With the global pace of innovation in industries rapidly escalating, being late to market can cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars. However, the cost and time frame for innovation is high. How does a company balance this equation? The answer will likely be 3D Printing services. 3D Printing services accelerate the speed of innovation and produce a marked reduction in time and costs in bringing new products to market.
TA&T’s 3D Printing services group specializes in the development of a variety of 3D printed ceramic materials for a broad spectrum of applications. The 3D printed developmental, prototype and commercial efforts in alumina, zirconia and silica materials are based on UV curable photo-polymerization resins using digital light projection (DLP) technology. The implementation of DLP machines speeds up functional testing of prototypes and new product introduction for a broad range of industries including medical, aerospace, energy and defense.
TA&T’s DLP 3D Printing services can aid in ceramic part development in many ways including:
- Eliminate tooling time and costs
- Net shape part production
- High resolution for small features
- Shorten development cycles
- Low volume production
- Geometric design freedom
- Rapid/Parallel design iterations
Low Volume Production
DLP ceramic 3D Printing is ideal if you are ramping production or have a niche product with a few thousand units per year. This inherent Just-In-Time process eliminates the time and cost of manufacturing a tool and enables early assessment of market acceptance. For low volume ceramic production, DLP 3D Printing ultimately saves money and satisfies market demands. DLP is also ideal for manufacturing replacement parts for legacy or obsolete components, whose drawings have been lost and/or tooling destroyed.
Ceramic 3D Printing Services
With ceramic 3D Printing, multiple prototype parts can be made simultaneously. This results in a reduced cost per design iteration by spreading costs across dozens of individual pieces. The Result: A reduced time to market at a lower cost than conventional ceramic processing.
Our Alumina, Zirconia and Silica resin formulations have been optimized for DLP 3D Printing and specific applications. The materials have been successfully used to produce alumina and zirconia medical and dental devices and silica ceramic cores used for casting single crystal turbine blades among a host of other applications. TA&T offers research & development, prototyping and low-rate production of 3D printed ceramics. Our ceramic resins are available for purchase.
Inquiries about licensing of 3D Printed Ceramic Casting Cores for Turbine Blades, Zirconia for Dental Restorations and numerous Alumina applications are welcomed.
Stereolithography Printing
Stereolithography printing is an innovative 3D printing technology that creates 3D objects directly from a digital file. Its complex but precise process involves the use of a UV light to draw rapid lines across different levels of a liquid resin. This process helps to build up a 3D object layer by layer, until it's fully complete. Stereolithography printing produces products, models, prototypes, and patterns that offer high accuracy and quality with minimal waste during the manufacturing process. This cutting-edge printing technology is utilized in industries such as aerospace, automotive, healthcare and education for the development of prototypes and end-use goods. Stereolithography printing has revolutionized 3D production, providing reliable solutions for every industry.
TA&T uses stereolithography printing to provide component prototyping and manufacturing services. Current materials available include alumina, silica, and zirconia, all using proprietary resin compositions. In addition to printing, TA&T develops custom resin compositions and processing procedures for your own printing needs. You will love our rapid turnaround-unique 3D parts!
3D Printing via Stereolithography
TA&T specializes in 3D printing, or additive manufacturing of fully dense, high strength ceramic and metal components
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High Volume Production
- 100,000 parts / year
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High Resolution, Large Build Area
- 40 microns, 16”x13”x16”
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Intricate designs
- Fine details
- Complex structures
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Applications
- Ceramic cores for investment cast airfoils
- Medical devices, dental restorations
- Heat exchangers
How Stereolithography Works
Stereolithography printing, or SLA printing, is a type of 3D printing that uses liquid resin as material. The most notable feature of this method is its ability to create highly detailed and complex parts with greater accuracy than traditional manufacturing processes. Stereolithography printing works by using an ultraviolet light source which precisely solidifies layers of liquid resin one at a time in a pre-defined shape.
This method allows objects to be built up in layers, each layer being much thinner than those made with other additive technologies. This can result in extremely accurate and detailed prints that are perfect for rapid prototyping and production models. Stereolithography printing is an important addition to the collection of available 3D printing technologies, allowing for more efficient and precise creation of parts for many industries.
For more information and quoting, please contact us.
TA&T holds proprietary designs and processes in strict confidentiality.
Additive Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing is an exciting new production method that is revolutionizing the way products are designed and produced. Through this process, parts and components can be created layer-by-layer using computer numeric control (CNC) technology. This offers a variety of advantages over traditional manufacturing processes, such as decreasing the time to market for new products, drastically reducing the production costs, and allowing manufacturers to create complex one-off items with ease. TA&T’s additive manufacturing services are transforming the way industries design and produce items, leading to a more efficient and cost-effective approach to different kinds of productions.
Materials for 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing
TA&T has developed a series of proprietary resins, in key ceramic and metal materials. We also produce customer resins and production processes for transfer to your own printing processes.
- Alumina
- Silica
- Glass Ceramics
- Zirconia
TA&T made the cover of Manufacturing Technology Insights for our additive manufacturing prortyping and production for next-generation applications. Check out the full article here!
Component Prototyping
Component prototyping is an incredibly powerful way to save time and money in the product development process. It allows your company to quickly develop component parts through iteration and testing, ensuring that those components adhere to strict specifications. In addition, component prototyping reduces the risk of component failure in production since any design flaws can be caught early on during the prototype phase. Finally, component prototyping provides an effective avenue for collaborations; multiple teams can work together in creating component prototypes across disciplines, allowing for innovation and inspiring creativity. When you utilize TA&T's component prototyping and integrate it into your company’s product development strategy, greater business success is sure to follow.
Component Manufacturing
TA&T component manufacturing is not only reliable, but also cost-effective. With the latest component manufacturing capabilities, our team is able to provide component solutions on time and within budget. With decades of experience in component manufacturing, you can rest assured that your component needs are being met with the highest attention to detail. We guarantee that our component manufacturing process exceeds industry standards while providing a personalized approach based on your component requirements.
Ceramic Cores for Investment Cast Turbine Blades
- Commercial and Government funding Core-Only and Cored Molds
- Core-Only process produced single crystal blades that passed First Article Inspection and engine testing
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Current focus on Cored Mold development (DLA funded)
- 3D printing technology that can fabricate the ceramic cores and molds for producing advanced, cooled turbine blades in one step will eliminate the major steps of ceramic core and wax pattern fabrication. The payoffs are the earlier introduction of new, higher performance turbine engines for military aircraft, reduced costs for outdated tooling for legacy military engine components and improved economics and reduced pollution for commercial aircraft. 3D Printed Cored Molds are a disruptive technology that is the Holy Grail for Tooling used to cast turbine engine components.
3D Printed Ceramic Dental Crowns and Bridges
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NIDCR SBIR Project (2017-2020)
- U. MD School of Dentistry
- U. Washington
- Lithium Disilicate and Zirconia
Ready To Get 3D Printing Services?
Our team of experts is here to help you understand the entire 3D printing process from start to finish. Whether you still have questions, or are ready to get started, contact TA&T today!