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End Mill Solutions Miniature Milling for the Electronics Industry Engineered Custom End Mills from .010” to .125” www.advancedtool.com sales@advancedtool.com T: 800.345.0210 • Fax: 315.768.4807 Marcy, New York 32 | MAY/JUNE 2012 | MICROmanufacturing Microfabrica This 2mm iris for an endoscopy visualization device was manufactured by Microfabrica via the MICA Freeform process, which eliminates the need for assembly. No Mass Appeal—Yet continued layered structure of the objects. Think, for example, of the sides of a ream of paper. “No matter how thin the paper is and how well aligned the edges are, the surface made from these stacked layers will never be as smooth as a machined surface,” Chait explained. According to Chait, another situation that presents problems for AM is parts that need to be made from more than one material. “In developing our technology, we’ve learned that [only a few] materials can be processed together, and usually we have to create these custom materials ourselves,” he said. The reason: different materials have different properties and characteristics and, as a result, require different—sometimes very different— processing parameters. In Connelly’s view, the main thing holding additive manufacturing back has been the inferior properties of the materials used to fabricate AM parts, compared to the properties of materials designers specify for products made by conventional methods. Consider, he said, the case of stereolithography, an AM technique that can produce very smooth surfaces. In recent years, the material properties of parts made via stereolithography have improved significantly but still don’t measure up to injection-molded equivalents. On the other hand, he said, the evolution of metal AM processes “has really gotten material properties up there neck and neck” with those normally found in end-use products. ‘Groundswell of interest’ Perhaps this is one reason Connelly has noticed “a groundswell of interest” in using additive-manufacturing technologies for more than just prototyping. He attributes a large part of it to recent AM success stories, which are being heard by designers and manufacturers who hadn’t previously thought of AM as a viable production option. At Microfabrica, executives have Contributors EoPlex Technologies Inc. (650) 361-9070 www.eoplex.com FineLine Prototyping Inc. (919) 781-7702 www.finelineprototyping.com Microfabrica Inc. (818) 786-3322 www.microfabrica.com Wohlers Associates Inc. (970) 225-0086 wohlersassociates.com
noticed the same thing. The company has doubled its revenue every year for the last 3 years, and it increased its capacity by more than 400 percent during that time, reported Eric Miller, president of the firm. How does Miller account for his firm’s growth? State-ofthe-art micromachining can’t give companies currently in the electronics, aerospace and medical industries access “to the next level of miniaturization,” he claimed. “Our MICA Freeform technology offers precision at a very small scale,” he said, adding that the “sweet spot” for the technology is the production of parts with dimensions measuring 2mm or smaller. According to Miller, MICA Freeform can process metals that offer excellent hardness, tensile strength and ductility. In addition, the system now can handle palladium, a lessexpensive alternative to platinum that has helped Microfabrica grow its implantable medical-device business. During the last 3 years, growth in certain market segments has also come from MICA Freeform’s ability to combine metals into sophisticated composites. In addition to private-sector advances, another boost to AM acceptance could come from an initiative announced in March by President Obama. According to Obama, his administration plans to launch a “Pilot Institute for Manufacturing Innovation” focused on AM technology. Up to $45 million in federal funding has been made available for the institute. The project aims to turn AM-related equipment and processes that aren’t fully developed into commercially viable technologies, as well as develop AM expertise and ways to measure that expertise, according to Wohlers. ETA for mass acceptance? So, how long before AM finds widespread use for the production of microscale parts? Connelly thinks it could be 5 to 10 years, given the pace of additive-manufacturing advancements and the fact that microparts are the right size for cost-effective AM production. In Chait’s opinion, it’s a mistake to ask when AM processes will be commonly used for manufacturing. Instead, he predicted AM technology will be adopted in selective cases— specifically, those where it offers enough advantages to supplant a conventional process. “Where there’s a good application for [AM], it will win,” he said, adding, “we have found (an application) where it’s likely to make the old technology obsolete.” Chait was referring to EoPlex's xLC semiconductor packaging products, which are fabricated by the company's AM process, High Volume Print Forming (HVPF). While many small AM products are made up of hundreds of deposited layers, the xLC substrate is only about 50µm high and requires just four or five layers. The xLC substrate is designed to open up new application possibilities for Quad Flat No-Lead semiconductor packages and is a replacement for conventional metal leadframes. HVPF replaces a well-established semiconductor etching and plating process, thereby eliminating the need for “environmentally unfriendly” etching and plating chemicals, Chait said. Also, efficient use of space creates more room for package sites, lowering the price per package site 20 percent to 30 percent below that EoPlex The High Volume Print Forming process is used by EoPlex to make the xLC semiconductor package (right). HVPF replaces a wellestablished semiconductor etching and plating process used to make the conventional metal leadframe at left. of leadframes. Chait reported that EoPlex will soon open a new factory in Malaysia to produce the xLC packaging products. Plans call for a second plant to be built afterward in the Philippines. These factories will be capable of turning out hundreds of thousands of xLCs per week, he said. µ About the author: William Leventon is a contributing editor for MICROmanufacturing. He has a master’s in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s in Engineering from Temple University. Telephone: (609) 926-6447. E-mail: wleventon@verizon. net. Visit us at IMTS Booth #W1352 micromanufacturing.com | 33
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Page 4 and 5: Features May/June 2012 • Volume 5
Page 6 and 7: FRONTpage Don Nelson Publisher Hybr
Page 8 and 9: TECHnews Applications abound for na
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Page 12 and 13: TECHnews these technologies creates
Page 14 and 15: TECHnews UM is suitable for workpie
Page 16 and 17: Micro End Mills l .002" to .125" Cu
Page 18 and 19: MEASUREMENT matters Video measureme
Page 20 and 21: DOWNsizing Silicon that goes pitter
Page 22 and 23: SWISSmachining By Kip Hanson, Contr
Page 24 and 25: SWISSmachining high-polish finishes
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Page 40 and 41: Prickly Situation Makers of microne
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Page 44 and 45: PRODUCTS/services CARBIDE DEBURRING
Page 46 and 47: PRODUCTS/services INDUCTION COILS.
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