Advanced Manufacturing is the use of innovative technologies to create new or existing products. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s advanced manufacturing portfolio can be organized into four main groups: Additive Manufacturing is the process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies. Precision Engineering is the design and fabrication of machines, fixtures, and other structure that have exceptionally low tolerances, are repeatable, and are stable over time. Manufacturing Simulation & Automation comprises technologies that reduce human intervention in manufacturing processes, as well as a set of tools that allows for experimentation and validation of product, process, and system designs & configurations. Manufacturing Improvements are inventions that improve throughput/efficiency, or that reduce cost/waste.
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Seurat Technologies, a Massachusetts-based startup, licensed a LLNL-invented metal AM technology in 2015 with the intention of commercializing a high-speed, high-resolution 3D printer to produce metal parts at industrial scale. Since then, Seurat has developed the lasers, optics, and equipment needed to bring the technology to market, further strengthening LLNL’s mission-driven development of advanced materials and manufacturing processes. In this video, explore how Seurat, with investments from NVIDIA and others, could revolutionize metal additive manufacturing.
In a record setting year for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), four teams of LLNL researchers will attend the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy I-Corps (EIC) Cohort 20 this spring.
The EIC is a key initiative of the DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions, and facilitated at LLNL by Hannah Farquar from the Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO). Established in 2015, EIC pairs teams of scientists with industry mentors to train researchers in moving DOE lab-developed technologies toward commercialization.
Through a new process a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) team is calling Microwave Volumetric Additive Manufacturing (MVAM), researchers have introduced an innovative new approach to 3D printing using microwave energy to cure materials, opening the door to a broader range of materials than ever before.
Check out the technology page for MVAM!
LLNL’s invention is a photopolymerizable polymer resin that consists of one or more nitrile-functional based polymers. The resin is formulated for SLA based 3D printing allowing for the production of nitrile-containing polymer components that can then be thermally processed into a conductive, highly graphitic materials. The novelty of the invention lies in (1) the photo-curable nitrile-…
LLNL researchers have developed a fabrication process for creating 3D random interdigitated architectures of anodes and cathodes, eliminating the need for a membrane to separate them. This approach is similar to the repeating interdigitated multi-electrode architectures that also were developed at LLNL.
LLNL researchers have developed novel advanced manufactured biomimetic 3D-TPMS (triply periodic minimal surface) membrane architectures such as a 3D gyroid membrane. The membrane is printed using LLNL's nano-porous photoresist technology. LLNL’s 3D-TPMS membranes consist of two independent but interpenetrating macropore flow channel systems that are separated by a thin nano-porous wall…
Improving the active material of the Zn anode is critical to improving the practicality of Zn-MnO2 battery technology. LLNL researchers have developed a new category of 3D structured Zn anode using a direct-ink writing (DIW) printing process to create innovative hierarchical architectures. The DIW ink, which is a gel-based mixture composed of zinc metal powder and organic binders, is…
To get the best of both worlds – the sensitivity of LC-MS with the speed of PS-MS – and a functional substrate that can maintain sample integrity, LLNL researchers looked to 3D printing. They have patented a novel approach to create lattice spray substrates for direct ionization mass spectroscopy using 3D-printing processes.
LLNL researchers, through careful control over the chemistry, network formation, and crosslink density of the ink formulations as well as introduction of selected additives, have been successful in preparing 3D printable silicone inks with tunable material properties. For DIW (direct in writing) applications, LLNL has a growing IP portfolio around 3D printable silicone feedstocks for…
LLNL’s method of 3D printing fiber-reinforced composites has two enabling features: