AMSYSTEMS CEnTEr

The next generation equipment for additive manufacturing

AMSYSTEMS Center

Visiting address Postal addressDe Lismortel 31 P.O. Box 805612 AR Eindhoven 5600 AB EindhovenThe Netherlands The Netherlands

www.amsystemscenter.comwww.linkedin.com/company/amsystemscenter

Cover picture:

Picture of a light engine developed for continuous selective laser sintering of polymer materials.

The engine consists of multiple infrared laser sources, operated independently to create 3D products.

ColophonGregor van BaarsPieter DebrauwerEdwin van den EijndenPascal EtmanJaap LombaersErwin MeindersKatja PahnkeRiley Reese

PhotographyBart van Overbeeke FotografieAMSYSTEMS Center

Copyright © 2017 AMSYSTEMS CenterThe entire content of this publication is protected by copyright, full details of which are available from AMSYSTEMS Center. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without reference to AMSYSTEMS Center.

AMSYSTEMS CEnTEr

The next generation equipment for additive manufacturing

Innovation by:

ConTEnTS

1. Executive summary ...................................................................................................4

2. Context / opportunities for industry and society ....................................7

3. Introducing AMSYSTEMS Center .....................................................................12

4. Application fields ......................................................................................................18

4.1 Food .......................................................................................................................20 Drivers and opportunities..........................................................................................20 Challenges .................................................................................................................20 Roadmap ...................................................................................................................21 Partner landscape ......................................................................................................21

4.2 Pharma .................................................................................................................22 Drivers and opportunities..........................................................................................22 Challenges .................................................................................................................23 Roadmap ...................................................................................................................23 Partner landscape ......................................................................................................23

4.3 Electronic devices ...........................................................................................24 Drivers and opportunities..........................................................................................24 Challenges .................................................................................................................24 Roadmap ...................................................................................................................25 Partner landscape ......................................................................................................25

4.4 Medical .................................................................................................................26 Drivers and opportunities..........................................................................................26 Challenges .................................................................................................................26 Roadmap ...................................................................................................................27 Partner landscape ......................................................................................................27

4.5 High-tech applications .................................................................................28 Drivers and opportunities..........................................................................................28 Challenges .................................................................................................................28 Roadmap ...................................................................................................................29 Partnerships ..............................................................................................................29

5. Technology platforms and assets ...................................................................30 Introduction .........................................................................................................................30 From batch-wise processing to continuous AM ..................................................................31 PrintValley ...........................................................................................................................31 High-speed SLA ....................................................................................................................34 Food printing .......................................................................................................................36

6. Position in the AM landscape............................................................................41

7. Partnership model ...................................................................................................45

8. Keys to success ...........................................................................................................48

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1. ExECuTivE SuMMArY

The AMSYSTEMS CenterIn 2016, TNO and High Tech Systems Center (HTSC) of the Eindhoven University of

Technology (TU/e) founded the AMSYSTEMS Center. This joint innovation center is dedicated to developing next generation additive manufacturing production equipment for smart, personalized and multi-functional products. Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, concerns methods whereby products are produced layer by layer. The AMSYSTEMS Center targets high-tech applications, 3D printed electronic devices, and 3D printed food and healthcare applications, with spin-off to other markets that require personalized, on-demand manufacturing.

At the heart of the Brainport / Eindhoven regionThe AMSYSTEMS Center is at the heart of the Brainport region and has a strong link with

the Dutch Smart Industry action agenda. It has also established the Smart Industry Fieldlab Multi-M3D and received an investment grant for an AM pilot line (PrintValley2020) to be operated at the Brainport Industries Campus (BIC).

Scientific and technological challengesFor many applications AM technology is still immature. The product quality is typically

inferior to that obtained with conventional manufacturing methods: limited choice of available materials; low yield due to process-induced defects; high manufacturing costs, and production speeds are typically low. The AMSYSTEMS Center sets out to solve these issues by focusing on the development of new multi-material/multi-technology AM concepts and integrating these technologies in mass-customization production chains. Thereby, AM becomes an integral part of the 4th industrial revolution.

Our focusThe center brings AM concepts from prototyping to industrialization, with the emphasis on

new functionality and cost-effective manufacturing while maintaining system flexibility, stability and reliability. The center activities focus on developing: 1. new concepts for multi-material / multi-technology digital manufacturing; 2. high-speed and continuous AM technology; 3. in-line metrology and quality inspection technologies, and 4. novel integration and ICT architectures.

The AMSYSTEMS Center targets the development of high-tech equipment for manufacturing smart and integrated products, smart electronics, customized medical products, printed food, and 3D printed pharmaceutical. Examples are complete implants, prostheses, dental bridgework, smart electronics like E-pill, smart connectors and integrated LEDs, or spare parts for high-tech equipment that can be printed on the spot when needed.

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Focus on research and equipment building.

Why will it work?The AMSYSTEMS Center brings together two complementary expertise areas in a joint

proposition. They are the mechatronics and materials expertise of the HTSC, and the TNO’s AM concept development and 3D printing knowledge. In addition, a new chair and research group ‘Mechatronics Systems Design’ with a focus on Advanced Manufacturing will be established at the Eindhoven University of Technology. It is foreseen that within four years 25 PhD student research assistants will be undertaking research and that more than 50 full-time professionals will be involved in the center. Common facilities and infrastructure on the university campus, together with joint research under one roof, will increase cooperation between the founding fathers TNO and TU/e HTSC, and give industrial partners easy access to the programs and research staff.

How it will work?The center stimulates the co-creation of ecosystems around new AM equipment concepts,

organized in shared research innovation programs that address next generation AM equipment challenges and create value for companies along the value chain. AMSYSTEMS offers a mix of shared fundamental and applied research as well as contract research, to serve the industry’s specific application needs.

2. ConTExT / opporTuniTiES for induSTrY And SoCiETY

Societal challenges and their relation to smart manufacturing and smart products were the key motivation for TNO and TU/e HTSC to found the AMSYSTEMS Center.

Nowadays, Europe is faced with the offshoring of business processes, such as manufacturing, to cheaper-labor countries. Digitization of the industry, including smart manufacturing and mass customization, is seen as a key opportunity for Western society to reverse this trend. It will help build a sustainable manufacturing ecosystem in Europe again, strengthen the European economy, provide employment possibilities, and increase welfare and security in Europe.

