3-D Printing Promises to Change Manufacturing

Atoms, unlike bits, are hard to manipulate. Advances in how we rearrange them come slowly, but the payoff can be enormous.
Think new, never-before-seen products mass-produced from materials that once seemed exotic. Next to microchips, there is no more powerful unlocking technology than materials science.
This carbon-fiber component had been made on a 3D printer, a gadget more often associated with spitting out plastic novelties.
Marry those two technologies, and things get interesting. The all-electric BMW i3 has a carbon-fiber frame that extends its range by making it significantly lighter. Other possibilities include light but strong parts for drones and other aircraft, as well as replacing materials in many everyday objects—from furniture to machine tools—with carbon fiber.
“We give you the strength of metal for the cost of plastics,” says Greg Mark, chief executive of MarkForged Inc., a Cambridge, Mass., company founded in 2013 that sells a machine that 3-D prints carbon-fiber composites.
The printer costs $5,000 and is being used by at least one automotive manufacturer to make parts for the machines that make cars, according to Mr. Mark. The company won’t say which, but Nissan Motor Co. is listed as a customer on MarkForged’s website. “We like to tell people we’re the parts behind the part,” says Mr. Mark.
Nissan didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Today, such parts are most often made by machinists using computerized mills to carve solid blocks of metal. (This also is, incidentally, how the body of Apple Inc.’s laptops is produced.)
A competing carbon-fiber 3D-printing technology is taking on a potentially bigger opportunity—the method for producing the overwhelming majority of plastic parts.
“Our long-term goal is to replace injection molding,” says Robert Swartz, founder and chief technical officer of Impossible Objects LLC, which recently unveiled a machine that can 3-D print composites with a huge variety of materials.
Chicago-based Impossible Objects’ process combines fabrics such as silk, polyester, Kevlar, cotton or carbon fiber with any 3-D printable plastic, including ones used for high-temperature applications.
Impossible Objects’ process differs from previous 3D-printing technologies. Instead of printing an object one layer atop the other, every layer of the object can be printed at once, in two dimensions, on a large sheet of fabric. The layers are then cut out and stacked one on top of the other, like a layer cake, and baked in an oven.
The machine operates on the same principles as an inkjet printer, spraying the plastic out of print heads as tiny droplets, at high speed. That means it eventually could be fast, says Mr. Swartz. The maturity of traditional 2-D printing, on which Mr. Swartz’s process is based, makes him think it could someday be relatively inexpensive.
Traditional manufacturing won’t go away—we still make glass in essentially the same way as the Romans, after all—but it may never be the same again.

Wideband horn antenna for EMC tests spans 200 MHz to 2 GHz

Ecmicrowave, manufacturer of RF and microwave components and subsystems, has introduced an open-sided, linearly polarised horn antenna that operates over the wide frequency range 200 MHz to 2 GHz.
Primarily intended for EMC test applications, the AM0.2-2HA antenna can be used as either transmitter or receiver for measurements of products’ immunity or emissions in accordance with international EMC standards laid down by organizations such as IEC, ISO and CISPR.

The broadband horn antenna can handle up to 200W of microwave power and features a low average VSWR of 1.6:1, a field strength capability of 250 V/m at 1m and a nominal impedance of 50 Ohms. It also offers excellent gain uniformity, with gain only varying from 5 to 9 dBi over the entire operating frequency range.

The horn antenna is equipped with a precision N-type female connector and a mounting bracket that enables the user to switch between vertical and horizontal polarisations. A standard camera thread allows easy mounting on a wide variety of tripods. Designed and manufactured at Link’s premises in Basingstoke, UK, the AM0.2-2HA antenna is fabricated from aluminium to provide a rugged, corrosion-resistant construction. It measures 980 x 980 x 730 mm, and weighs 12kg.

Donald Trump's stock in oil pipeline company raises concern

President-elect Donald Trump holds stock in the company building the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline, and pipeline opponents warn that Trump's investments could affect any decision he makes on the $3.8 billion project as president.
Trump's 2016 federal disclosure forms show he owned between $15,000 and $50,000 in stock in Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners. That's down from between $500,000 and $1 million a year earlier.
Trump also owns between $100,000 and $250,000 in Phillips 66, which has a one-quarter share of Dakota Access.
While Trump's stake in the pipeline company is modest compared with his other assets, ethics experts say it's among dozens of potential conflicts that could be resolved by placing his investments in a blind trust, a step Trump has resisted.
The Obama administration said this month it wants more study and tribal input before deciding whether to allow the partially built pipeline to cross under a Missouri River reservoir in North Dakota.
The 1,200-mile pipeline would carry oil across four states to a shipping point in Illinois. The project has been held up while the Army Corps of Engineers consults with the Standing Rock Sioux, who believe the project could harm the tribe's drinking water and Native American cultural sites.
The delay, which comes as protests unfold daily along the proposed route, raises the likelihood that a final decision will be made by Trump, a pipeline supporter who has vowed to "unleash" unfettered production of oil and gas pipeline. He takes office in January.
"Trump's investments in the pipeline business threaten to undercut faith in this process — which was already frayed — by interjecting his own financial well-being into a much bigger decision," said Sharon Buccino, director of the land and wildlife program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.
"This should be about the interests of the many, rather than giving the appearance of looking at the interests of a few — including Trump," Buccino said.
Trump, a billionaire who has never held public office, holds ownership stakes in more than 500 companies worldwide. He has said he plans to transfer control of his company to three of his adult children, but ethics experts have said conflicts could engulf the new administration if Trump does not liquidate his business holdings.
Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., senior Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, called Trump's investment in the pipeline company "disturbing" and said it fits a pattern evident in Trump's transition team.
"You have climate (change) deniers, industry lobbyists and energy conglomerates involved in that process," Grijalva said. "The pipeline companies are gleeful. This is pay-to-play at its rawest."
Besides Trump, at least two possible candidates for energy secretary also could benefit from the pipeline. Oil billionaire Harold Hamm could ship oil from his company, Continental Resources, through the pipeline, while former Texas Gov. Rick Perry serves on the board of directors of Energy Transfer Partners.
Concern about Trump's possible conflicts comes as protests over the pipeline have intensified in recent weeks, with total arrests since August rising to 528. A clash this past week near the main protest camp in North Dakota left a police officer and several protesters injured.