Forward of this 12 months’s Additive Manufacturing Customers Group Convention, keynote speaker Ryan Watkins, Analysis Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), spoke to TCT about creating 3D printed crushable constructions for high-speed impression, balancing innovation with reliability, and the worth of integrating AM into on a regular basis engineering challenges to higher perceive its strengths and limitations.
TCT: To start out, are you able to give us a broad sense of the impression or contribution 3D printing is making inside NASA JPL right this moment?
RW: 3D printing has been part of NASA JPL’s toolkit for over twenty years, however its function has grown considerably lately. Whereas the primary identified use of 3D printing on a JPL mission dates again to 1999, it wasn’t till round 2009 that we started making bigger investments within the know-how. Early analysis targeted on Directed Vitality Deposition (DED), significantly its potential for printing gradient alloy programs. By 2015, curiosity had expanded, with plastic desktop 3D printers changing into prevalent on lab and the institution of the Additive Manufacturing Heart, which formally opened in 2018. Round that point, we additionally started creating our first steel 3D printed elements for area missions, similar to these used on the Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars in 2021. Since then, 3D printing has continued to make its method into JPL spacecraft, although adoption has been gradual. With that being mentioned, it actually appears like we’re at a turning level and I count on the subsequent wave of JPL spacecraft can be extensively construct with AM {hardware}.
I must also observe that almost all of my responses are with respect to steel 3D printing, as that’s my main focus inside AM. Nevertheless, we have now in depth plastic 3D printing capabilities, starting from consumer-grade printers utilized by engineers to do s mall scale prototyping, to commercial-grade printers in our AdditiveManufacturing Heart.
TCT: You just lately spoke on the AMUG Convention about ‘linking design with additive manufacturing’ within the context of 3D printed crushable constructions for high-pace impression attenuation functions. Why crushable constructions and why 3D printing?
RW: Crushable constructions are nice vitality absorbing gadgets. They’re really throughout us — packing foam, in protecting gear like helmets, and the crumple zone within the entrance of your automotive — we simply typically don’t take into consideration them that method. Lattice constructions are a subset of crushable vitality absorbers that exhibit superb vitality absorption traits because of their structural sparsity and periodicity. They’re additionally broadly utilized in area functions to mitigate shock occasions throughout spacecraft deployments, planetary touchdown occasions, and launch automobile separations. 3D printing crushables is especially attention-grabbing as a result of it vastly opens the engineering design area. Utilizing typical manufacturing strategies, crushable lattice design has been restricted to foams and honeycombs. With 3D printing, we will now print a wider vary of lattice geometry, permitting us to additional optimize vitality attenuating properties.
Moreover, we will now conformally print them into complicated kind components, spatially differ their properties, and make them out of a higher vary of supplies. At JPL, we’re exploring the usage of 3D printed titanium lattice constructions as vitality attenuators for pattern return missions. The ultimate stage of those missions typically entails a tough touchdown on Earth, so defending the samples throughout impression is a essential problem. The distinctive capabilities of 3D printed lattices make them a perfect answer for dissipating touchdown hundreds. I’ve been main this analysis since 2020, serving because the principal investigator throughout the early know-how improvement part and because the main subject material skilled working to qualify these constructions for future flight missions.
TCT: You’ve been at NASA JPL for virtually a decade. How has the adoption of AM modified in that point? I ponder, has it adopted an analogous trajectory to different industries the place the know-how has transitioned from a novel (dare I say it, ‘sci-fi’) know-how to simply one other instrument?
RW: I feel JPL has skilled an analogous trajectory of adoption to a lot of the trade. In my early days at JPL, AM was thought of an novelty with out a lot sensible use. Within the circumstances the place individuals noticed its worth, it was nonetheless closely scrutinized and infrequently blocked from use as a result of perceived reliability issues. At present, its feels just like the winds are shifting. JPL has two printers which were totally certified per NASA AM qualification normal NASA-STD-6030. We’ve had AM fly on a number of flagship missions. And other people at the moment are beginning to hunt down the usage of AM fairly than us seeking out customers. I’m hopeful that the usage of AM on our future missions will look a lot completely different than it has up to now.
TCT: Given how prolific NASA JPL’s missions are, having flown to each planet, I like this concept that 3D printing may journey our total photo voltaic system. However so as to add a dose of actuality, what are the constraints to the know-how right this moment by way of NASA JPL’s work? Are there any particular challenges you’ve come up towards?