A flexible and decentralized, resource-efficient manufacturing infrastructure is needed to reduce costs, optimize supply chain management, allow smaller production series, and enable mass-customization. The manufacturing industry is therefore in a radical transition as the trend moves towards the integration of distributed systems into decentralized, autonomous smart factories: the so-called fourth industrial revolution (Smart Industry or Industry 4.0).

Mass customization and personalization will enhance human performance. Examples include medical aids (e.g. diagnostic devices, exoskeletons, hearing aids, footwear, orthotics); implants or tissue replacement (e.g. dentures, bioactive implants, skin); food (e.g. adapting nutrition and texture to the needs of patients and the elderly); incorporation of sensor technology to monitor human performance, and personalized medicine (e.g. organ-on-a-chip and smart pills).

Local manufacturing on demand is also beneficial for reducing waste, as well as reducing transportation, material and energy costs. A reduction in material and energy usage will also positively impact CO2 imprint. Furthermore, on demand manufacturing fuels new business models and job creation.

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Example of a customized product,

an insole designed to the shape of a

person’s foot and printed from a flexible

polymer. The insole has designed

mechanical structures to accommodate

the pressure profiles during use.

Based on the manufacturing industry’s digitization trends, decentralized manufacturing (reshoring of the industry), and the increasing need for personalized and customized smart products, we envision a future smart factory in the personalized centric world. This factory will have an extensive ICT infrastructure in combination with flexible, single-product manufacturing cells, allowing small-series customization at large-series manufacturing cost and production levels. A potential business owner can upload their product design to the “cloud” which acts as data storage platform and processing server. The stored data can be accessed either by a single production facility or facilities distributed geographically apart, to build multi-component products. In this way an efficient manufacturing process can be achieved whether it is for a single product or a product series. Disruptive technologies will be incorporated into supply chain management and value chains leading to resource efficient, carbon neutral, environmental friendly production processes.

8 9 The smart industry toolbox.

Artist’s impression of a smart factory to

enable industries to produce resource

efficient customized smart products.

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an enabling technology for such a factory-of-the-future and offers numerous advantages compared to conventional subtractive manufacturing. It enables the manufacturing of complex, personalized products at low cost. AM also makes it possible to introduce multi-material products or parts with material gradients. Integration with design tools and CAD software will enable AM to impact significantly on both time and cost savings, as well as inventory, tooling, supply chain management, assembly, weight, and maintenance. By utilizing numerous state-of-the-art technologies such as pick-and-place, dispensing of (highly) viscous materials, and sintering, additive manufacturing can evolve from merely producing bespoke prototype parts to building smart objects.

Several markets benefit from mass-customization. The mass-customization of medical / sports insoles and other footwear brings comfort, performance and new functionality. Spare parts markets require first-time right, and on-demand manufacturing of functional parts. Areas of key interest include transportation (e.g. maintenance of infrastructure like trains, cruise ships and airplanes), automotive, and domestic appliances. Instead of expensive stock, part suppliers can upload files and print parts locally and on demand. The medical / dental implants market is also an appealing carrier for the smart factory, because it encompasses all elements of a smart industry: personalized manufacturing of medical tooling, implants, dentures and dental prostheses, from mono- to multi-material products such as colored teeth, bridges and crowns.

Structural electronics is seen as another key application field for smart manufacturing. Applications include customized lighting, LED packaging, smart connectors, defense and space applications (e.g. 3D printed satellites), free-form, integrated printed circuit boards, and medical patches. For all these mass-customization applications, multi-material printing and component integration are key technology needs.

The smart factory also offers great potential for personalized food and medicine. 3D food printing could produce personalized food products that augment healthy and sustainable food production and consumption. With the right recipe and equipment, consumer food products can be made with optimized taste, texture and nutrition with a revolutionary process, reducing

waste and potential spoilage. Furthermore, high quality products can be made from alternative protein sources which is currently hampered by the low functional quality of these ingredients. Business opportunities for food producers and equipment manufacturers include new consumer equipment, ingredient cartridges, intelligent and unique food service models, and software. Therefore 3D food printing technology is rapidly developing into a highly competitive area of innovation.

3D printed pharmaceuticals recently received a lot of attention with the first FDA approved 3D printed pill, Spirtam. The motivation for pharmaceutical companies to explore the potential of printed pills includes the ability to personalize medicine, and to design and fabricate microstructures that dictate the release of active ingredients, referred to as controlled drug release. Personalized medicine gives customized health for the individual patient, and controlled drug release is one of the key parameters to facilitate personalized medicines. With 3D printing, personalized dosage forms and patient-specific dosages can be made. Tablets can be printed with tailored release profiles.

Key developments in basic research

The societal challenges and the related trends in digitization of manufacturing (the third/fourth industrial revolution, decentralized production via smart factories), and the need for personalized and customized products (e.g. medical aids, food and medicine), drive the need for smart manufacturing innovations. The smart manufacturing roadmap is driven by the next major challenges: E From prototyping to functional part manufacturing.E From single-material/function parts to multi-material/function parts.E From microscale towards nanoscale manufacturing (toward additive lithography).

These challenges require:

E New material innovations for increased functionality and performance.E New mechatronics principles, ICT and concepts for resource-efficient manufacturing and productivity.E Process control and in-line metrology for first-time-right production and high product quality, for single and

small-scale batches, including reproducibility and avoidance of system-to-system variation.E Process functionality of micro- and nano-scale additive manufacturing.

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3. inTroduCing AMSYSTEMS CEnTEr

A joint innovation center of TNO and HTSC TU/e, the AMSYSTEMS Center targets to accelerate development and adoption of industrial additive manufacturing by the industry.

TNO is a public applied research and innovation organization, connecting people and knowledge to create innovations that sustainably boost the competitive strength of industry and the welfare of society. Among other things, TNO focuses on the transition of industry from economic stagnation to growth in high-tech. TNO holds a strong knowledge and technology position in the field of advanced manufacturing, with a 15 year+ track record, particularly in polymer-based material innovations for AM, design for AM and advanced system concepts for high speed, high accuracy manufacturing. TNO introduced a disruptive approach to additive manufacturing by presenting the mass-customization concept PrintValley at the Euromold in 2011, an approach that TNO is continuously enhancing and expanding.

The Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is a technical university located in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The TU/e High Tech Systems Center (HTSC) is part of the TU/e and focuses on new mechatronics principles, material innovations and process control for manufacturability and product quality, via innovation programs with embedded PhD projects and industrial partnerships. The TU/e HTSC has a long track-record in mechatronics concepts and system engineering. In 2018 the TU/e will establish a new chair and research group ‘Mechatronics Systems Design’ with a focus on Advanced Manufacturing.

Research is carried out in challenging programs within the AMSYSTEMS Center collaboration by personnel from both TNO as well as the TU/e (e.g. PhD and PDEng candidates) in common facilities under one roof.

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Close up of a dispensing unit for

deposition of conductive tracks for

3D printed electronics applications.

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TNO and TU/e HTSC share the vision that additive manufacturing – with its key benefits of customization and personalization, freedom of design, cost-effectiveness, and on-demand manufacturing – will boost the market penetration and adoption of smart products. The two founding fathers TNO and TU/e HTSC bring complementary knowledge areas together in AMSYSTEMS Center to create a strong value-based proposition to serve the industry.

AMSYSTEMS Center focuses on developing new multi-material/multi-technology AM concepts and integrating these technologies in mass-customization production chains, making them an integral part of a ‘next generation industry’ approach. In contrast to other knowledge centers for additive manufacturing, AMSYSTEMS Center focuses predominantly on the production equipment for smart, personalized and multi-functional products.

AMSYSTEMS Center brings AM equipment concepts from prototyping to industrialization. Its emphasis is on products with new functionality and production systems providing first-time-right and cost-effective manufacturing while maintaining system flexibility, stability and reliability. The concepts are predominantly based on photo-polymerization, continuous selective laser sintering, high-speed powder bed fusion and nozzle-based deposition technologies such as FDM.

The innovations within AMSYSTEMS Center are aimed at developing: 1. new concepts for multi-material / multi-technology digital manufacturing; 2. high-speed / continuous AM technology; 3. in-line metrology and quality control technologies involving machine learning, and 4. novel integration and ICT architectures.

Via the strategic partnership between TNO and the TU/e HTSC, and the embedded PhD research projects, we have access to state-of-the-art mechatronics, control engineering, model based design, material science and multi-scale physics expertise.

AMSYSTEMS Center targets food, medical, electronic devices, pharmaceutical and high-tech applications that require personalized, customized, on-demand manufacturing.

We strive to expand our strategic alliance with complementary international R&D partners. We also strongly engage our large international network of material companies, equipment manufacturers and end users in shared and bilateral innovation programs. All these collaborations lead to the development of world-class, next generation additive manufacturing technology to enable and accelerate AM innovations by companies along the value chain.

AMSYSTEMS Center has initiated the Multi-M3D Fieldlab to work with the Dutch industry on mass-customization use cases for ceramics, 3D printed electronics and multi-color dentures. The AMSYSTEMS Center has a strong link with the Dutch Smart Industry action agenda.

14 15

Close-up of the high-speed, high-

resolution stereolithography

printer used for ceramics,

multi-material and 3D printed

electronics use cases.

AMSYSTEMS Center has a number of commercial state-of-the-art AM printers for polymer-based and food printing R&D work. In addition, the center has various experimental setups, developed in-house and custom-built. These setups are unique, next generation research tools to push the boundaries of additive manufacturing related to production speed (carousel printer with 1 m/s continuous build speed capability), resolution (up to 10 micron resolution with stereolithography), and multi-material (powder bed and nozzle based systems).

The summarized AMSYSTEMS vision of the future and its implications are given in Table 1, and is linked directly to the AMSYSTEMS roadmap (see overview AMSYSTEMS Center roadmap, page 19).

Table 1. Description of the AMSYSTEMS vision of the future and how it relates to the ambitions, goals and required

investment.

Vision

The digitization of manufacturing will disrupt the manufacturing landscape via decentralized production and smart factories. Also the need for smart and personalized products to enhance each individual’s quality of life will grow. In order to create these products, smart and flexible manufacturing technologies will be required. Additive manufacturing is identified as such a technology as it can provide mass customization of electronic devices, products with integrated functionalities, personalized pharmaceutics and food. Ultimately, such products will lead to improved quality of life for individuals and society as a whole. AM will create an industry that will enable a true circular economy through efficient production paradigms.

Ambition

AMSYSTEMS Center has the ambition to be among the world’s most trusted innovation centers in additive manufacturing equipment development for OEM companies, materials companies, producers of end-user products, and end-users. To achieve this we have a strong and dedicated team of talented scientists, researchers and engineers that can provide exceptional service, quality, and value to our customers. AMSYSTEMS will constantly push the boundaries of technology which will enable customized products in a resource efficient way.

Technical Goals

Continue the current equipment development for 3D printing to increase functionality, improve quality and resolution, and provide faster printing speeds. These developments move 3D printing from prototyping/shapes to functional products and eventually to smart products. The following generic challenges must be addressed: 1) new concepts for multi-material / multi-technology digital manufacturing; 2) high-speed / continuous AM technology; 3) in-line metrology and quality control technologies involving machine learning, and 4) novel integration and ICT architectures. Concrete technical goals include the baseline carousel printer (Printvalley2020) installed, with high-speed (0.5 m/s) continuous SLS printing functionality for spare part applications. The proof-of-concept of conductive tracks deposition for free-form electronics and sensor embedding in polymer parts. A voxel-based multi-ingredient 3D food printer. Controlled drug release structures printed with a pharmaceutical powder-bed system. The baseline photo-polymerization system up and running for high-tech (10cm*10cm ceramic parts), and medical applications involving multicolor dental parts.In order to achieve its goals AMSYSTEMS Center must continuously look for and invest in the next steps in 3D printing.

Business goals

The key performance indicators of AMSYSTEMS Center include 12 industrial partnerships, 15 PhD positions and a team size of 50 FTE by 2018. In 2020, the number of industrial partnerships is expected to have grown to over 20 and the team size grown towards 75 FTE. Also by 2020, AMSYSTEMS Center will have established 2 startup companies.

