3D打印行业透视@Formnext l 对话沙特基础化学增材制造高级经理Keith Cox先生
3D打印行业透视@Formnext的本期被采访对象是SABIC(沙特基础化学)增材制造高级经理Keith Cox先生。
左: Keith Cox，沙特基础化学增材制造高级经理
右: Korinna Penndorf, 3D科学谷联合创始人
About Formnext
Q1. 贵公司Formnext展会上有哪些亮点？
A: SABIC在3D打印领域最初是作为原材料供应商，我们积极从事增材制造业约10年了，主要向Stratasys提供材料。Stratasys的ULTEM材料和长丝主要来自于我们的SABIC的产品组合。
2017年，SABIC还为Stratasys开发了专门用于Stratasys设备的各种长丝材料。今年不同的是我们正在将合作范围扩宽，您可以在显示屏上看到已在各种其他开放平台系统（如Roboze，3NTR，Apium）上打印的部件。我们的目标是尽可能广泛地推出我们的材料，以推动应用开发。我们的重点是推动新的应用空间的发展，并推动更大批量生产。我们的主要目标是为提供3D打印设备厂商提供这样的材料，从而实现更大批量的生产应用。
图片：SABIC为行业提供ULTEM材料以及ULTEM长丝，来源SABIC
长丝领域的新材料方面，我们为ULTEM 9085开发了一种新的支撑材料，这是一种易于释放的支撑材料。我们正在对该产品进行最终验证，并进行商业化准备阶段。这款产品应该在明年1月份正式商业化，目前我们从最初的3D打印服务商和设备制造商合作伙伴那里得到的反馈是，它可以节省零件移除支撑材料过程的大量时间，这是非常好的反馈。
我们确实展示了另一件事 - 我们在这里告诉大家 - 实际上我们去年推出的产品是LEXAN™ EXL AMHI240F长丝。它是一种聚碳酸酯共聚物，其抗冲击强度是标准聚碳酸酯的4倍。今年，它被TCT认可为“年度创新材料”。
沿着这些方向，我们还有很多新的长丝，很快就会商业化，拿FST系列产品举例来说，这一系列的产品主要是用于航空航天工业行业，满足航空航天行业关于低烟雾规定，这一系列材料由聚碳酸酯制成。
图片：烧结非结晶材料，达到96％以上的致密度,来源SABIC
在SLS领域，我们拥有我们认为非常独特的技术，能够在SLS选区激光烧结设备上烧结非结晶材料，*之前SLS设备传统上使用的是半结晶材料。我们用在SLS设备上的一款非结晶材料是聚碳酸酯PC材料，通过激光烧结零件可以达到96％以上的密度，并且这款材料是100％可回收的。其他材料方面，我们目前还有聚氨酯概念验证部件，也是非结晶材料的激光烧结部件。
我们非常活跃的另一个领域是大幅面打印。比如Local Motors的Strati汽车和最近他们的Olli自动驾驶电动班车。我们还为一家名为CNC-Barcenas的公司提供了用于远洋船舶的通风格栅的3D打印材料，这个格栅很大，相当大的烧烤架。每艘船都有40个或更多这些通风格栅，但它们都有不同的尺寸，因此非常适合通过3D打印来实现。
图片：SABIC材料制造的飞机内饰面板，使用LNP™THERMOCOMP™AM EC004XXAR1复合材料通过Thermwood的LSAM®3D打印设备打印，这种材料基于ULTEM™树脂，含20％碳纤维增强材料。 图片来源SABIC
我们认为，大型增材制造需要各种不同的基础树脂作为载体，SABIC从提供基础树脂开始，然后添加填料，可以是玻璃纤维，碳纤维，可以是磨碎的玻璃或任何其他类型的材料，具有不同的适用性，适用于不同的应用。就在formnext展台上还展示了一个用于飞机内饰板的热成型工具的例子。
总体来说，我们很高兴能够推动这些类型的技术发展，这不仅拓宽了材料组合，更是拓宽了设计师可以实现的应用空间，我们认为最终这将推动行业应用的发展。
About Business
Q2. 在您的公司，今年的3D打印业务与去年相比的业绩是怎样的？
A: 与SABIC集团的业务来说，增材制造业务仍然是集团业务中的很一小部分。不过这部分虽然很小但正在增长，同时我们看到了增材制造的价值与发展潜力，这些材料的独特性配合3D打印技术可以制造传统技术无法完成的零件，所以说我们看好的是行业发展方向，这是非常积极的一面。
About Challenges
Q3. 当前贵公司3D打印相关的业务所面临的主要挑战是什么？
A: 挑战来自于需要为正确的应用匹配和开发正确的材料与技术，目前仍有非常少量的材料可供使用，我们关注的是在进入不同行业时所面临的新的应用的发展空间。不同的行业及其监管要求都需要不同的产品性能，很多精力需要专注于开发差异化的材料，航空航天就是一个例子，医疗保健产品也有一套不同的法规，甚至是铁路行业的需求也不尽相同。这里不存在以不变应万变的良方，随着增材制造应用的深入，新的应用领域不断出现，我们需要尽快开发出正确的材料以满足不同应用的需求。
About the knowhow
Q4. 如果把视野投在更广泛的应用领域，扩展到包括家用电器或一般消费品领域，SABIC这样的大型材料公司的背景，包括从注塑成型行业所获取的经验，是否可以以某种方式转移到增材制造领域？SABIC是否从某种程度上在跨行业应用领域受益？
A: 的确，SABIC这样的大型材料公司的人员可以与您详细谈论航空航天、医疗保健、消费电子、汽车行业等不同行业的需求和发展变化。因此，我认为知识库和对每个行业在材料性能，规格和质量方面要求的理解方面都是独一无二的。基于对材料和应用两个领域的理解，我们在增材制造行业具备了更坚实的基础。例如，我们的长丝质量非常高，因为我们知道它与您可以生产的零件的质量直接相关，所以在长丝领域的积累可以转移到增材制造行业。
About the future of AM
Q5. 您个人或者您公司对与未来5年增材制造行业的发展看法如何？
A: 我们预计该行业将继续保持两位数增长。不确定性是具体是什么因素在驱动这样的增长。3D打印用于规模生产是大家共同的理想和目标，然而这会发生在5年，10年或20年吗？这很难说。我认为大规模定制和较小规模的生产运行仍将是短期内增材制造的聚焦点。为了实现全面的大规模生产，仍有许多障碍需要克服。即使是我们现在环顾formnext展会，你会发现很多小型或独特的小众应用，我认为将继续以这种方式发展一段时间，具体是多少年很难说，不过有一点是清晰的，未来五年将继续快速增长。
