BMW Completes Project to Automate Plastic 3D Printing – 3DPrint.com

The POLYLINE Project has been completed after a three-year journey. This endeavor, headquartered at BMW’s Additive Manufacturing Campus, pooled the expertise of EOS, DyeMansion, BMW, and automation entity Grenzebach, alongside contributions from filtration specialist Krumm, software firm 3YOURMIND, chemical cleaning expert Olschner, infrared camera producer Optris, traceability and marking firm Additive Marking, supply chain services provider WAZP, service firm PROTIQ, Oechsler, and intriguingly, chainsaw company STIHL. The project was also enriched by the involvement of academics from the universities in Paderborn and Duisburg-Essen as well as Augsburg and Dortmund. Fraunhofer IML, IGCV and WAZP were also involved.

Sarah Saunders, Senior Editor at 3DPrint.com, highlighted in her initial report, published in 2020, the importance of a comprehensive documentation of quality criteria, core characteristics, from the CAD model through to the final print. She also called for the automation of sub-processes such as selective laser sintering and cooling, along with post-processing. It was the goal to integrate seamlessly all aspects of laser powder bed fusion production. Now it seems the project has achieved its goals.

The consortium employed the EOS P500 printer, while Grenzebach’s Exchange P500/4 product efficiently handled empire build removals and cooling, enhancing printer optimization. Integration of automated guided vehicles for build conveyance and an automated sorting system helped streamline the operation flow. This was orchestrated using a software layer. DyeMansion’s apparatus played a key role in surfacing and dyeing, with its PowerShot DUAL Performance managing cleaning and resurfacing tasks.

“ The successful POLYLINE project shows that an end- to- end automated factory is possible with 3D printing – and this is just the beginning,” said DyeMansion CTO Philipp Kramer.

“The POLYLINE automated process chain fits into the next The standard production requirements for our printers are not system specific. Due to their standard interfaces, they are a great solution. It is essential for scaling up additive Manufacturing,” said Dr. Blanka Szost-Ouk, Head of Additive Manufacturing, Predevelopment & Planning at BMW Group.

“ We have developed this at BMW for the automotive industry and we can now adopt and adjust it to other industries,” Fabian Krauß, Head of Polymer Systems at EOS, contributed.

“The main advantages of automation are to increase the productivity of the equipment, Reduce the downtime for equipment and create a safer work environment. employees,” Oliver Elbert, Head of Additive Manufacturing at Grenzebach suggested.

With an investment of around $11 million the German consortium made some significant progress. The project is a testament to integration, meticulous track, collaborative effort and cohesive software tying. Despite the numerous meetings, coffee breaks and chart analyses that were required, this project was a success. A feasible polymer-powder bed fusion system is now closer to reality. This promising trajectory suggests that future iterations can be tailored to perfection, allowing other entities and organizations to collaborate on similar solutions. This combination of a potential drop in labor costs and improved repeatability and reliability presents an opportunity and challenge to our industry.

This is just one part of a BMW’s multifaceted approach to automate 3D printing, which sits alongside key projects, including one to automate metal 3D printing and another dedicated to sand core printing. BMW Group’s IDAM project has implemented two fully-automated 3D printed automobile production lines, including AI and robotics, for metal LPBF platform. BMW also automated 3D printing large-scale cores of sand for casting cylinders in high-efficiency engines using Loramendi and Voxeljet.

The hope for POLYLINE now rests on the consortium’s continuity, aiming to unveil fully automated lines to a broader market spectrum. The key integration of such a system is thought to be a catalyst for cost effective, extensive part production. This will make more items affordable.