3D Printing News: OrcaSlicer RC, Traceable PLA & More
By Dynafabs
3D printing news: OrcaSlicer 2.5.0 RC fixes, PLA traced to its spool by heat, HP's printed tungsten carbide and a Rolls-Royce titanium order.
This week's 3D printing news runs from the software on your desk to the metal inside a jet engine. OrcaSlicer's biggest release is nearly finished, researchers in Australia have shown that PLA spools leave a thermal fingerprint, and some serious industrial names are betting on printed carbide, titanium and turbojets.
OrcaSlicer 2.5.0 reaches release candidate
The OrcaSlicer team published the 2.5.0 release candidate on 1 November, just five days after the beta. According to FilamentFeed's breakdown, the RC fixes crashes in the Device tab and when opening some projects, makes slicing work on the first click again, stops lightning infill from freezing on some models, and keeps your Bambu Lab printer connection and synced AMS filaments after a restart. On the multi-nozzle H2D, X2D and H2C, each filament now goes to the nozzle it's actually loaded on.
The change worth knowing about is in the "filament for features" settings. Previously, assigning a different filament to infill or top and bottom surfaces could quietly switch other features left on Default as well. Now Default always means the object's own filament. That's the sensible behaviour, but older multi-filament projects may slice differently, so check the preview before you print. We covered the beta in our earlier news roundup.
Your PLA has a thermal fingerprint
Forensic chemists at Curtin University in Western Australia have published a paper in Forensic Science International showing that differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), which measures how a sample takes in heat as it warms up, could tell apart 26 of 28 commercial PLA filaments, even same-coloured ones from different brands. With an extra heat-treatment step to even out the effects of printing, they could also match printed samples back to the spool they came from. FilamentFeed and Tom's Hardware both covered it, and the abstract is on PubMed.
The method only worked for PLA. PETG and ABS are amorphous, so their DSC traces looked too similar to separate. For everyday printing, it's a neat reminder that "PLA" is a family of formulations, not one material, which is why the same settings can behave differently from brand to brand.
HP and Hyperion push printed tungsten carbide
HP Additive Manufacturing and Hyperion Materials & Technologies have signed a preferred partner agreement to make binder-jet tungsten carbide parts commercially available. Hyperion has installed an HP Metal Jet S100 at its Barcelona plant and launched CarbiForm, a line of carbide powders made for binder jetting. HP plans to show the technology at Formnext in Frankfurt from 17 to 20 November. Details are in VoxelMatters' report and FilamentFeed's analysis, which notes that no pricing or mechanical data has been published yet.
Norsk Titanium gets a Rolls-Royce order
Norsk Titanium says it has received a purchase order from Rolls-Royce for a Ti-6Al-4V structural engine component and is now an approved supplier for Rolls-Royce development activities. The part is built with Norsk's wire-fed Rapid Plasma Deposition process in Norway, then machined to its final shape in Germany. It's an evaluation order rather than a production contract. See Norsk Titanium's announcement and VoxelMatters.
Aurora Labs raises A$6 million for printed turbojets
Australian metal printing company Aurora Labs has raised A$6 million through a share placement at A$0.055 a share, with Walkinshaw Group Holdings joining as a strategic investor. The money is earmarked for scaling up production of its additively manufactured turbojet engines for defence and aerospace customers, according to FilamentFeed and VoxelMatters.
What it means if you're ordering prints
Most of this week's stories come down to consistency. Slicer fixes make the same file slice the same way, the Curtin study shows that the exact filament matters as much as the material name, and the industrial deals are about making printed parts repeatable enough for demanding customers. When you order from Dynafabs, telling us the material and finish you need, and what the part has to do, helps us pick settings that give you the same result every time. Our PLA vs PETG vs ABS/ASA vs TPU guide is a good place to start.
FAQ
Should I update to OrcaSlicer 2.5.0 RC? If you're on the alpha or beta, the RC's crash fixes make it worth moving to. On a machine you rely on, back up your profiles first and re-check older multi-filament projects in the preview.
Does the PLA study change how my parts are printed? No. It's forensic research, but it does show why two PLA brands can need slightly different settings.
Can Dynafabs print in tungsten carbide or titanium? Those are specialist industrial processes. We focus on plastics and resin, so get in touch and we'll tell you honestly what suits your part.
Got a part in mind? Get a quote from Dynafabs and we'll help you choose the right material and settings.
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