D says its bioprinting process enables scientists to “reprogram” a patient’s white blood cells to iPS cells (a type of stem cell) and then into different types of cardiac cells. These are then bioprinted into tissue patches and perhaps one day into viable human hearts. Obviously, the implications of being able to 3D bioprint a transplantable human heart are massive, especially as heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. But again, it will likely be a long time before we hear of the world’s first bioprinted heart transplant.

“This is a tremendous time for BIOLIFE4D and we could not be prouder to have accomplished this scientific landmark in such a short period of time,” commented Steven Morris, CEO of BIOLIFE4D. “From the beginning, our mission has been to utilize our technology to save lives. Today, we believe we are one step closer to ultimately achieving that goal.”

EU commits to fast-tracking additive manufacturing industrialization at AMEC 2018

Bigger fiscal and R&D incentives, bolder standardization efforts and caution before legislating are needed to speed up additive manufacturing deployment in Europe. This was the main message emerging from the AMEC 2018, the Additive Manufacturing European Conference, which took place in Brussels and was co-hosted by Members of European Parliament (MEPs) from some of the …

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BigRep partners with DMRC to further AM research

Leading large-scale 3D printer manufacturer BigRep have partnered with the Direct Manufacturing Research Center (DMRC), one of the world’s foremost industrial research networks. BigRep will join the consortium as the only FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) machine manufacturer in the distinguished network of 29 companies representing the complete additive manufacturing (AM) value chain. This includes material …

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Concorci and Leitat build Catalonia advanced manufacturing hub for 3D printing

The Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, Leitat and Fundación INCYDE have revealed the launch of a High-Tech 3D Incubator Project to be housed in the Barcelona Free Trade Zone and financed with European Regional Development Funds. The bid has been provisionally approved by the INCYDE Operations Selection Committee. According to State Delegate in …

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UK’s National Centre for Additive Manufacturing invests in a Digital Metal 3D printer  

Digital Metal’s unique high-precision metal binder-jetting technology continues to raise great interest in the AM field. The UK’s renowned center for innovative technology, the National Centre for Additive Manufacturing (NCAM), has just decided to add a Digital Metal printer to their already extensive range of advanced manufacturing equipment. The NCAM is part of the Manufacturing …

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UCSF to advance AM applications for orthopaedic surgery with INTAMSYS’ high-performance 3D printing & materials

As per a new partnership agreement, Shanghai-based 3D printing company INTAMSYS will be collaborating with the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to further advance additive manufacturing applications for orthopaedic surgery and, specifically, applications for PEEK and other high-performance materials. INTAMSYS, which specializes in 3D printing solutions for high-performance…..

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UCSF to advance AM applications for orthopaedic surgery with INTAMSYS’ high-performance 3D printing & materials

As per a new partnership agreement, Shanghai-based 3D printing company INTAMSYS will be collaborating with the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to further advance additive manufacturing applications for orthopaedic surgery and, specifically, applications for PEEK and other high-performance materials. INTAMSYS, which specializes in 3D printing solutions for high-performance …

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