*根据3D科学谷的市场研究，国内已有SLS技术加工PC的案例，具体信息请参考3D科学谷发布的《3D打印塑料白皮书》
-- 英文采访 --
Q1: What’s your highlights here at Formnext?
A: SABIC has started in this space simply as a raw materials provider. So we have been active in additive manufacturing for about 10 years, providing materials to Stratasys primarily. The ULTEM materials or filaments Stratasys markets are from our portfolio of resins. Since then we have expanded into supplying our own materials. In 2017 we launched a variety of filaments specifically for use on the Stratasys platform. I would say the thing that is different this year is that we are expanding that to a broader range of open platform machines. You can see parts on display that have been printed on a variety of other open platform systems like Roboze, 3NTR, Apium. Our goal there is to get our materials out as broadly as possible to drive application development. We really see our focus being in driving to new application spaces and in driving to higher volume production. Our primary goal is to provide the materials which enable companies to do that.
In terms of new materials we are introducing on the filaments side, we have a new support material for ULTEM 9085 which is an easy release support. We are in the process of going through the final validation and commercialization stages with that product. It should be commercial in January and the feedback we are getting from our initial service bureau and equipment manufacturing partners is that it saves a lot of time in removing the support material from the part itself. So very good feedback on that.
The other thing we do have on display – and we tell everybody about this here – actually a product which we introduced last year which is a filament LEXAN™ EXL AMHI240F. It is a polycarbonate copolymer and it provides up to 4 times the impact strength of a standard polycarbonate. This year it was recognized by TCT as the “Material Innovation of the Year”. The importance of that is multifaceted, but when we look for validation for the work we are doing – the judges who are part of that [award] are industry experts and long-term players in this industry. For them to recognize it, is validation for our underlying assumption that what this industry needs is differentiated material performance. That is what we are really trying to drive.
Along those lines we also have a variety of new filaments that will be commercialized really soon, things like an FST – flames smoke and toxicity product for the aerospace industry that’s made from polycarbonate as opposed to ULTEM, so lower temperature but it still has the same flammability performances as a 9085 type product.