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4. AppliCATion fiEldS

AMSYSTEMS Center has currently selected 5 application fields. In each of these the oppor-tunities for industry and the research needed to enable these opportunities have been identi-fied. Moreover, AMSYSTEMS Center has identified its relevant technology propositions, unique selling points (w.r.t. technology, domain knowledge, IP, etc.) and existing projects / activities and partners.

The five markets / applications fields and targeted products are as follows:1. Food2. Pharma: patient-specific pills3. Electronic devices4. Medical: integrated implants5. High-tech applications: functional parts.

Each of these is described in the following paragraphs.

18 19Overview of AMSYSTEMS Center’s markets/applications roadmap.

PROTOTYPE

FUNCTIONAL PRODUCT

COMPLEX FUNCTIONALPRODUCT

FULLYCUSTOMIZABLE

MODEL TRAY BASEPLATE CROWNS BRIDGES FULL DENTUREASEPLATA

MED

ICAL

SHAPE RECIPE TEXTURE

textures

FOOD REPLICATOR

food

F OOD

HIGHTECH DESIGN CERAMIC PART INERT CHANNELS AM NANO STRUCTURES

ELECTR

ONIC

DEV

ICES

INTEGRATION MULTI MATERIAL

c

MULTI FUNCTIONAL FREEFORM ELECTRONICS

DESIGN

func�onal shapes

3D PRINTED ORAL

DOSAGE FORM

ORAL DOSAGE FORM

CONTROLLED RELEASE

MULTI DRUG ORAL

DOSAGE FORMS

PHARM

A

4.1 Food

Drivers and opportunities3D printing of food is a rapidly emerging technology that offers possibilities for creating

improved or new food products. Ultimately, this technology can provide fully personalized food products as well as food products that have unique properties. This personalization relates to shape (to create your own unique design), composition (to adapt food composition to your likings, medical needs, containing no allergens, being healthier without comprising taste or with alternative ingredients) or texture (to design and enable textures and structures that cannot be created with conventional methods). In addition to personalization, 3D food printing also provides new possibilities for on-demand local production of food products in restaurants, food services, pop-up stores and other locations.

ChallengesRecent developments in 3D food printing have mainly focused on shaping 3D printed foods.

The next step is to allow for personalization of recipes. This involves multi-ingredient printing and voxel (3D pixels) printing. Food products are usually complex multi-ingredient products. The ingredient formulations vary, for instance requiring the food printing equipment to process both powder and liquid ingredients.

The second challenge beyond mere shaping of food is to create texture in 3D printed food products. The taste of food is not only determined by the ingredient composition, but by the structure and the state in which the ingredients are included in the product as well. In order to have full control of these properties the printing resolution and printability of the ingredients are critical features to master.

Another challenge concerns process speed. For in-shop production and direct sale to customers the printing time of an individual food product should be in the order of minutes maximally. For in-factory production and delivery to customers the volumes of products sold are high and therefore upscaling of the technology is a key aspect, allowing for many products to be made simultaneously.

Finally there is the challenge of achieving acceptable costs per product. The food industry is an extremely cost-sensitive industry. In many cases, functional and/or commercial advantages of 3D printed food (as described above) may allow for some premium pricing, but even if so, usually it will be a limited premium.

Within the AMSYSTEMS Center collaboration there are already two PhDs working on the next generation food printer and several graduation students. In addition, collaborations with Wageningen University & Research (material formulation) and KU Leuven (food properties on microstructure level) are in place.

Roadmap

Partner landscapeAMSYSTEMS Center works with more than 10 globally leading companies / brands in the

food industry, from ingredients suppliers and end users to equipment manufacturers, including Mondelez, Givaudan, Dupont, Elsa Mifroma, Mars, Verstegen and Agropur. The launch of a first 3D food printer was made jointly with Barilla (globally the largest pasta company) on the World Expo in Milan in 2015.20 21

PROTOTYPE

FUNCTIONAL PRODUCT

COMPLEX FUNCTIONALPRODUCT

FULLYCUSTOMIZABLE

SHAPE RECIPE TEXTURE

textures

FOOD REPLICATOR

food

FOOD

4.2 Pharma

Drivers and opportunitiesPharmaceutical companies investigate 3D printing technology as a viable technology to

personalize medicines by providing pills with a fully personalized composition of ingredients. The growth of personalized medicine is based on the increasing understanding of genetics and genomics and their relation to health, disease and drug responses. Using this knowledge, personalized medicine enables doctors to provide better disease prevention, more accurate diagnoses, safer drug prescriptions and more effective treatments.

Furthermore, 3D printing can increase the functionality of pills via the design and fabrication of microstructures that control the release of active ingredients, APIs, in an optimized distribution over time. Referred to as controlled drug release, it takes personalized medicine beyond just personalization of the composition. Pills can be printed with tailored release profiles. Furthermore, 3D printing also offers the ability to make custom-designed tablet shapes that are easy to swallow, attractive, and company specific.

The connection to electronic pills will also open new frontiers including smart implants, with bio interfaces and electronics, implants with controlled drug release functionality and biomedical scaffold systems.

To bridge the gap between the future of smart medicine and today’s technology, 3D printing can be used to produce prototype pills and to quickly produce test formulations during clinical trials. These applications provide a way to test out the technology without having to meet all the FDA and EMA requirements to produce commercial medication.

ChallengesThe biggest challenge in producing personalized pills is satisfying regulations. These regulations

include good manufacturing practices (GMP) and EHS (environment, heath, and safety) requirements for the equipment and process. There is a need for a 3D printing system that satisfies these regulations. Another short term challenge, related to technology, is the development of single and multi-ingredient pills which have specific disintegration profiles. A longer term technology challenge is to integrate complex, controlled drug release profiles into one pill.

Roadmap

Partner landscapeThe anticipated partner landscape includes the manufacturing value chain with pharmaceutical

companies, material suppliers, service providers and equipment manufacturers. It also involves policy makers, insurance companies, pharmacists, and medical doctors and hospitals. We also foresee R&D partnerships with startup companies to commercialize the developed equipment concepts. Finally, we see great potential for spin-offs in the cosmetic and food markets.

