Matsuura Machinery USA Partners with Purdue University to Foster Innovations in Convergent Manufacturing
St. Paul, MN (September 13, 2022) — Matsuura Machinery USA and Purdue University announce an innovative collaboration to advance a new approach to integrated additive and subtractive manufacturing for multi-materials referred to as convergent manufacturing. Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLOPD9_Bq1k.
“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,” said Tom Houle, Director, Matsuura LUMEX North America.
“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,” Houle added.
Manufacturing has been a central focus of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue, going back to the 1800’s. Today, researchers study every aspect of manufacturing and materials processing, from automotive and aerospace to electronics and medical applications. “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,” said 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.
“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, said Michael P. Sealy, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering.
According to Dr. Sealy, a team of Purdue University and Matsuura USA is the best of the talents in hybrid additive manufacturing to push the boundaries of the discipline and benefit our collaborators in Indiana and US at large with applications for biomedical, defense, space, die and tooling, automotive and other sectors.”
“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” said Prof. Wayne Chen, Associate Dean for Research and Innovation and Reilly Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics & Materials Engineering.
As a result of this partnership, Purdue University will be hosting two world-class hybrid additive manufacturing cluster tools for reactive and non-reactive materials for industries, national labs, and academia.
”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,” said Prof. Ajay Malshe, Ph.D., R. Eugene, and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering.
Research institutions have increasingly moved to implement programs that foster convergence – the integration of knowledge and ways of thinking from multiple fields to tackle complex challenges and achieve new and innovative solutions.
About Purdue University
Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges. 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, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://stories.purdue.edu.
About Matsuura LUMEX
Matsuura LUMEX Avance lights-out metal 3D printers produce highly accurate parts from metal powders that are melted and sintered via a laser while surfaces are precisely milled.
Matsuura’s hybrid metal 3D printers enable the ability to “grow” and fine mill a metal component in layers with complex internal features as the layers are added, such as conformal cooling and integrated porous venting — in most cases, will minimize the need for traditional EDM processes and provide significant savings to the production of molded plastic components. The LUMEX Technology typically reduces overall build time and ensures a highly suitable surface finish. Added conformal cooling can also improve cycle times as much as 50% and mold gas venting can be optimized.
The Matsuura LUMEX solution enables quick-turn prototyping producing a wide range of parts and low- to mid-volume production runs. Products and shapes that were said to be previously impossible to manufacture (including ultradeep ribs, 3D mesh, hollows, free-form surfaces, and porous structures) can now be manufactured via the LUMEX platform. More at: https://www.matsuurausa.com/lumex-production-services/.
About Matsuura Machinery USA
Matsuura Machinery USA, Inc., located in St. Paul, MN is the U.S. subsidiary of Matsuura Machinery Corporation in Japan. Since 1935, Matsuura has been the forerunner in designing innovative technology and manufacturing solutions to a variety of industries around the globe. Matsuura Machinery USA, Inc. delivers unmatched excellence in 5-axis, vertical, horizontal, linear motor, multi-tasking CNC machine tools and machines with a powder bed metal AM platform with machining capability. Matsuura Machinery USA, Inc. provides the service, applications and technical field support that have always been the Matsuura standard for business.