Time is running out! Nominate now for the 3D Printing Industry Awards 2023.
Texas-based industrial 3D printer manufacturer Essentium, Inc. has announced that its High-Speed Extrusion (HSE) 3D printing platform and high-performance materials have been certified by Deutsche Bahn (DB), Germany’s national railway company .
This additive manufacturing technology is used to 3D print train parts and tools. Essentium claims its offerings will enable DB to increase the availability of its fleet by allowing key components to be replaced quickly and efficiently.
The 3D printer Essentium HSE is based in Neumünster and was tested with the company’s flame-retardant thermoplastics Essentium 9085 and HTN-CF25. These materials are proven to meet ISO-ASTM 52920:2023 and ISO 52930 additive manufacturing standards.
“Many people are still wondering whether Additive is ready for prime time. “Deutsche Bahn, which 3D prints tens of thousands of spare parts for its trains, proves this,” commented Essentium CEO Blake Teipel, Ph.D.
“We look forward to further developing Deutsche Bahn’s AM capabilities to accelerate repairs and keep their assets operational with minimal downtime.” This partnership will pave the way for others in the rail and transportation industry to follow suit. “
Blake Teipel, CEO of Essentium. Photo via Essentium.
Deutsche Bahn certifies Essentium technology
DB will leverage Essentium’s 3D printing technology to address supply chain challenges and raw material shortages for obsolete parts. The HSE 3D printer and flame-retardant materials are used in conjunction with DB’s digital warehouse, which stores around 1,000 virtual technical drawings of spare parts. DB wants to increase this number to 10,000 by 2030.
DB will use Essentium’s materials and the Neumünster-based HSE 3D printer to produce small-batch parts on demand, rather than producing parts in large quantities. This will allow the company to limit storage space, increase delivery speed and reduce costs, claims Essentium.
Additionally, it highlights that Essentium’s high-performance 3D printing materials meet the demanding standards of the railway industry. In fact, rail vehicles must have a high level of flame retardancy. Conventional thermoplastics generally have poor mechanical properties and limited fire behavior, making them unsuitable for rail applications.
Essentium’s high-temperature thermoplastics can withstand temperatures of 180°C and are designed to meet industry standards for reliability, repeatability and performance, allowing DB to quickly 3D print rail-ready parts.
German railway trains. Photo via Deutsche Bahn.
3D printing of railway spare parts
This is not the first time that DB has used 3D printing to produce railway components. Back in 2019, the company integrated GEFERTEC’s metal 3DMP 3D printing technology to improve the availability of hard-to-obtain spare parts.
The 3DMP process enables the rapid production of near-net-shape metal blanks using wire as raw material. This process offers a high build rate of up to 600 cm3 per hour and is therefore ideal for the cost-effective production of large steel, nickel-based, titanium or aluminum components. The DB used this 3DPM technology to service older locomotives, although 3D printing uses now outdated parts.
DB is not the only railway company using additive manufacturing technology. In 2021, it was announced that Kimya, the additive manufacturing materials division of technology company ARMOR, was 3D printing railway spare parts using its custom PEKK filament.
The unnamed railroad supplier needed a protective cover component developed back in 1982 and turned to Kimya to 3D print a small batch of the polymer part through the Kimya factory manufacturing service. Using a PEKK filament developed at Kimya Lab, Kimya’s research and development center, the team was able to 3D print the cases with shorter lead times and cost savings.
“Developing a traditional mold would have required longer development time and incurred costs that could only be covered by manufacturing thousands of parts. “The Kimya factory offers our partners a useful end product made from our own materials, all in small batches,” commented Pierre-Antoine Pluvinage, Business Development Director at Kimya.
Elsewhere, France’s national railway company, the Société Nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF), is using Agile PLM software from 3D printing software developer 3YOURMIND. SNCF launched this software in 2021 and uses it to identify, evaluate and store its additive manufacturing parts data to reduce costs and optimize on-demand spare parts production.
Subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter to stay up to date with the latest 3D printing news. You can also follow us on Twitter, like our Facebook page and subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry YouTube channel to access more exclusive content.
Are you interested in working in the additive manufacturing industry? Visit 3D Printing Jobs to view a selection of available positions and boost your career.
The picture shown shows Deutsche Bahn trains. Photo via Deutsche Bahn.