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PROTOTYPE

FUNCTIONAL PRODUCT

COMPLEX FUNCTIONALPRODUCT

FULLYCUSTOMIZABLE

DESIGN

func�onal shapes

3D PRINTED ORAL

DOSAGE FORM

ORAL DOSAGE FORM

CONTROLLED RELEASE

MULTI DRUG ORAL

DOSAGE FORMS

controlled

PHARM

A

4.3 Electronic devices

Drivers and opportunities3D printed structural electronics is an emerging technology field which can enable complete

freedom of manufacturing in various form factors. This technology combines conventional additive manufacturing techniques with pick and place and other material deposition techniques, in order to fabricate structural parts with integrated electronics. It achieves this without needing any product-specific tooling, and eliminates assembly of parts, boards, wiring and cabling. It has the potential to open up various application domains where conventional manufacturing techniques are not cost-effective. Applications include integrated and customized lighting, integrated car dashboards, PCB-free products, smart connectors and smart exoskeletons, among others.

ChallengesChallenges include the 3D integration of conductive tracks, combing the development

of high conductive (> 106 S/m), high resolution (< 100 µm) 3D deposition and sintering technologies. Furthermore, new concepts for integrated 3D printed electronics involve research areas that focus on first time right production, resource efficiency with inline metrology, and optimized process control. Also, technologies for multi-material 3D printing and pick and place of electrical / mechanical / MEMs components are required for full-functional integrated devices.

Roadmap

Partner landscapeThe AMSYSTEMS Center has teamed up with Holst Centre and Brightlands Materials Center

(BMC). In addition, a co-creation platform with, among others, Philips Lighting and DoMicro was established to develop some of the essential building blocks for 3D printed electronics. The anticipated partner landscape includes the manufacturing value chain, with material suppliers, service providers, equipment manufacturers and end users of electrical devices.

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PROTOTYPE

FUNCTIONAL PRODUCT

COMPLEX FUNCTIONALPRODUCT

FULLYCUSTOMIZABLE

ELECTR

ONIC

DEV

ICES

INTEGRATION MULTI MATERIAL MULTI FUNCTIONAL FREEFORM ELECTRONICS

4.4 Medical

Drivers and opportunitiesMass customization of surgical planning tools, medical instruments and complex implants

are the main drivers for 3D printing medical devices. There is a strong synergy between digital 3D design, medical imaging and 3D printing for medical applications. AM started revolutionizing surgical practice through 3D medical surgical models for planning complex surgical operations. AM has also been used to provide anatomy-specific surgical guides and tools for alignment of implants in complicated surgeries. Most recently, medical prosthetics and even small implants have been 3D printed to provide patient-specific parts. 3D printed medical parts have reduced operating time, lowered risks from errors and complications, and provided better outcomes for patients.

Future applications for 3D printing involve smart, bioactive implants with electronics, native cells or cell receptors, and embedded medicine.

ChallengesAs with 3D printing medicine, the biggest challenge lies in the regulation of producing

one-off production medical devices. To satisfy FDA and EMA requirements, the 3D printing equipment and process must be industrialized. One key step in achieving a more reliable, controllable 3D printing process is the addition of in-situ metrology and quality control. With this built-in inspection, you can be confident that the medical part you print meets its functional specifications.

Roadmap

Partner landscapeAMSYSTEMS Center has been active in the dental market for many years with projects

aimed at the production of tailor-made medical products, and through a joint research program with Dutch dental material supplier NextDent and German equipment manufacturer RapidShape GmbH. This program has led to the first 3D printable materials and products worldwide being Class IIa certified according to the Medical Device Directive 93/42/EC in 2016. The partner landscape will expand to include the entire medical device market across the manufacturing value chain of medtech companies, OEMs, material suppliers, service providers, equipment manufacturers and hospitals.

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PROTOTYPE

FUNCTIONAL PRODUCT

COMPLEX FUNCTIONALPRODUCT

FULLYCUSTOMIZABLE

MODEL

color

TRAY BASEPLATE

colorbiocomp

CROWNS BRIDGES

biocomp

FULL DENTURE

color

MED

ICAL

4.5 High-tech applications

Drivers and opportunitiesThe semiconductor equipment roadmap demands ever increasing performance, primarily

CD, focus, and overlay (thus accuracy of stage motion and positioning), and higher throughput (thus faster stage accelerations), while wafer diameter will increase. Additive manufacturing is a rapidly developing production technology with large industrial potential in the area of high-tech manufacturing.

A powerful combination of AM and mechatronics may open up a whole new solution space for high-tech systems development. AM provides high-tech system architects and mechatronics developers with almost complete design freedom. Translation of this new design freedom into improved system performance, such as motion and positioning accuracies and substrate stability, is relatively unexplored in high precision systems development. Benefits include advanced thermal control stability, integrated solutions (reduction of parts, manufacturing and/or assembly steps; built-in functionality e.g. local sensing and actuation), lightweight, but dynamically and mechanically stable parts/assemblies, reproducibility, tight tolerances, and homogeneity.

ChallengesThe high-tech systems industry, facing increasing demand for system performance, is a

major asset of the Dutch economy with its unique ecosystem of knowledge centers, part suppliers and OEM companies. To keep, and improve on, this strategic position, challenges related to system performance, design for manufacturing, lightweight parts, dimensional stability and multi-functional parts need to be solved. In addition, reducing price by increased throughput or improved TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) must be achieved to make AM an industrial technology. The range of high-tech materials that can be used in AM needs to be expanded, especially in the area of low thermal expansion ceramics. In addition, product size must be increased to length scales ~1 m, which requires significant innovations in AM equipment development.

Roadmap

PartnershipsThe AMSYSTEMS Center collaborates closely with the NLR and ECN. In addition, public-

private partnerships with the Dutch and international high-tech industry are in place to address the identified technology challenges in the field of large-area ceramics, such as ASML, OCE and Admatec, and in the field of quality control, such as Fokker and Philips.

