The time and resource expenditures required to qualify parts for the additive manufacturing (AM) industry can certainly be demanding.But those requirements are also reassuring.Most obviously, they’re reassuring from a safety standpoint: no one wants to travel on a plane containing components that have been subjected to anything less than the strictest qualification and certification processes.
Less overtly, from a business standpoint, the market signals we can derive from the industries with the most demanding paths to qualification are often far more valuable than the signals from industries that don’t face those same requirements.For instance, if a company in the oil & gas industry is devoting resources to a 3D printed part, then AM industry observers should look very closely at what the project entails.The lead time required for qualifying AM parts in the oil & gas industry dictates that suppliers aiming to qualify those parts must be strategic to the highest degree in choosing where to devote their attention.
Indeed, in terms of the stringency of its qualification protocols, the oil & gas industry is likely only matched by aerospace/defense and medical.Angeline Goh’s work as the Additive Manufacturing Technology Lead at Shell bears out that point: qualification makes up a significant scope of her responsibilities to ensure parts produced using AM meets the quality requirements suitable for field application.Additionally, she strives to innovate with the technology to expand the scope of application for the energy sector.
The work has paid off, too.In 2021, Shell became the first European company to obtain CE certification from a third-party authority for a part 3D printed in-house in accordance with the European Pressure Equipment Directive (PED).In 2023, Shell collaborated with Bonney Forge Europe (B.F.E.
Bonney Forge) to become the first European equipment manufacturing companies to secure certification for a 3D printed gate valve successfully installed in the field.AM Gate Valve that Shell and B.F.E.Bonney Forge collaborated on previously.
Image courtesy of DNV via LinkedIn B.F.E.Bonney Forge is a leading global supplier of valves, with expertise in oil & gas applications.Goh and her counterpart at B.F.E.
Bonney Forge, Service & Quality Assurance Manager Oscar Barcella, have now built upon that foundation by moving on to another kind of valve, a ball valve.Both types are commonly used in the oil & gas industry, but for different purposes.Ball valves are better for frequent, quick operations, whereas gate valves are more suited to critical applications and operations involving extremely high temperatures.
Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect about the ball valve project that Goh and Barcella led is that it involved five different printed components, using two different printing methods, both metal and polymer.For the body, closure, stem, and ball, Shell and B.F.E.Bonney Forge used powder bed fusion (PBF) to print Inconel 718, while the partners teamed up with another company, Fluorten, for the seats (the seals fitted around the ball) which were printed in PEKK with fused deposition modeling (FDM).
Valves with polymer seats are known as “soft-seated valves,” typically used for applications in less severe operating conditions.Goh and Barcella explained to me that one major consideration behind the choice of the ball valve was to demonstrate the advantages of using AM to produce every piece of an end-use component for the oil & gas industry: “The results of the gate valve after one year in service are very promising, and led us to ask ourselves, is AM flexible enough to do different types of valves? Also, can we print in different materials, allowing for variations in the operating conditions and contact medium? One thing to keep in mind about the gate valve is that it was printed in stainless steel, which is quite a common material,” Goh noted.“The real economic value is in being able to make the valves in higher-grade, nickel-based alloys.” “That’s how we ended up on our current journey.
But before we could truly begin, we had to think about the fact that to produce the soft-seated valve, we’d have to use a print method we hadn’t used before for an end-use part.And the other challenge was the shape: as anyone who works with AM knows, achieving a near-net shape sphere the first time isn’t easy.” Floating ball valve that Shell and B.F.E.Bonney Forge collaborated on.
Image courtesy of Shell and B.F.E.Bonney Forge Alongside proving that it could be done, the Shell and B.F.E.Bonney Forge team also of course wanted to prove why printing an entire component with AM should be done, so Barcella focused on accentuating the advantages of AM with the design.
