Desktop Metal and Uniformity Labs announced that they have developed a completely dense and sinterable 6061 aluminum material for the Desktop Metal production system.
The material will be specifically used in Desktop Metal's binder jetting technology, and is described by partners as a "breakthrough" in 3D printing. For the more economical manufacturing market, aluminum alloy has a wide range of applications.
A few years ago, Desktop Metal and Uniformity Labs joined forces to develop a low-cost raw material that can produce fully dense sinterable 6061 aluminum with an elongation greater than 10%, and a higher yield strength and The ultimate tensile strength.
This is the resultant material is a "significant improvement" to the existing aluminum sintering technology, which requires coating powder particles, mixing sintering aids into the powder, using binders containing expensive nanoparticles or adding lead and magnesium And other metals.
This 6061 aluminum material is compatible with water-based adhesives, and the safety of aluminum powder with a higher minimum ignition energy than other commercially available 6061 aluminum powder has been improved.
This breakthrough represents an important milestone in the development of aluminum for adhesive jetting, and is an important step forward for the additive manufacturing industry, because aluminum alloys are used in automotive, aerospace and consumer electronics. One of the most popular materials in the field.
The global aluminum casting market exceeds US$50 billion per year, and the time is ripe to subvert the casting market through binder injection additive manufacturing solutions. The introduction of lightweight metals in binder jets has opened the door to various thermal management and structural parts applications in various industries. This aluminum alloy material innovation is a key step in the adoption of mass-produced 3D printed aluminum parts.
Burning is no longer a distressing challenge
The 3D printing of aluminum alloy is more "binding" the metal 3D printing process, thus forming a diversified development and bringing opportunities for sustainable development. Since the binder jet metal 3D printing process* (*Reference material: This article understands the technical situation and challenges of binder jet high-speed metal 3D printing for large-scale manufacturing (up and down)), the post-processing thermal processing process can easily lead to aluminum alloy burning, This makes the binder jet metal 3D printing process full of challenges in the processing of aluminum alloys.
But where there are challenges, it is precisely where there are opportunities.
In the field of metal 3D printing, indirect metal 3D printing represented by binder jet metal 3D printing technology has attracted great attention in the industry with high speed and low cost.
However, as the aluminum alloy material used in large quantities in automobile manufacturing, it has always been difficult to catch up with the downwind of the binder injection technology to realize the additive manufacturing of automobile parts with lower cost and higher efficiency. Aluminum alloys are easy to burn during hot working, which is a major challenge for binder jet 3D printing to process aluminum alloys.
From this perspective, Desktop Metal's aluminum alloy powder that can be used in binder injection technology opens up a new space for the application of this technology.