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PROTOTYPE

FUNCTIONAL PRODUCT

COMPLEX FUNCTIONALPRODUCT

FULLYCUSTOMIZABLE

HIGHTECH DESIGN CERAMIC PART INERT CHANNELS AM NANO STRUCTURES

5. TEChnologY plATforMS And ASSETS

IntroductionThe AMSYSTEMS Center focuses on the development of new multi-material/multi-

technology additive manufacturing equipment concepts and the integration of these technologies in mass-customization manufacturing chains, making it an integral part of a ‘next generation industry’ approach. The AMSYSTEMS Center has developed distinct machine concepts, including the PrintValley system, based on continuous SLS and in-line integration of AM, and the Lepus NextGen system, based on continuous SLA technology. In addition, multi-material powder deposition and nozzle-based systems were developed for food print applications.

These developments are depicted in the following figure, showing these distinct developments along two trajectories: one addressing the quality and functionality aspects, the other addressing the need for production speed.

From batch-wise processing to continuous AMOne way of increasing throughput is by realizing the layer wise process steps (such as

powder recoating, heating and selectively laser sintering) in parallel. AMSYSTEMS Center has patented technology that does this by placing the process steps in a carousel, thereby optimizing the effective print time. The current carousel system delivers production speeds that are approximately 3 times faster than conventional batch-wise processes. An additional advantage is the possibility to integrate additional process steps, such as quality control, multi material deposition, post-processing, and the integration of components, without affecting system throughput. Furthermore, the carousel approach benefits from short access times after a single product has been finished, so operators can take the product from the carousel without waiting for the whole batch to be finished. This is realized by a continuous in-and-out flow of empty build-trays and finished products. This results in minimizing waiting times and obtaining the shortest lead-time from CAD to finished product.

PrintValleyThe continuous manufacturing technology was implemented in PrintValley. This is a

manufacturing platform used to demonstrate additive manufacturing elements of a next generation ICT driven industry, including part handling, in-line polymer printing, in-line post-processing (surface polishing and texturing) and in-line scanning. The platform shows what the future of AM could look like, as it illustrates how adding processing steps does not immediately impose extra processing time, owing to a unique carousel layout.

PrintValley shows that AM does not need to be slow and can in fact produce integrated products at an industrially relevant speed. Its modular design allows the combination and integration of a number of different unit operations. The continuous platform not only provides high-speed production, it also allows continuous output of products, allowing integration into a scalable industrial production process; production cycle times can be brought back from days to minutes.

Based on the PrintValley concept, the ADDFactor system was developed, combining a high-speed continuous printing process with a laser-diode array based selective laser sintering process. In this concept, an array of laser diodes is used for in-line sintering of the polymer powder material. The product carriers move underneath the laser-diode 30 31

Development trajectories

of the AMSYSTEMS Center

for equipment for additive

manufacturing, along the

quality and speed axes to

arrive at high quality, low cost

manufacturing.Produc�on speed / cost

Prod

uct r

equi

rem

ents

(acc

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y, q

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GEN 3

GEN 1

GEN 2

array, making the printing process faster and allowing integration of more process steps, like in-line inspection and post processing. The system’s other advantages include the ability to match laser light to the polymer material’s absorption characteristics, making it the preferred embodiment for multi-material AM. The new system will enable mass customization of footwear (including medical insoles and midsole applications), and spare part manufacturing for automotive and transportation applications.

The PrintValley2020 (PV2020) is the envisioned next generation continuous AM setup based on the PrintValley platform. With PV2020, AMSYSTEMS Center and its industrial partners will further expand on the development of industrial AM for mass-customization by making the leap from continuous AM (the existing PrintValley system) towards a multi-material continuous AM based production platform with multi-material capabilities, hybrid integration (integrating components when building the part), and capabilities that allow high-speed mass-customization.

A research fund was obtained via the Dutch “Toekomstfonds” to build the PV2020 pilot line. The strategic partnership with the OEM company BigRep will create an outlet for PV2020 configurations. To realize the PV2020 pilot line, BigRep and other companies will be involved in exploring business opportunities.

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The PrintValley platform demonstrates its potential for

manufacturing at an industrially relevant scale, with the

promise of product integration and free-form design.

Its modular design allows a number of different unit

operations to be combined and integrated. The concept has

been successfully developed in various projects and will be

industrialized by the AMSYSTEMS Center industrial partners.

Continuous modulesCuring/SinteringRecoatingMaterial JettingFlash curingLaser Ablation

Complex movement modulesPick and placeWring bondingMaterial extrusionSurface modificationCleaning

Build platforms

Envisioned layout of the PrintValley2020 system, which

combines high speed printing of functional parts via

laser-array based sintering, deposition of free-form conductive tracks,

and component integration, to prototype integrated products and

electrical devices.

High-speed SLA In 2011 AMSYSTEMS Center’s first SLA machine was brought to the market by German

partner RapidShape GmbH. This printer, which was 6 to 10 times faster than other machines available at that time, was aimed at the dental industry. Together with dental partners NextDent/Vertex Dental and RapidShape, AMSYSTEMS Center has worked on further developing this technology, both from an equipment as well as from a materials point of view, resulting in the market introduction of a series of FDA approved dental products. In 2016 AMSYSTEMS Center partner Vertex-Dental BV introduced the first biocompatible 3D printing stereolithography materials in dental, with a Class IIa certification according to the Medical Device Directive 93/42/EC. The Class IIa certification of these materials makes it possible, for the first time in dental history, to use 3D-printing for multiple long term applications. Splints, denture bases, crowns, and bridges for long-term use in the oral cavity can be manufactured using 3D printing technology.

Lepus NextGen comprises the next generation of stereolithography (SLA) 3D printers as it makes the step towards fast, large area, high resolution printing applications. The concept is based on an array of laser diodes with a rotating polygon to create fast and accurate scanning. The technology is up to 10-100 times faster than current SLA setups employing traditional laser-based or DLP light sources. It can achieve a resolution of up to 20 microns (3000 megapixels). Furthermore, it can be used to process high viscosity materials including ceramic filled resins and for multi-material objects. As it is a scalable concept, build surfaces of up to 600 x 2000 mm and even larger can be achieved, opening up the door to automotive and aerospace applications.

34 35“The world is changing faster than ever. Fueled by rapid technological advances. One of the most dynamic fields is 3D

printing. NextDent has teamed up with AMSYSTEMS Center to create an exciting new 3D printing innovation!”

