David Hardacre | Additive Manufacturing (AM) Technical Lead, Lloyd’s Register Energy

3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing

How is the qualified development and adoption of 3D printing technology helping the industry to mitigate its risk?

Working togetherfor a safer world

Our team here today

We help our clients toDavid Hardacre David is the Technical Lead on the Additive Manufacturing project for LR Energy.

He is a Chartered Mechanical Design Engineer with over seventeen years’ experience. He holds the role of Lead Specialist for LR Energy, performing independent design calculations for a wide range of equipment to recognised standards and regulations.

Andrew Imrie Andy works as part of the Energy Business Development Group responsible for the upstream, downstream, power and manufacturing businesses. He is at the forefront of identifying trends within the marketplace and maintains a strong focus on facilitating and delivering collaborative innovation and technology projects.

Where we started

Our heritage is genuinely historic

• Formed in 1760 in Edward Lloyd’s coffee house to examine and ‘classify’ merchant ships according to their condition.

We have 250 years of global marine history.

• The world’s first ship classification society and this remains our core activity today.

…and over 100 years serving other industries across society from energy, rail, food safety to power and manufacturing.

About the technology

.stl file

Additive manufacturing (AM) works by “adding” material layer by layer

• “Adding” can be melting, sintering, gluing, freezing…anything that can bind granules/layers of material.

• Materials can be metal, plastics, ceramics, sand…anything that can be deposited in a granular/layer fashion.

It’s been around in various processes for nearly 30 years

• It started in 1986 by hardening and combining layers of photo-sensitive liquid using UV light.

• It’s been well established within Aerospace and Medical sectors, and is picking up speed in Energy and Marine.

3D CAD model

.stl file 3D printer 3D objectPost

processing

What is 3D Printing

Copyright © TWI Ltd

Medical and aerospace are the pioneers

Medical

• Design freedom and specificity.

• Reduced weight.

• Longevity.

Aerospace

• Design freedom.

• Reduced weight.

• Longevity.

…before

after…

What is 3D Printing

The MERLIN project has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 266271.

Copyright © TWI Ltd

Our work supports and is supported by standards development efforts

General Top-LevelAM Standards• General concepts.• Common requirements.• Generally applicable.

Category AM Standards• Specific to material or

process category.

Special AM StandardsSpecific to material, process or application.

TerminologylASTM F2792-12Al ISO 17296-1l ISO/ASTM 52921-13

Processes/Materialsl ISO 17296-2lQualification and Certification MethodslRequirements for Purchased AM PartslNon-Destructive Evaluation Methods

Test Methodsl ISO17296-3l Test ArtefactslGeneral Test MethodslPerformance Test Methods

Design/Data Formatsl ISO 17296-4l ISO/ASTM 52915-13lData Structures and Metrics for AM Models

Raw MaterialslMaterial Category-Specific

• Metal Powders• Polymer Powders• Photopolymer Resins• Ceramics• Etc.

Process/EquipmentlProcess Category/Material-Specific

• Powder Bed Fusion• Ti6-4; IN625; Others;

• Material Extrusion• Directed Energy Deposition• Etc.

Finished PartslStandard Protocols for Round Robin TestinglMechanical Test Methods (e.g. Tensile, Porosity, Fracture)

• Metals; Polymers; Others;lPart SpecificationslEtc.

lMaterial-Specific Standards• Material-Specific Size

Specification• Material-Specific Chemical

Composition• Material-Specific Viscosity

Specification• Etc.

lProcess/Material-SpecificStandards

• Process-Specific Performance Test Methods

• Process-Specific Test Artefacts

• System Component Test Methods

• Etc.

lApplication-Specific Standards• Aerospace• Medical• Automotive• Etc.

AM Design Factors? FatigueCurves?

Translation errors (CAD, STL, scans)

Build orientation & support structure

Final inspection and proof

testing

Mechanical testing of test

pieces

3D scan for verification of

geometry

Crack nucleation & micro-crack growth

CAD experience, geometric tolerance for AM

Remove support

structuresHeat Treatment

Contamination during atomization

Build reports

Storage – risk of oxidisation

Clean-up & handling

Maintenance & calibration requirements

Consistency between

machines

Build chamber essential

variables (e.g. evacuation,

table, spreader)

Laser/EB essential variables

(e.g. power, speed)

Recyclability of powder

Variation in powder size

No mechanical properties at this stage

Installation requirements

Access to source

code

Cleanliness (procedures for

pre- & post-build)

Accuracy of real-time

inspection(sensor

accuracy)

Replenish feedstock during

long builds

Variability and inherent risk

This variability can

negatively impact

the bottom line on

• Safety

• Quality

• Cost

Variability and inherent risk

Energy-specific

applications and benefits

Fewer intermediate processes

• Fewer steps in the build process reduces risk within the build programme.

