Foreign 3D printing projects frequently receive financing, which is the continued optimistic performance of the capital market for 3D printing.
On August 8, 2018, Boston Metal 3D printer developer Digital Alloys received a Series B financing led by G20 Ventures, amounting to US $ 12.9 million (about 88 million yuan).
The company has been developing new methods for metal additive manufacturing since 2014, and it has received $ 5 million in investment in 2017.
Investors involved in Series B funding include Boeing HorizonX Ventures, Lincoln Electric, and Khosla Ventures.
What exactly is this metal additive manufacturing technology called Joule Printing?
Digital Alloys CEO Duncan McCallum introduced Joule Printing. McCallum said Joule Printing “was created to free manufacturers from the shackles of slow, complex and expensive metal 3D printing.”
According to Antarctic Bear, Joule Printing ™ technology uses Joule heating (also called “resistance heating”) to melt wires, which is the same principle as heating coils in an oven. The fast, precise movement and wire feeding system enables metal deposition speeds of up to 5 kg / hour, using cheaper wires instead of expensive powders. In many applications, the dramatic increase in productivity and the reduction in raw material costs make the cost per product 25-25% lower than traditional manufacturing.
Joule Printing ™ uses commodity wires and can be used with any metal (or multiple metals). This makes the choice of materials very broad in the market and eliminates the dangers and costs of using powders.
Joule Printing ™ melts wires into fully dense, strong parts in one step. No need to remove adhesive, no sintering.
According to Digital Alloys, this metal additive manufacturing system is expected to be used early in “production of conformal cooling tools for the automotive and consumer goods industries, and high-quality titanium parts for the aerospace industry.”
Investors comment on the potential of Joule Printing
G20 Ventures co-founder Bill Wiberg said, “When you look at the processes that were required for early metal printing to produce carbide parts, you will discover the complexity of the machine, the sensitive materials and the complex steps. This great team invented And now a new approach is commercialized that is fast and cheap, and once you see it, you wonder why anyone else is using other technologies.
“Through emerging additive manufacturing technologies, our goal is to accelerate the design and manufacture of 3D printed parts to change production systems and products.”
“Our investment in Digital Alloys and Joule Printing technology has expanded Lincoln Electric’s position in the field of metal additive manufacturing and helped drive the development of value-added solutions in the region, such as tools,” said Tom Matthews, senior vice president of technology and research at Lincoln Electric. And small batch castings. “
“The support of Boeing and Lincoln Electric will expand our expertise, technology and services,” said Digital Alloys CEO Duncan McCallum. “We are committed to providing the products and services manufacturers need to use metal 3D printing in production. By letting excellent engineers solve manufacturing problems in new ways, we will save customers time, money and trouble. The next industrial revolution will be it’s here”.