In theory, data is captured throughout the product lifecycle and analyzed for opportunities to drive down tooling costs and lead times and improve efficiencies and innovation. That’s what the phrase “Digital Thread” stands for.
AM provides an ideal opportunity to apply Digital Thread (DT) technology, since it relies on new digitally – driven features. Success requires that data can be made available to integrated discovery, data mining, and physics-based simulation tools, enabling timely evaluation of manufactured parts and ensuring a fluid response to the in-process variability that can affect part quality.
“The lofty vision of the DT requires a software infrastructure for data capture, data availability, and discovery while securing intellectual property (IP), tools for data mining, data federation and integration, quality standards, and best practices. It demands cultural shifts that ensure governance policies for data capture, platforms for collaboration, negotiation of IP rights, and controlled access to data”, a research said.
Today, there is a complex relationship between the part geometry, material, and individual processes used to create the final part.
—How data from AM is being captured and utilized to enhance supply chain and production processes? How are they used to shorten development times? How do they enhance the reproducibility and quality of part production in support of qualification objectives?
The next Additive Talks session ambitions to address these considerations. Set to take place on Wednesday 13th April, 2022 from 09.30 am to 10.30 am Cambridge, Massachusetts Time (03.30 pm to 04.30 pm CET), the panel will discuss how AM engineers can leverage data to drive AM efficiency, safety and transparency – with a key focus on aerospace applications.
Around this virtual table, we will find:
Paul Gradl is a senior propulsion engineer and subject matter expert at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Mr. Gradl serves as a principal investigator, leading several projects across NASA for additive manufacturing of liquid rocket engine combustion devices and supporting a variety of development and flight programs over the last 18 years. He authored and co-authored over 75 journal articles and conference papers; holds four patents; and regularly teaches courses in additive manufacturing for spaceflight. Gradl is the recipient of numerous NASA and industry awards, including two NASA Exceptional Achievement Medals, NASA Exceptional Service Medal, NASA Research and Technology, and a NASA Space Flight Honoree to name a few. Mr. Gradl is an associate fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), a member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, active in STEM engagement, serves on several committees across industry, and chairs various sessions at leading conferences on additive manufacturing. Mr. Gradl is currently authoring and editing a NASA textbook titled “Metal Additive Manufacturing for Propulsion Applications.” Paul Gradl was named one of “The Most Influential Personalities of Additive Manufacturing in 2020” and most recently, the recipient of “Engineer of the Year” by AIAA in February 2022.
Andreas Hartmann is CEO/CTO and co-founder of German postprocessing pioneer Solukon, a German high-quality supplier of powder removal and processing systems for metal and polymer Additive Manufacturing. Hartmann, born in 1976, has more than 20 years of experience in the development of AM-systems and peripheral equipment. Before founding Solukon in 2015, Hartmann was responsible for the development and design of 3D printing systems as Head of Engineering of a Bavarian OEM for almost ten years. Hartmann has been keen to push the Additive Manufacturing industry forward ever since. Introducing the unique Solukon Smart Powder Recuperation technology SPR® revolutionized the postprocessing in metal additive manufacturing. For the first time ever, depowdering, i.e., the removal of powder from laser-melted metal components, can be carried out fully automated in a protected atmosphere.
Andre Wegner is founder and CEO of Authentise, a leader in data-driven process automation software for digital manufacturing. He is also the Chair of Digital Manufacturing at Singularity University in Silicon Valley. Andre has spoken at over 200 events on additive manufacturing and the digital thread, and has been quoted in publications such as BBC News, MIT Tech Review, Chicago Tribune, and Bloomberg. Prior to Authentise, Andre invested in and supported capital raises of companies in Nigeria and India. Andre is a graduate of St. Andrews University (M.A. – UK), ESSEC (M.Sc. – France) and Singularity University (California).
Do you want to join the conversation with these forward-thinking experts?