Stereolithography system for high-resolution and large area additive manufacturing of polymers, multi-material and

ceramics, based on a laser array of blue laser diodes for single-pass exposure of the resin.

The Lepus NextGen is also the key technology platform for the Fieldlab Multi-M3D, a co-creation platform in which parties along the value chain network develop and validate next generation multi-technology and multi-material solutions. At this moment, multi-color dental implants, 3D printed electronics, and 3D ceramics are developed with the Lepus NextGen technology platform by a consortia of three partners, each having differing different areas of expertise. The Fieldlab initiative and its relevance to the smart industry roadmap will be further explored. Ambitions exist to integrate various additional international partners (both national and international) into the ecosystem, with AMSYSTEMS Center functioning as the anchoring point.

Food printingTogether with the major pasta production company Barilla, AMSYSTEMS Center developed

a series of dedicated pasta printers. The pasta printers are capable of simultaneously printing 4 or 8 identical pieces of pasta with innovative shapes. The development comprised various technological innovations, including extrusion force measurement for printing feedback,

accurately heated pasta compartments and nozzles, inline drying of the pasta, and an app to design and print your own pasta shape. In addition, novel multi-nozzle, co-extrusion FDM setups have been developed for printing highly complex, multi-material products. These setups can print filaments comprising a separate core and shell material, e.g. a chocolate shell with an air or liquid filling.

Another development was a printing line for the production of fully personalized medical nutrition. This setup is capable of producing 10-20 fully personalized meals for people in nursing homes suffering from dysphagia (chewing and swallowing problems).

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FDM pasta printers developed to demonstrate the 3D printing of pasta (left and middle picture).

Example of 3D printed pasta shape (right picture).

Example of 3D printed electronics device: a 3D printed armature with integrated LED, battery and controller, and

printed conductive tracks to interconnect the electronic components.

The meals are personalized to the individual level with respect to the shape, size, caloric content, added micro- and macro-nutrients, and hardness, resulting in meals that are more enjoyable to eat and that match the nutritional requirements of each client.

NextGen Food PrinterThe NextGen Food Printer program aims to develop a game changing technology for 3D

food printing. One of the big challenges in food printing is the deposition of individual voxels (3D pixels) that may all have different ingredient compositions. The NextGen program looks at developing a powder deposition technology for multi-ingredient and multi-texture personalized food products. In addition, the program will provide technology to the currently running, 4 year public-private partnership PPP project on food texture printing, in which 6 global players from the food industry partnered with AMSYSTEMS Center.

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Dual nozzle extrusion setup for 3D food printing (left picture) and examples of printed products (right pictures).

Example of a 3D printed pixelated cooling table with pin fin structures for controlled and localized cooling

applications.

6. poSiTion in ThE AM lAndSCApE

The Direct Manufacturing Research Center (DMRC) published a study in 2013 from the Heinz Nixdorf Institute called “Thinking ahead the Future of Additive Manufacturing - Exploring the Research Landscape”. In this study a comprehensive overview of the global AM research organizations and their focus areas is given. Furthermore, strategy reports, press releases, visits, assessments, presentations at conferences, and representation in networks and projects contributed to the benchmarking of the AMSYSTEMS Center in this study.

While many research organizations work on additive manufacturing, only a few focus on the development of next generation equipment concepts for industrial AM. These companies include Fraunhofer IPA, MIT, Nottingham University and Keck Center. In conclusion, the development of next generation multi-material and mass-customization equipment concepts for industrial AM is quite unique in the AM research scene and gives the AMSYSTEMS Center a distinct profile.

The Netherlands is well positioned in the field of advanced manufacturing. TNO and TU/e HTSC are in the center of the high-tech industry and Brainport Industries. The technology position of the Netherlands on additive manufacturing is reasonably good. There are technology expertise centers at NLR on metal AM, at ECN on ceramics AM, at Brightlands Materials Center on polymer materials and on new production systems at AMSYSTEMS Center.

Academia are catching up. In 2016, within these expertise areas, more than 25 dedicated AM PhD projects were initiated, 16 on polymer AM at Brightlands Materials Center (located at the University of Maastricht and TU/e), 3 on thermal modelling at metal AM (located at the University of Twente and TU Delft), and 7 on AMSYSTEMS including projects on ceramics, food printing concepts and hybrid integration (located at the TU/e HTSC within the AMSYSTEMS Center collaboration).

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3D printing of ceramics,

in the large-area SLA printer

Also, a number of application Fieldlabs were initiated in the past few years. Among them, labs on maritime spare parts (RDMmakerspace), creative industry (3Dmakerspace), metal AM (AddLab) with emphasis on applying current AM technology. In addition, start-up companies are very active in this field, such as Xilloc, Admatec, and Additive Industries. IAM (Industrial Additive Manufacturing) is a new start-up, positioned to commercialize the continuous AM technology developed by AMSYSTEMS Center.

AMSYTEMS Center has a strong representation in the EU – involved in and leading several EU programs on hybrid manufacturing and multi-technology digital manufacturing, and strong involvement in the AM platform. The center has positioned the Multi-Material 3D print Fieldlab with 20+ partners in the context of the national Smart Industry action agenda. Within this Fieldlab, a collaboration with ECN on ceramic AM technology and applications is established. The program targets human-centric and high-tech customization applications, including medical, dental, 3D structural electronics and food/pharma, with spin-off to other markets that require personalized, customized, on-demand manufacturing.

In the public-private collaboration (PPS) with the NLR, M2i, and 8 industrial partners, thermo-mechanical models are under development to support development of first-time right AM. The models will be developed towards a predictive tool to optimize the build orientation and support structure, and to minimize internal stress build-up and product deformation. Within the PPS, partnerships with the University of Twente and Delft University of Technology on thermo-mechanical modelling and topology optimization were established.

In the 3D printed electronics proposition, AMSYSTEMS Center works closely with Holst Centre. Holst Centre has a good position in 2D printing and integration technologies for flexible and stretchable electronics applications.

