MONTANA TECH EXPANDS ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING CAPABILITIES
More than $1 million in recent equipment acquisitions by Montana Technological University’s Mechanical Engineering department has catapulted its capacity for 3D printing to a level that is attracting collaborators from around Montana.
“We have some of the finest additive manufacturing capabilities in the area,” said Associate Professor Dr. Nathan Huft, who leads the Montana Tech Advanced Manufacturing (MTAM) Research Group with Dr. Peter Lucon.
The equipment includes an Xact Metal and two One Click Metal MPrint laser powder bed fusion printers and two MPURE power handling systems. The combined capabilities of all three pieces of equipment give MTAM members the ability to print stainless steel, titanium, and nickel-based alloys. Funding for the printers was obtained through a cooperative agreement with the Army Research Laboratory. The three machines totaled more than $630,000 and arrived on Montana Tech’s campus in 2023 and 2024.
Other recent equipment purchases include a 3D scanner that cost $46,000 and high-speed infrared camera that cost $170,000. They join a high-speed camera that cost $110,000 that was
purchased seven years ago. A handheld X-ray fluorescence machine sits in its crate, newly arrived from Germany, ready to be assembled. The $41,000 machine can rapidly analyze metal compositions. The lab also contains an arc spark optical emission spectrometer that performs a similar function, but leaves the sample dented and
damaged. They both play important roles.
“We mix our own feedstock powders, so we want to verify compositions before we start our printing process,” Huft said.
Several pieces of equipment are available to mix powdered alloys. They include multiple vibratory mixing machines that Lucon patented and a powder rheometer.
The lab is also home to a large printer that can print polymers on a large scale of up to 1.5 meters wide by 0.75 meters tall. Another printer is able to print specialized inks that are used for circuit boards. Five others are able to print resins. Evidence of student work abounds in the lab. There’s a case of artistic 3D printed items on display, but there are also parts and pieces lying around that have more practical uses. Outside a professor’s office students took the time to scan a broken ornate nameplate and replace it with a good-looking printed replica.
“We really try to give the students the ability to learn the printer, because they can’t do the research unless they really understand,” Huft said. “We encourage them to do their own projects, because if they just do the research they will never learn what the printers are capable of.”
Researchers from Montana State University in Bozeman have used the facility, and private businesses have also expressed interest in collaboration. Graduate student Emily Maynard is focusing her research efforts on testing the strength of the different printed parts as part of a project for Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport. Another graduate student, Layton Bahnmiller, was recently contacted by a local theater group to produce replacements for antique metal parts of its historic theater seats. Bahnmiller 3D scanned the antique parts
and produced digital models of the parts. He then used the digital models to 3D print resin patterns to be used by a foundry to cast metal replacements.
Huft says prospective students or collaborators can contact him at nhuft@mtech.edu.