International Thermal Spray Association Holds Its Annual Conference A variety of technical presentations attracted an audience of researchers, end users, and manufacturers Bill Mosier, executive officer, International Thermal Spray Association (ITSA), welcomed attendees (Fig. 1) from 33 member companies to its annual technical conference and business meeting, April 20–22. The conference, held at the Opryland Hotel, Nashville, Tenn., had a full day of technical presentations. Below is a brief review of some. Additive Manufacturing Advances The day was started with a presentation from Mark Smith, deputy director for Additive Manufacturing, Sandia National Laboratories, on the challenges and world of opportunities of additive manufacturing (AM). Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing) is basically making parts using data from a 3D model that directs a layerupon layer deposition of material in the form of the object. There are various processing technologies for depositing plastics, metals, ceramics, and multimaterials. The commercialization of 3D printing plastic parts is relatively mature, while metal material is relatively immature but growing. At present, ceramic use is limited and multimaterial shows potential, but requires further development. He noted the potential advantages of AM include the production of shapes that previously might have been impractical or unachievable, reduction of waste or material cost, and weight and energy savings. It also is a process that can produce engineered materials that may have need for special properties, as well as inexpensive prototype objects, jigs, and fixtures. Smith spoke of its commercial use in aerospace with an example of a part that was redesigned with an internal geometry that could only be built with AM. The part was 84% lighter than the previous part produced with traditional manufacturing, and performed well in load testing. Another example is a unique product designed at Sandia. It is a robotic hand operated remotely for bomb disablement. The fingers can be quickly configured to handle many different shapes. Half of the construction of the hand was additive manufactured. Because of the many iterations allowed in the design process by AM, it was estimated the design phase cost only $10,000, whereas normally it would have cost in the area of $250,000. Although new applications for AM are growing, the process does have limitations. It is still an evolving manufacturing field, and there is a lack of engineering data to establish design standards. There are software limitations, and material properties, tolerances, and residual stresses are still issues that have to be defined. Postfinishing equipment is needed, adding 46 WELDING JOURNAL / JULY 2016 BY ANDREW CULLISON Fig. 1 — Attendees listened intently to presentations at the International Thermal Spray Association’s annual technical conference.
Welding Journal | July 2016
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