ECO 3D October: The latest economic news in 3D Printing

Every month, 3Dnatives summarised the major economic and business news in the 3D printing world. The last month had some very important events occur, from Ultimaker investments to record-breaking performances by Renishaw, and Amazon buying 3D software firm Body Labs.

Rolls Royce harnesses light of 10 billion suns

Rolls Royce are no strangers to 3D printing, and have been using additive manufacturing methods for over a decade. They currently use additive manufacturing via Direct Enegy Deposition to create bladed disks for their engines. This process can also repair disks that have become damaged. The scientists themselves admit they they don’t actually know what happens during the process. They don’t know whether “the laser is melting it on the surface or melting the powder in the air.”

What we do know, is that using special equipment analyzing the particle-level reactions occurring in the build chamber we can witness the process. This is done through circulating electrons around a storage ring close to the speed of light, producing a light ten billion times brighter than the sun. This allows us to analyse the regularity of the metal layers being deposited and find out why irregularities occur. The eventual aim from this research is to create a 3D printer than can correct itself to avoid faults in the components.