ETN Additive Manufacturing (L-PBF) Machine Evaluation Initiative
Additive Manufacturing technology is a key enabler for developing capabilities with innovative component designs and for reducing costs and lead time of production. Ensuring productivity and end-product quality is vital for the long term competitiveness of our industry. This collaborative project provides the opportunity to better understand the capabilities and boundaries of the technology for the energy industry by reviewing market-available solutions, with the ultimate goal to provide supportive ground to push these limits further.
ETN’s unique L-PBF Machine Evaluation Initiative was developed among members of ETN’s Additive Manufacturing Working Group.
Scope of the Project
ETN’s unique L-PBF Machine Evaluation Initiative was developed among members of ETN’s Additive Manufacturing Working Group. The project will review capabilities of Laser-Powder Bed Fusion (aka L-PBF, Selective Laser Melting) equipment currently available on the market.
The involved manufacturers will be manufacturing parts with Nickel Alloy 718 powder, according to specifications defined in collaboration with members of the ETN Additive Manufacturing Working Group. The parts to be produced include features of specific interest to the energy sector, such as thin walls and cooling channels. Performance, quality and productivity are key elements that will be evaluated.
Additive Manufacturing technology is a key enabler for developing capabilities with innovative component designs and for reducing costs and lead time of production. Ensuring productivity and end-product quality is vital for the long term competitiveness of our industry. This collaborative project provides the opportunity to better understand the capabilities and boundaries of the technology for the energy industry by reviewing market-available solutions, with the ultimate goal to provide supportive ground to push these limits further.
ETN’s unique L-PBF Machine Evaluation Initiative was developed among members of ETN’s Additive Manufacturing Working Group.
Scope of the Project
ETN’s unique L-PBF Machine Evaluation Initiative was developed among members of ETN’s Additive Manufacturing Working Group. The project will review capabilities of Laser-Powder Bed Fusion (aka L-PBF, Selective Laser Melting) equipment currently available on the market.
The involved manufacturers will be manufacturing parts with Nickel Alloy 718 powder, according to specifications defined in collaboration with members of the ETN Additive Manufacturing Working Group. The parts to be produced include features of specific interest to the energy sector, such as thin walls and cooling channels. Performance, quality and productivity are key elements that will be evaluated.
Outcome
The outcome of the project will consist of a detailed report, evaluating and comparing technical and commercial characteristics of selected AM machines available on the market and sample parts they produced. The full report will only be available to ETN partners
Value Proposition
The ETN L-PBF Machine Evaluation Initiative provides the ETN Partners with a unique holistic Repository of machine’s productivity and quality information:
- Exclusive access for financers to the report giving 100% transparency of the evaluation of 5 Laser Powder Bed Fusion machines
- Unique report providing an overview of market-available equipment, with short project delivery time, based on a 5-month project timeline
- Detailed insight in achieved results, which are in as-built condition, i.e. without post processing
- Comparison of both Technical and Commercial KPIs, CAPEX and OPEX, including productivity (based on established standards e.g. ASTM, ISO, NF)
- Opportunity to compare results of machines which use equal powder, for identical topologies incl. test bars & test component
- Baseline to potentially compare your machine performance to the 5 ones of this Initiative
- Database to potentially compare your printing performance
- Independent reporting by impartial 3rd party and independent testing by single sovereign contractor
- Enabling an informed decision for machine procurement or contractor selection
- Access to detailed repository/overview of all machine’s technical details
- Provides information to support qualification of the technology for users
- Comparatively low participation cost, as costs are divided transparently among partners without surcharge
Become a partner
Interested organisations may contact Rene Vijgen (rv@etn.global) for more information on how to become a partner.
About ETN Global: ETN Global is a unique membership association bringing together the entire value chain of the gas turbine technology community globally. Through cooperative efforts and by initiating common activities and projects, ETN optimises gas turbine research and technology development and promotes environmentally sound gas turbine technology with reliable and low-cost operation.
About ETN’s Additive Manufacturing Working Group: Members of ETN have initiated in 2018 an ETN Additive Manufacturing Working Group with the purpose to strengthen the cooperation between stakeholders of the turbomachinery value chain on additive manufacturing topics, which would ultimately allow faster and wider deployment of the technology in the gas turbine sector. This Working Group is composed of experts from across the whole gas turbine value chain: power generation and oil & gas companies, OEMs, R&D institutes, suppliers, service providers and technology consultancies.
Organisations involved in the ETN Additive Manufacturing WG:
