Additive manufacturing
3D printing becomes blockchain ready
As a printer manufacturer for high-precision additively manufactured metal components, 3D MicroPrint GmbH is the first to integrate SAMPL technology into its systems. Together with Fraunhofer ENAS, PROSTEP AG, consider it, NXP and the University of Ulm, a first prototype for the Secure Additive Manufacturing (SAMPL) platform is being integrated into a 3D printer for the production of metal components.
"The platform enables secure data exchange between a client and us as a printing service provider. We can thus offer the client the security of knowing that their data will only be used for this production and that the sometimes highly sensitive data will not fall into the hands of others," explains Falko Böttcher, development engineer at 3D MicroPrint GmbH.
The joint project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) with 2.6 million euros over three years, has thus reached an important milestone in the development of an end-to-end security solution. The project is investigating how data can be secured from the generation of 3D printing data, through to transfer and production, and how counterfeiting of the resulting products can be avoided. The platform is based on blockchain technology and the OpenDXM GlobalX data exchange solution from PROSTEP AG.
Smart contracts are used to generate a digital license for the data to be printed in the blockchain. The license encodes the exact number of copies of the component and the link to the download via the secure data exchange platform OpenDXM GlobalX. By triggering the smart contract, the use of the license for the component to be manufactured is registered in the blockchain and can therefore be tracked. For 3D printing service providers in particular, the technology offers enormous added value through the verifiability of the authenticity of the printed components. In addition to proving the use of original data, customers are shown that their security requirements are being taken seriously and implemented.
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