Hoganas Digital Metal 3D Printing Technology

摘要

Additive manufacturing is a process of building components in layers directly from 3D CAD data, without the need of complex and costly tools and with minimal waste material. Additive manufacturing is in the process of moving from a main focus on producing prototypes to rapid manufacturing. Most of the revenue derived from the technology is attributed to production of plastic parts, but the presence of metal parts produced by 3D printing is becoming more and more viable. The main methods for additive manufacturing of metal parts include laser or electron beam melting or precision ink-jet performed on a powder bed. Digital Metal AB offers a revolutionary and innovative manufacturing technique for metallic components. It is a proprietary technology for additive manufacturing and 3D printing of metal components and systems. Printing using metal powders with a binder occurs at room temperature followed by a separate sintering process. As no melting takes place during the process high tolerances, good surface finish and highly detailed accuracy can be obtained compared to other additive manufacturing methods. This offers a unique capability to cost effectively produce highly complex and intricate designs and features for metallic parts. Hoganas AB acquired cubic AB in November 2012 as part of Hoganas' vision to broaden the applications of powder technology. The company changed its name to Digital Metal AB. The acquisition included primarily patents, intellectual property and an older 3D printer for metal components. A process line was built up in Hoganas for production with 3D technology, and a second generation 3D printer is under commission.