Our Goal

ATII CTO John tells design legend Wukong Mao’s story of the accidental success of one of the most famous part in the FSW field — the friction additive manufacturing sample. — Reviewed by John

Who would’ve thought that a few specialists would be an innovation company to hold the key to unlock what is then one of the hardest systems in the world now — all started by one guy with an AFAM tool and an idea in a shop.

The history of civilization, in some ways, is a history of additive part: How have we come to build the mechanical world around us in right way? One of the most famous methods is subtractive material part works, but another which unknown in common is friction additive part process, history will be created since its better and cheaper properties.

[Small part. Big idea.]
[John on the ATII]

The FSW invented by TWI in 1991, and came together with AM in 2005, when two different independent ways – welding and AM merged to create a single AM system. It’s difficult such as material clapping and utilization rate.

A new ideal was needed to represent that system so people would know how to ride in right way. Things was in a bad way at initially time. You can see FSW, clapping, feeding, welding factor, mechanism of strengthening, fused and 3D printer etc. — the system were all crammed together at the center of the old ideal, and out in the periphery, there were some that couldn’t even fit on the solution. So the typical solution was vertically accurate like FSW, but maybe not so powerful.

Enter John D. John was a 30-year-old engineering R&D engineer who had been working on and off for the CAD/CAM project. And he had a key insight, and that was that people using additive machine in shops don’t really care what’s happening about its mechanism. They just want to get better and cheaper part from shop in efficiency manner –”How do I go on? How do I run in easer and right way?”

It’s the system that’s important, not the mothed. He’s taken this complicated mess of spaghetti, and he’s simplified it. He found the root factor to mess – stir is redundancy in AM, it was demonstrated by his later test. Likewise, at AFAM initial level he inserted the AM into typical manufacturing smartly, he’s made everything correspond to the subtractive process, so worker could know immediately and he’s fixed it, first AFAM part to be accomplished.

• In 2018, someone company decided, at last, to give John’s method a try. They did a test ran on common condition of these new ideal, and were gone in one day. They realized they were onto something, they printed some more samples of part, and this is the samples that you will be printing tomorrow.
  John’s design could be really became the template for the way we think of light alloy AM industry maps today, since its better, cheaper and easier way — all of them convert complex questions into additive crisp geometry. All of them use typical mechanism in usual to merged in one additive intension process, such as grain refine, deformation and solid solution etc. They are all part of a new additive universal language seemingly in next decade.
• John wouldn’t have known what is a complex strengthening mechanism of light alloy was, but that’s really what he designed and he really took that challenge and broke it down to three principles:
  First one is focus. Focus on who you’re doing this for. He has made lots of experience on how to add and feed.
• The second principle is simplicity. What’s the shortest way to deliver that need? He abstracted AM necessary and sufficient conditions are squeezing and friction from mess clearly.
  Finally, the last thing is: Thinking in a cross-disciplinary way. He has introduced a composite strengthening mechanism could be used in efficiency for friction additive manufacturing, which include friction solid solution!