A main angle there was reducing the weight of the body and closure of the AM valve, compared to its corresponding design for conventional manufacturing: “The typical forged body is full, but by making the 3D printed body hollow, we reduced the weight from 11.2 kilos to 6.3,” said Barcella.“We did the same with the closure and decreased the weight from 7.5 kilos to 4.7.That’s 7.7 kilos in total between the two pieces, about a 40 percent weight reduction.” That’s an impressive weight reduction in any context, but above all when it comes to Inconel, which Barcella, ever the Italian, called “the Ferrari of the nickel alloys”: “A top-tier material has a top-tier price, so saving all that material makes a big impact,” Barcella continued.
“And in the last year, we’ve seen more and more customers requesting Inconel 718.But with these parts made from special materials, the customers are also often ordering valves in very small batches.“An Italian foundry isn’t going to make just three or four of something.
For that, you have to go overseas, and that’s going to involve a substantial waiting period.In cases like that, AM can cut months off of the delivery time compared to legacy methods.“Making parts without tooling, on-demand, is another big advantage of AM that can be passed on to oil & gas customers.
And with our design of the ball valve, eliminating the need for may of the supports, we also saved time, because even with castings and forgings you typically need heat treatment.The part still needed post-processing, but in fact less than you would need with conventional manufacturing processes.” Now, it’s important to point out that the ball valve still doesn’t have National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) certification; it will require more extensive and repeatable data to be brought to the standards committee for evaluation and acceptance.More effort as an industry is needed to gather the necessary data and clear understanding of the process for producing AM materials suitable for a sour service environment.
In this vein, one growing collaboration platform is AM Energy, founded by DNV and a coalition of leading companies in the energy sector to unify end-users around AM qualification.AM Energy is coming together to work on a variety of different AM topics related to oil & gas: “Those initiatives will continue to be important because they bring together a wide diversity of stakeholders in the ecosystem, who all need grow their knowledge and skills jointly in order to work together effectively,” Goh said.“I think there are two things that we can all focus on, which will help create the foundational level of AM adoption the oil & gas industry needs, so that it can scale more quickly.
“First off, we need to ensure the repeatability and reliability of the processes used for critical components.If a product is operation critical, then there needs to be a way for everyone to recognize that the facility making the product is qualified.And that ties in directly to the other thing we need, which is more AM-ready product specifications.
“That’s something I’m working on now through my work chairing the Joint Industry Sprint 2 of the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP): preparing the specification of an additively manufactured valve by subject matter experts from a group of energy companies.Once we’ve done that, the quality guidance information will be available to other suppliers, which is an important step for broadening the AM user base for oil & gas parts.” Shell’s Energy Transition Campus in Amsterdam, where its 3D printing research center is located.Image courtesy of Shell According to Barcella, he’s seen increasing signs that this is something oil & gas customers want: “Everything has sped up year by year since 2020,” he concluded.
“Companies like Shell have been excellent ambassadors for the technology.We’ve noticed that customers are more and more interested in AM.Sometimes it’s just general curiosity, but more people lately also want to know the details about the sort of advantages that we’ve talked about with the ball valve.
“If you’d asked me just a few years ago about customers’ awareness of AM, the answer I’d have given you would’ve been completely different.I’m confident that in the next year we’ll start to see big changes in the market.” Goh agreed that the oil & gas industry’s exposure to AM is only just getting started: “Barcella and B.F.E.Bonney Forge are unique because of how early they raised their hand and were willing to work on these projects with us,” Goh observed.
“Many companies, particularly small and medium ones but large companies as well, still haven’t had much of a chance to work with AM.“The opportunity to innovate hasn’t been as readily available to them as I think it could be.Perhaps now is the right time to really challenge the manufacturers, what if you could use a different production technique to design your product differently? What if you could market your product digitally, instead of having to rely solely on the traditional marketplace? “In the environment we’re in, with the growing awareness of the need to be conscious of how we use material, and the geopolitical catalysts pushing nations to reshore, this is the opportunity for suppliers to give AM a new look, and to see how it can help their businesses innovate.” It’s not just the rigors associated with certification, then, but also those same fundamentals that Goh mentioned, which evoke parallels with industries like aerospace and defense.
The demand appears to be there, so it’s now a question of how quickly the regulatory environment can catch up.Early adopters like Shell and B.F.E.Bonney Forge show that while that might not be easy, it’s also not impossible.
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