For new material developments, AMSYSTEMS Center works closely with the Brightlands Materials Center. AMSYSTEMS Center collaborates in the ‘Materials for AM’ program, which aims to develop functional polymer-based AM materials, to obtain functional products with good mechanical, optical and electrical performance. The focus is on photo-curable and other thermoset polymers and polymeric composites, in particular materials that can be processed by vat photo-polymerization and large-scale patterned illumination. Target applications include human centric products (e.g. dental products, medical microfluidic devices, and organ-on-a-chip), automotive and optoelectronic products.

AMSYSTEMS Center works closely with the research groups from TNO Zeist on 3D food printing. The Functional Ingredients expertise group brings new formulation and concepts for food textures to the collaboration. As from January 2018 the Functional Ingredients group will be merged with parts of DLO to create Wageningen Research. With this anticipated change, AMSYSTEMS Center will set up a collaboration with Wageningen Research to continue the exciting cross-fertilization research in the food printing domain. The University of Wageningen is already part of the universities of technology cooperation in the Netherlands, 4TU.

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An overview of AMSYSTEMS’ strategic collaborations with knowledge organizations is given in Table 2. Table 2. (inter)national strategic collaborations of AMSYSTEMS with universities and research institutes.

Knowledge Center Purpose of collaboration Scope of the collaboration

AMSYSTEMS Center TNO and HTSC are founders of the strategic collaboration AMSYSTEMS Center, partnership with complementary expertise and technology to accelerate AM innovation

New concepts and systems for multi- material AM and mass-customization solutions

Holst Centre Partnership in the field of 2D printing technology and applications

2D print technologies, conductive track technology, integrated electronics

TNO food printing Zeist / (DLO) Wageningen Research

Partnership in the field of ingredients for 3D food printing

3D food print technologies, ingredients, food textures

Brightlands Materials Center (BMC)

Partnership in the field of AM materials New polymeric materials with enhanced properties (mechanical, biomedical)

ECN Partnership in the field of ceramics materials and processes

New materials for ceramics AM

Dutch Aerospace Laboratory

Partnership in the field of models for AM

Models for quality control and first-time-right manufacturing

7. pArTnErShip ModEl

AMSYSTEMS Center follows an innovation funnel model by creating seeds for innovation, developing these seeds via co-creation into propositions and implementing the technology in the market. The AMSYSTEMS Center focuses on shared R&D for the identified propositions, and involving industrial partners throughout the entire value chain.

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Own investment

Contract researchPublic-privatecollabora�onIdea�on

AMSYSTEMS Center proposi�ons market

TRL3 TRL5 TRL7

Seeds for innovations Co-creation / Shared innovation Company-specific assignments

Government Subsidized Projects Utilize AMSYSTEMS network to orchestrate project consortia

Public-private collaboration Programs Utilize AMSYSTEMS network to orchestrate project consortia

Contract Research Project Utilize AMSYSTEMS network to address R&D challenges

Business model of the AMSYSTEMS Center, mixed offering of shared and company-specific R&D.

The shared R&D is organized via a shared research program model, co-managed by AMSYSTEMS Center’s founding fathers TNO and TU/e HTSC. Industrial participants get access to the program results via a participation fee (for the developed foreground) and an entrance fee (for the developed background needed to exploit the foreground). Programs are value chain oriented, allowing multiple industrial partners to participate at different parts of the value chain, from materials, services, software and modules to equipment providers and application owners. The non-exclusive nature acts as a multiplier, such that technology is reused in different propositions. This way of working appeared to work particularly well for the lower TRL activities, where sharing with other program participants creates value to their business.

The entrance fee is tailored to the needs of the industrial partner, and depends on the value of the required background rights. The participation fees are also tailored to the required access rights (foreground of the program). A company can have interest in only one specific work-package, another company may be interested in the whole program.

In addition, company-specific assignments are offered, addressing specific company needs. These company-specific assignments include B2B projects, technology transfer or license agreements. In particular if a proposition develops more towards market introduction, companies tend to share less and require company-specific assignments to translate the generic results to their specific product or process. The value of these company-specific assignments depends on the value and amount of extra work to be executed by AMSYSTEMS Center.

Elements of the AMSYSTEMS Center partnership model include:

E Co-creation of ecosystems around new AM concepts, organized in shared research innovation programs, addressing next generation AM equipment/technology challenges and creating value for companies along the value chain aimed at lower TRL AM concepts.

E Programs are public-private partnerships, shared and/or bilateral, with academic and industrial stakeholders.

E Program activities are application driven and orchestrated with multi-disciplinary roadmaps along industry needs.

E The basic IP rules include that the background is made available by both founding fathers to develop the foreground, and that new foreground is preferably co-developed (and preferably co-owned).

E The consortium may be expanded with strategic R&D partners, the decision laying with the founding fathers.

E The founding fathers TNO and TU/e HTSC bring in their own funding, and together apply for additional research budgets (EU, local government).

E Programs are enriched with low-TRL PhD projects, creating seeds for innovation and education of talents.

E Programs are incubation ground for start-up companies.E Programs support education activities, such as workshops and master classes.

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“The AMSYSTEMS Center focuses on shared R&D for the identified propositions, and involving

industrial partners throughout the entire value chain.”

8. KEYS To SuCCESS

The AMSYSTEMS Center is established in the vibrant heart of high-tech systems in Eindhoven. The founding fathers TNO and the TU/e High Tech Systems Center bring together complementary fields of expertise in a joint proposition: mechatronics and materials from TU/e HTSC and advanced manufacturing and 3D printing concepts from TNO. The joint proposition aligns with the trends of increasing systems’ complexity and digital manufacturing, and is an answer to the industry need to develop the next generation of industrial additive manufacturing equipment.

With AMSYSTEMS Center we offer joint research innovation programs in the applications fields food, pharma, medical, electronic devices and high-tech. These programs are executed under one roof, make use of shared facilities and infrastructure at the TU/e campus, are staffed by multidisciplinary teams of experts from both founding fathers and are designed to address the needs of the industry.

Our programs take on the next generation AM equipment challenges and create value for companies along the value chain. AMSYSTEMS Center offers a mix of shared fundamental and applied research as well as contract research, to serve the industry’s specific application needs.

Our aim is accelerate the development and uptake of industrial additive manufacturing by the industry. We invite you to engage in this ambition and we look forward to welcome you as a partner!

Katja Pahnke and Erwin R. Meinders,Managing directors of AMSYSTEMS Center

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