On the SLS space we have what we believe is very unique technology to be able to produce amorphous parts on SLS equipment, which is traditionally using semi-crystal materials. The first material we are looking at is polycarbonate. We have a variety of parts on display that are fully amorphous with 96%+ density polycarbonate parts. It is 100% recyclable. You can take material that has been through the SLS process, just take it and put right back in. You don’t need to add refresh material. We have demonstrated that through 4 cycles to this point which is significantly different from any other material that is out there for SLS. In addition, the technology we use to be able to print those amorphous parts out of polycarbonate is translatable to other base resins, other materials. We have got proof-of-concept parts out of polyurethane which are also fully amorphous laser sintered parts.
We are excited to move those types of technologies forward. That broadens the material portfolio and it broadens the application spaces that are attainable to designers. We think that ultimately that’s what drives the growth of the industry.
The other area we are very active in is large format printing. Such asfor Local Motors’ Strati car and recently their Olli vehicle, the self-driving electric shuttle. And with a company called CNC-Barcenas we have printed a ventilation grill for ocean vessels, quite a large grill. It takes weight out of the process and time – what used to have a lead time of a few weeks they can print now in a few hours. Each ship has 40 or more of these ventilation grills, but they are all different sizes. So it fits very well with the additive manufacturing scope.
The biggest benefit for large part additive manufacturing, we believe, is in tooling. There is a wide range of tooling applications for thermal forming. You need a variety of different base resins as the carrier but they need to be reinforced materials. So we start with those as a base resin and then we add a filler that could be glass fibre, carbon fibre, could be milled glass or any other type of material with different suitability for different applications. We have examples of thermal forming tools out here for an aircraft interior panel.
Q2: If you compare this year business performance as opposed the last year, how has it been?
A: I won’t be able to answer specifically for SABIC, but for any large materials company additive manufacturing is still a small part of our business. This is when you compare additive manufacturing with injection moulding for example, where most of these companies have their history. It is still very small but growing. We see the value in additive manufacturing, the uniqueness of these materials and the ability to design and produce parts that cannot be done by other technologies. Still very positive on where the industry is headed.
Q3: What are the major challengesas Renishaw that you are currently facing?
A: To me it really comes down to the availability of the right products for the right applications. Even if you look at any of the technologies on the plastics side there is still a very small number of materials available today and what we focus on is allowing new application spaces to develop as you move into different industries. Different industries and their regulatory requirements ask for different products. A lot of energy goes into bringing differentiated materials and that could be anything. Aerospace is an example of that and healthcare products have a different set of regulations thanlet’s say railway. As additive manufacturing expands and finds new areas of application our role is to provide the right products [materials] that can meet those requirements.
Q4: When walking away from the highly regulated industries – and it is being talked about in AM that the user industries are broadening – into very different maybe more mass manufacturing oriented applications such as household appliances or generally consumer goods, is the background large material companies such as SABIC have in let’s say injection moulding transferrable in some way to the additive manufacturing sphere? Do you benefit there in a way?
A: When you look at companies like SABIC, large materials companies, what is unique is that we have played in these markets for decades. We have people in our organization who can talk to you in detail about aerospace appliances, people focused solely on healthcare, people in consumer electronics and automotive. So I think it is that knowledge base and understanding of the requirements of each of those industries which are unique in terms of material performance, specification and quality. We have all of those capabilities built within our business because we have been working with these industries before outside of additive manufacturing.
This is reflected also in our additive products. Our filaments for example are of very high quality because we know it relates directly to the quality of the part you can produce. It is these kinds of things that are transferrable to the additive industry. Something that had largely been missing when this all was still more of prototyping, but it is changing and materials companies have a role to play in that regard. We do have a different perspective on what it will take for this technology to be broadly adopted.
Q5: How do you think things will develop over the next 5 year?
A: We would agree with the Wholers report forecast. We expect the industry will continue to enjoy double digit growth. The uncertainty is where that growth comes from. There is an aspirational goal to become a production technology. Will that happen in 5, 10 or 20 years? I don’t know. I think you can find pockets of it and you can point at such pockets already today. But I think mass customization and smaller production runs are going to remain the biggest focus for additive in the short term. To get to full scale mass production, there are still a lot of hurdles to overcome. You can find use cases today where that does work but I don’t think that is the standard. If you look around the show today you find a lot smaller or unique niche applications and I think it will continue to develop that way for a period of time – if 5 years, I can’t say. The industry is settling in, becoming comfortable with this kind of growth trajectory. However, growth will continue quite rapidly over the next five years.
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