More reactive supply chain

• A shorter, optimised supply chain is more reactive with reduced risk of delays.

Cost reduction

• Provides upstream companies with an opportunity to mitigate risks within their budgets and programmes.

Supply chain shortening

A traditional supply chain…Copyright © http://www.jll.eu/

Weight reduction

• Designing parts optimised for AM allows parts to be made using less material with no reduction in integrity. This offers a commercial advantage by reducing waste.

Fewer component parts

• Parts consisting of multiple sub-components (to enable traditional fabrication) that require assembly can be made in fewer parts (potentially even a single part) utilising AM.

Design freedom

• Designers can focus on optimising parts for performance rather than being constrained by build-ability using traditional methods.

Design flexibility and freedom

Reduced turnaround times

• Using AM to reduce turnaround times for critical parts by performing ‘local’ manufacture on the platform.

• Build time will also be reduced once the process is certified (with CAD model and powder readily available). Significant reductions in build time are expected for highly complex, fabricated parts.

Reduced spares requirement

• If build time is sufficiently short, this could reduce the need for large numbers of spares to be stored locally.

• This limits waste and redundancy without increasing the risk to business interruption.

Obsolete components

• Replacing obsolete components is currently a risk, as longer lead-times required to reverse-engineer the component and source a new manufacturer.

• 3D scan/CT scan of the part allows CAD model to be generated with ease, modified if necessary, then built using AM for faster turnaround.

Replacement parts

Onboard Printing ofReplacement Parts

Weight Reduction and Design Optimisation

Improved ReliabilityThrough Material Cladding

Integrated ComponentProduction

Some of the technology adopters

Working together

for a safer world

1 | Existing standards can’t

be safely applied to the AM

process for offshore products

• Control systems and lessons learned are not directly transferable from welding to AM.

• The use of powder as feedstock, controllable processing parameters and pre-heated parts results in new design, manufacturing requirements and recommendations.

• Replacement of existing components with structurally complex, lightweight designs may create inaccessible internal features which demand separate treatment.

2 | Energy and offshore

products are often used for

safety critical applications in

harsh environmental

conditions

• AM components may fail to meet current minimum requirements, depending on the material and application.

3 | A certification system

could act as a stabilising

force for quality and safety

• The rapid emergence of innovative printing technologies and companies that offer printing services is a double-edged sword, creating new commercial opportunities but also generating a continuous amount of change that could compromise quality and safety.

• While the scale of energy and offshore products encourages the use of large format printers, a closer examination of these printed parts suggests a lack of readiness of these systems for fabricating structural components.

Three reasons why Energy needs a certification scheme

Benefits of certification

LR is forging a path to marketCertified parts will meet industrial requirements for quality, safety, and consistency, and which are qualified ready for market introduction.

Manufacturers

• Cost-efficiencies in “doing it right the first time”.

• Saleability of products.

• Safety of personnel.

End-Users

• Confidence in component safety, operationality and quality.

• Assurance of compliance to regulatory requirements.

• Reduced downtime – less business interruption.

Insurers

• Confidence in component safety, operationality and quality.

• Reduced downtime - reduction in frequency of claims.

What’s in it for everyone

Where to from here

Manufacturers

• Feedback on the usability and timeliness of our industry guidance and service offerings.

End-Users

• We are looking to help support industry adoption in a safe and sustainable way – from feasibility assessment through to supply chain integration.

Insurers

• We believe our industry guidance should provide increased confidence in AM products.

• What more can we do to increase your confidence?

We’re here to help

Jan Jul Jan Jul Jan Jul Jan Jul Jan Jul Jan

2015 2016 20192017 2018

1st EditionLR/TWI Guidelines

LR/TWI JIP Case Studies

JIP Launch event

Completion of PhD projects

PhD Complex components

NSIRC PhDs - Materials

Collaboration with universities

Live Jobs / Case Studies

2020

Subsequent editionsLR/TWI Guidelines

Timelines

2nd EditionLR/TWI Guidelines

Get in touch

Technical Lead

David Hardacre

Email: david.hardacre@lr.org

Find out more at: www.lr.org/additive-manufacturing

JIP Co-ordinator

Luke Morsillo

Email: luke.morsillo@lr.org

Business Development

Andrew Imrie

Email: andrew.imrie@lr.org