With the rise of additive manufacturing, we wanted to better understand what additive manufacturing is and how it become incorporated into United Performance Metals' business. To continue our series, we sat down and talked to Chris Prue who is the Applications Development Manager for UPM Additive, to get his insight on the additive industries and what is to come for UPM.
Q: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us Chris! First off, could you tell us how you got involved with additive manufacturing?
A: When I was working at GE Power, I got into a project for next gen turbine blade design. I then moved to another company in Cincinnati that did powder bed infusion, and I got my first real taste of additive technology.
Q: What was your experience with GE like?
A: Completely different than a small company. It’s a giant company and has a huge pool of resources, so I could see what it takes to make a big change within the industry. Implementing additive into GE Aviation was amazing. From there, I was involved with GE Additive and got into binder jetting additive processes. Simply being on the ground floor of that kind of innovation was awesome.
Q: What are some of the materials that UPM Additive provides and how are these materials instrumental in the industries we serve?
A: Titanium is paramount, and copper is another very important material we service. Inconel 718 and even stainless/aluminum play key roles as well.
Q: How does UPM Additive add value to the materials?
A: We have the culture of pleasing customers and listening to them/what they need. As we are gaining customers, we need to keep customers happy with lower prices and be able to predict what customers want. If a customer doesn’t need us for one thing, we offer other services to meet their needs. Customers really need brilliant engineers to make new products, and they don’t want to worry about buying raw materials and refurbing build plates, etc. Customer driven solutions is why we are here.
Q: Can you walk me through the end-to-end journey of what a piece of metal that comes through our additive center goes through?
A: Initially, a customer comes to us with a print; we determine a cost; we order the material that gets cuts to a rough size, and we’ll then bring that into our facility to be cut to shape and finished. We will then inspect that piece, have it shipped to the customer, and they put the build plate into their machine to make whatever they want. They can ship that to us and ask for heat, stress relief or wire edm treatment. The majority of what we get back are plates with artifacts on it. We then grind those artifacts off and we inspect it again and resurface the build plate.
Q: What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of additive manufacturing?
A: Within additive you build a part from nothing, instead of whittling a piece of metal, creating scrap, which in turn, creates a much smaller carbon footprint. Additive manufacturing is going to be huge in part-making in every industry. However, the additive process involves working with a lot of fine powder, so safety Is a big risk. Programs must be set up appropriately. One disadvantage is that additive is typically more expensive, so customers need to know when to use it.
Q: What does something so innovative mean for UPM moving forward?
A: It keeps us on pace with the disruption going on in the supply chain right now. It’s a great marriage of our knowledge of raw materials and the next generation of power users and manufacturing. We are here with the traditional knowledge that will aid the next generation of innovation. Building our reputation within the industry is also going to be key. We’re growing up with the industry, too.
Q: One final question: With the additive industry growing so much, how do you see the manufacturing world changing in the next 10 to 20 years?
A: Obviously, additive is going to be a major player. The prototyping aspect of additive is going to increase innovation, but the traditional methods will not go away. In terms of accelerated technology, prototyping, powder bed fusion, and more, additive will aid traditional industries in a huge way. Additive manufacturing will encourage invention above all else.
Posted October 07, 2022
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