Eaton, a world-renowned power component manufacturer, recently announced a new plan for its automotive group in the field of metal additive manufacturing. The plan is part of Eaton’s Industry 4.0 strategy, which aims to reduce product development time and improve efficiency through 3D printing technology . Eaton has installed a new metal 3D printing system and then deploys polymer 3D printing technology in the first quarter of 2021.
Faster and cheaper additive manufacturing
The new 3D printing equipment will be used to manufacture high-quality fixed fixtures, safety devices, automated fixtures for assembly and handling, and parts that need to be replaced. Prototype manufacturing of parts and components will also achieve faster product development trials through 3D printing and improve efficiency.
In the application, Eaton uses scanners to create 3D models of existing components, combined with reverse engineering technology to better utilize 3D printing functions, such as optimizing parts design, reducing the number of parts, and designing functionally integrated parts.
According to Eaton, as more and more 3D printers are deployed around the world, Eaton Automotive Group has achieved further operational improvements, including shorter delivery times and cost savings.
Indirect metal 3D printing
Although Eaton did not disclose which metal 3D printing technology will be used in the new additive manufacturing plan, according to Eaton’s description of the printing process, it can be seen that it is an indirect metal 3D printing technology based on the material extrusion process.
According to Eaton, the process of printing metal parts starts with a bar containing metal powder, wax, and polymer binder, and the 3D printing equipment extrudes the material according to the design document. After the 3D printing process is completed, a chemical bath is used to remove the polymer binder in the part. Then, the residual wax and polymer in the 3D printed parts are removed through a furnace, and the metal material is melted into a high-density structure. In addition, additional heat treatment can be performed according to the needs of the printed parts and materials to be used to further improve the strength of the parts.
The total delivery time of 3D printed parts depends on several criteria, including the size and complexity of the parts, and post-processing time. Eaton said that in the metal 3D printing post-processing process in the new plan, the debinding operation and heat treatment are completed in batches. When a batch of components undergoes post-processing, the next batch of components is being printed, so despite the 3D printer, debinding, The furnace works in an integrated loop, but it can still flexibly increase the number of printers without adding post-processing equipment.
Before the announcement of the new additive manufacturing metal plan, Eaton had used powder bed metal melting 3D printing equipment EOS M290 and Concept Laser M2 UP1 system to manufacture aluminum, stainless steel and other materials for aviation parts. The metal 3D printing system deployed by Eaton in the new metal additive manufacturing plan is an indirect metal 3D printing technology.
Desktop Metal, Markforged, Digital Metal, etc. are all representative companies in this field. For example, one of the indirect metal 3D printing technologies launched by the unicorn company Desktop Metal is based on a material extrusion process, the material is a metal bar, and the other is based on a binder injection process.
Indirect metal 3D printing technology based on binder jetting has been favored by capital, and a large amount of investment funds have entered this field because of the high speed, high volume and low cost factors.
In addition to the rising stars mentioned above, GE and HP have also joined the competition track of indirect metal 3D printing.