Afonso Nogueira is one of the featured speakers at the Additive Manufacturing for Medical Devices Conference taking place on the 3rd-4th December, in London, UK.
Join us as we work to advance the use of 3D printing for all medical devices.
Find out more here:
https://www.pharma-iq.com/events-additive-medical-devices
Hypermetal
Smart Manufacturing – 3rd Session
Afonso Nogueira will participate in the 3rd session of the event “Smart Manufacturing”, focusing on the topic Industry 4.0.
It will take place in Lisbon on November 28th.
We invite you to attend and share your thoughts, the event is free, more details in the banner!
New Equipment
We are pleased to announce that we have acquired more equipment to continue improving our manufacturing services:
- a CNC vertical mill to give printed parts a machined finishing, tight tolerances, as well as producing auxiliary parts;
- an automatic band saw that allows us to produce parts directly from the base plate, instead of punctual supports, which maximizes heat dissipation during the production and allows the orientation of parts with large downfacing surfaces.
Conformal Cooling Channels
AM technologies allow the production of complex geometries, including molds and mold inserts with conformal cooling channels, which in certain cases are impossible to be obtained by other manufacturing processes.
This technology represents possible huge improvements in the performance of molds, specifically on the cooling phase, reducing drastically the cycle times.
Vítor Santos’ work focuses on developing conformal cooling channels for real case applications in the mold industry, the study of different designs, analysis of the performance through numerical modeling and manufacture of parts.
Any questions that you may have related to the theme we invite you to contact us and we’ll be happy to help!
Mechanical and Fatigue Characterization
Joana Melo is a senior student of the Master in Mechanical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto and is conducting her thesis at Hypermetal.
Her work focuses on the characterization of the mechanical properties of metal parts produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion, and more specifically on the study of their fatigue behavior.
In addition to strengthening the cooperative relationship between Hypermetal and FEUP, we are pleased to contribute to Joana’s training with practical experience in this emerging technology, as well as to benefit from the know-how brought about by her work.
Any questions that you may have related to the theme we invite you to contact us and we’ll be happy to help!
Hypermetal featured in Metal-AM
Hypermetal was featured in the latest edition of Metal-AM magazine. Metal-AM is the main international reference for news and publications about metal additive manufacturing.
Hypermetal featured in the magazine Business Portugal
Interview with Afonso Nogueira about Hypermetal’s strategy and vision on a special edition of the magazine Business Portugal focused on innovative companies.
Article in the Business Portugal’s website
Article “Pioneira na Fabricação Aditiva” and the complete publication (in Portuguese)
Students from FEUP and ISEP participate in Metal Additive Manufacturing workshop
On the first week of June, we had the pleasure to receive master’s students from FEUP and ISEP who participated in a Metal Additive Manufacturing workshop held by Hypermetal together with Renishaw. It’s a pleasure witnessing the interest shown by them in this technology and being able to contribute to their learning with hands-on experience.
Aluminum Jig Additive Manufacturing
Concept
Metal additive manufacturing can also be a feasible option for bulkier parts. In this case, a customized Jig is required for an assembly process.
Replacing the solid interior by a lattice structure we can maintain the required external geometry and rigidity while reducing the material quantity. This optimization would be impossible to manufacture by traditional manufacturing technologies.
Continue reading for more information on the process steps:
The initial design
A customized Jig that was developed to be manufactured by CNC milling. This part weights 1,5Kg and producing it as it is by Metal AM would be very time consuming due to the solid interior, which doesn’t add any value to the final purpose of the part.
Optimising the part
Simply by replacing the solid interior by a lattice structure, designed to guarantee the original external geometry and required rigidity, we can reduce the weight by 70%, meaning much fewer production hours resulting in a feasible manufacturing solution cost-wise. The increased complexity makes absolutely no difference in this technology.
The build process
This complex shape is produced layer by layer and all powder that is not processed in the process is reusable, resulting in minimal waste.
Post-processing
Separation of the part from the base plate by removing the supports under the part and in the horizontal hole. All supports were designed to be manually removed.
The final part
After separation, a glass bead blasting treatment was done for cleaning and surface treatment.
This part was ready for expedition in just 2 working days.
Material Savings
Comparison of the material needed to obtain the same part and respective waste when using:
– CNC milling from a solid block;
– Additive Manufacturing without optimization;
– Additive Manufacturing with optimization.