Shaping the future of Metal AM

Whilst still relatively new to the UK market, Desktop Metal have recently been making waves in the British manufacturing industry with the first office-friendly metal 3D printer; having shipped the first batch to UK customers recently; It’s been an incredible few months to be working in the 3D print industry and I’m keen to share these recent developments in which I and the Tri-Tech 3D team have been a part of… 

The Printing Process…

The Desktop Metal printing process works in a very similar way to conventional FDM printing by extruding material through a heated nozzle, delivered in a rod form, made from a combination of metal powder mixed with wax and polymer binders. 

Prior to manufacture we need to prepare the parts using our software called Fabricate

View the process here: https://bit.ly/2Z96JuS

One key difference to FDM is that it’s a 3 stage process, consisting of printing, de-binding and furnace sintering, all stages manufactured and supplied by Desktop Metal.

View the process here - https://bit.ly/32WN3wP

During the print phase, a green part is created, which is slightly larger than the CAD model, to take into account the added binding agents. We build parts using 2 extrusion nozzles, one for the metal, and the second for a ceramic based release layer, allowing for easy removal of supports.

View the process here - https://bit.ly/2McaRXv

These parts are then placed into a debinder, where the wax is removed, via a heated chemical process. The Desktop Metal debinder is a uniquely designed system, for safe operation, no external venting, no open exposure to chemical vapours, and no handling of residual chemicals, where parts go in dry and come out dry, this is called the Brown part.

View the process here - https://bit.ly/2SMi1mA

The last stage is to place the debound parts into a furnace, where the parts are sintered, into the final metal part, one which can be used for functional testing and low volume custom user parts. The furnace is also a very uniquely designed furnace from Desktop Metal, keeping the theme of a full office based system, build in a vacuum, stacking using a Graphite retort, thus maximising capacity. 

View the process here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECI4NckONTc

The final metal parts when removed from the furnace can then easy have the supports removed, mainly by hand, due to the ceramic interface layer resembling a pink crumbled powder, so separation from the models is very easy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-7WuOSkClg

Possible Applications…

The current range of applications are those such as Metal Injection Moulding, (MIM), aiming at larger parts, or in the initial design stages of MIM, used to help with early prototypes, without the cost of making mould tools. The other attraction of Desktop Metal is to the current FDM users who wish for a metal part instead. The customers currently using Desktop Metal have expanded into low volume gears, jigs, fixtures, and tooling, with an ever increasing freedom now to exploit office based metal 3D printing.

The industries who can really exploit this technology are Aerospace, Automotive, Universities, R&D facilities, Healthcare, MIM, and general engineering companies,

Who are Tri-Tech 3D currently working with…

We currently have the first systems installed in the UK at the Royce Transformational Centre in Sheffield, and the Weir Group, who wish to use the technology for development and research of AM parts, complimenting their existing AM resources.

Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) is a critical part of the strategy for the Royce Transformational Centre at Sheffield University where they’re working with a range of start-ups to multinational aeronautical manufacturers to represent a valuable missing link between small-scale laboratory metals processing and industrial scale manufacturing. 

In addition Weir Group have invested in the Studio System to allow them to explore, prototype, test and commercialise components and tooling that will deliver significant benefits to their Mining and Oil & Gas customers globally.

Moving forwards…

It’s an exciting time for us to be working with Desktop Metal within the UK manufacturing industry and we continue to see more and more companies taking the leap to invest in metal 3D printing. As we move forward, I predict that we’ll see even more applications for metal 3D printing begin to emerge and I very much look forward to being a part of that.

For any enquiries about 3D metal printing and Desktop Metal technologies, please reach out to me at [email protected].