Matsuura Machinery USA, the U.S. subsidiary of Matsuura Machinery Corporation, Japan, and Purdue University have announced an innovative collaboration to advance convergent manufacturing, a new approach to integrated additive and subtractive manufacturing for multi-materials.
Since the 1800s, manufacturing has been a major focus of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue. Researchers now look into every aspect of manufacturing and material processing, from automotive and aerospace to electronics and medical applications.
“Our critical partnership acknowledges a tremendous collaborative opportunity to assist North American customers with their evaluation, investigation, and analysis of Metal AM – and in particular the Matsuura LUMEX Series of Avance-25 machines.”
– Tom Houle, Director, Matsuura LUMEX North America
Houle added “Through the combined expertise of Matsuura, the North American expert in Metal 3D Printing and High-speed Milling, and Purdue University, a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges and ranked in each of the last four years as one of the 10 Most Innovative universities in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, we will address the challenges of today and tomorrow.”
Matsuura LUMEX for Convergent Manufacturing
Matsuura LUMEX Avance lights-out metal 3D printers create highly accurate parts by melting and sintering metal powders with a laser while milling surfaces precisely.
Matsuura’s hybrid metal 3D printers enable the ability to “grow” and fine mill a metal component in layers with complex internal features such as conformal cooling and integrated porous venting as the layers are added — in most cases, this will reduce the need for traditional EDM processes and provide significant savings in the production of moulded plastic components. LUMEX Technology typically reduces overall build time while ensuring a high-quality surface finish. Adding conformal cooling can also reduce cycle times by up to 50% and optimise mould gas venting.
Eckhard A. Groll, Ph.D., William E. and Florence E. Perry Head of Mechanical Engineering, and Reilly Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering said, “Purdue Mechanical Engineering students have always been makers – from the earliest ‘Boilermakers’ of steam engines to the 3D printing of today. Convergent Manufacturing is the future of this industry, and this partnership with Matsuura shows that Purdue is committed to being at the forefront of Convergent Manufacturing research.”
“Our partnership with Matsuura USA is strategic to foster innovations in Convergent Manufacturing as we converge an array of processes in one platform to enable breakthroughs in manufacturing science and engineering.”
– Michael P. Sealy, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Sealy believes that a team of Purdue University and Matsuura USA is the best of the best in hybrid additive manufacturing to push the boundaries of the discipline and benefit our collaborators in Indiana and the US at large with applications for biomedical, defence, space, die and tooling, automotive, and other sectors.
Prof. Wayne Chen, Associate Dean for Research and Innovation and Reilly Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics & Materials Engineering shared that, “Purdue Engineering has a long tradition of leading manufacturing research with a deep and broad foundation in talents and capabilities. The partnership between our Convergent-manufacturing Research Institute (C-MRI) and Matsuura will accelerate the pace of exploration on convergent manufacturing and the pace of technology translation.”
Purdue University will host two world-class hybrid additive manufacturing cluster tools for reactive and non-reactive materials for industries, national labs, and academia as a result of this collaboration.
“At Purdue, we are embarking on a path to advance Industry 4.0 and look beyond to solve the world’s big problems and create new opportunities. That invites a philosophy of convergence including in manufacturing, called Convergent Manufacturing, and such partnerships are invaluable to enable that grand objective.”
– Prof. Ajay Malshe, Ph.D., R. Eugene, and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering
Convergence – the integration of knowledge and ways of thinking from multiple fields to tackle complex challenges and achieve new and innovative solutions – is increasingly being promoted by research institutions.
About Matsuura Machinery USA
Matsuura Machinery USA, Inc., based in St. Paul, Minnesota, is the American subsidiary of Matsuura Machinery Corporation, headquartered in Japan. Matsuura Machinery USA, Inc. provides unrivalled excellence in 5-axis, vertical, horizontal, linear motor, multi-tasking CNC machine tools, and machines with machining capability on a powder bed metal AM platform.
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