The winners in the 2024 Powder Metallurgy (PM) Design Excellence Awards competition, sponsored by the Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF), demonstrate outstanding examples of PM’s diversity and ability to meet critical requirements. From electric vehicles to medical implants, once again, parts fabricators have demonstrated PM’s versatility and unique ability to challenge competing technologies. These award-winning components use PM’s flexibility to push forward new concepts and process controls to demonstrate the inexhaustible range of PM’s capabilities.
I fly out west to Los Angeles later this month. It will mark the fourth time AGMA will provide a curated tour on the RAPID+TCT show floor. Each year brings more clarity on developed technologies, I am always looking for one or two tweaks that move the needle on the next possibility for additive manufacturing to impact traditional manufacturing processes. Are we looking for mass-produced 3D metal gears? The short answer is: no. But we are always watching indicators that may change that answer.
JEOL’s JAM-5200EBM Metal 3D Printer, a production-ready Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion (EB-PBF) additive manufacturing solution, has demonstrated the ability to meet the rigorous AMS7032 operational qualification (OQ) standards while achieving the AMS7011 material requirements for Ti-6Al-4V alloy with post-deposition hot isostatic pressing (HIP). JEOL’s is the first EB-PBF machine known to meet the requirements of AMS7011 since they were first established on another EB-PBF manufacturer’s model.