Essentium is working on a metal additive manufacturing platform based on extrusion
, which will be coupled with the company’s High-Speed Extrusion (HSE) technology.
Metals capacity has been in development at the company since December 2020,
and it will look to extend beyond aluminium grades to refractory metals to offer up a wider variety of applications.
Essentium first announced its foray into metal 3D printing in conjunction with its statement last week that it plans to go public in 2022.
Essentium’s metal 3D printing method is touted to be powder-free and sinter-free, with the capacity to
deliver energy-efficient deposition, decrease porosity, and minimize warpage during a build,
according to five patents (with three more pending). According to Essentium, the parts produced using this technology will be comparable to castings and forgings with minimal post-processing.
EssentiumX, the company’s special project development team, has led the metal 3D printing operations, with many metallurgists also on board.
This group is attempting to develop metal materials in-house,
while, as with polymer materials,
Novel Production Approach
Essentium hopes to rely on outside help as well. The metal offering is expected to become commercially available in 2023.
“We’re establishing a new production approach by using our materials-first background,” said Elisa Teipel, PhD, Essentium’s Chief Development Officer.
“Our metal AM platform will boost throughput while maintaining high part quality, and it has the potential to be used in a wide range of industries, including automotive, aerospace, and defence.”
Despite tremendous hurdles in today’s marketplaces,
we expect our metal AM platform will enable manufacturers to develop faster and stay ahead.”
“What Essentium wanted to do,
what we always wanted to do, is look at technology from a first-principles standpoint and ask how can we put out technology that’s distinctive and offers the marketplace something that’s been lacking,”
said CEO Blake Teipel PhD
Source: TCT