RW: We’re originally of what appears like a development interval for AM, however the know-how continues to be evolving and has limitations. At present, we will construct sensible, mission-ready {hardware} with AM, however scalability stays a serious hurdle. Lots of the elements we need to manufacture merely don’t match throughout the mature AM infrastructure, significantly the construct volumes of most Laser Powder Mattress Fusion (LPBF) machines. In consequence, even when AM is the best answer for a given software, restricted machine availability and measurement constraints typically forestall its use. One other vital problem is the general course of circulation. Whereas the precise 3D printing step is comparatively quick, post-processing necessities prolong lead instances significantly. At JPL, printed steel elements typically require Scorching Isostatic Urgent (HIP) for fatigue efficiency, wire reducing to take away them from the construct plate, warmth remedy for hardened supplies, floor ending to enhance fatigue behaviour, and ultimate machining for precision options. Every of those steps provides time and value. With out developments that scale back post-processing whereas sustaining materials efficiency, widespread adoption of AM will proceed to be constrained by manufacturing effectivity and affordability. Overcoming these boundaries can be key to unlocking the total potential of 3D printing for future area missions.
TCT: I feel it is simple to overlook that loads of the work being executed by NASA isn’t simply about area, the learnings are extremely relevant to the challenges we face right here on earth. With that in thoughts, what type of learnings have you ever present in AM that you simply consider are relevant to anybody utilizing AM right this moment?
RW: With any new know-how, there’s a pure tendency to give attention to the massive, game-changing functions—the house runs. AM has largely adopted this sample, with a lot of the early pleasure centered round groundbreaking improvements that have been by no means doable earlier than (similar to built-in fluid channels, lattice constructions, and topology optimization). These formidable functions are important for pushing the boundaries of know-how, but when we solely pursue essentially the most novel and high-risk makes use of, we restrict broader trade adoption. The fact is that many organizations wrestle with totally integrating AM as a result of these high-profile initiatives can appear daunting, each by way of danger and complexity.
At JPL, we’ve just lately shifted our mindset to acknowledge that adoption requires expertise, and expertise solely comes from really utilizing the know-how — even for extra routine functions. The extra we combine AM into on a regular basis engineering challenges, the higher we perceive its strengths and limitations, making it simpler to tackle these high-risk, high-reward initiatives sooner or later. This lesson applies throughout industries: fairly than ready for the right, groundbreaking use case, corporations ought to begin incorporating
AM in sensible methods right this moment. Over time, this hands-on expertise builds the boldness and experience wanted to totally leverage AM’s potential.
TCT: You lately made the choice to open-source your UnitcellHub software program. Are you able to discuss why that was essential and the way you hope will probably be adopted?
RW: Sure, I open-sourced my lattice design suite, UnitcellHub, in October 2024. Once I first began engaged on AM lattices, I rapidly realized that engineers had only a few instruments accessible to design these constructions for particular functions. I initially developed UnitcellHub out of necessity whereas engaged on lattice constructions for the Mars Pattern Return mission. As I continued refining the instrument, it grew to become clear that the broader adoption of lattice constructions was being held again by the complexity of their design and simulation. In the meantime, I had constructed a instrument that was fixing these challenges — however solely I used to be utilizing it. Open-sourcing UnitcellHub was a approach to share this functionality and assist speed up lattice adoption in engineering fields past JPL.
One other main motivation was the chance to provide again to the open-source neighborhood. A lot of the software program I develop builds on an intensive ecosystem of open-source instruments, and UnitcellHub itself closely relies on open-source frameworks. It wouldn’t have been doable with out the muse laid by others in the neighborhood. By making UnitcellHub freely accessible, I hope to contribute to that ecosystem, enabling extra engineers and researchers to discover the potential of lattice constructions for vitality absorption, lightweighting, and past.
TCT: Are you able to share with us what you’re engaged on now, and the place you see additional alternatives for AM?
RW: Proper now, I’m significantly targeted on the scalability of additive manufacturing and the way the corresponding design ecosystem is evolving. The potential to fabricate massive, high-resolution elements with fewer parts may utterly rework engineering. Nevertheless, as I highlighted earlier with lattice constructions, designing and modeling fine-featured constructions on a big scale stays a big problem. The complexity of sustaining excessive precision over macroscopic dimensions is likely one of the key obstacles we should overcome.
