On March 21, 2019, Antarctic Bears found a good news for the industry. Markforged, a manufacturer of carbon fiber and indirect metal 3D printers, recently announced that it has completed a US $ 82 million (about 550 million yuan) Series D financing. This round of financing was led by Summit Partners. Old shareholders such as Microsoft, Porsche, and Siemens continued to invest.
As of now, Markforged's total financing has reached 137 million US dollars (about 920 million yuan). Rival Desktop Metal announced in January 2019 that it had secured another US $ 160 million in Series E financing, with a total financing amount of US $ 438 million (about 3 billion yuan). These two companies are representative of "indirect" metal 3D printing, and have repeatedly been recognized by the capital market. We can expect the future of this type of technology in mass metal 3D printing production.
Although there is still a gap between the financing amount and DM, in terms of the 3D printing industry, Markforged is already a very fast-growing 3D printing company. Summit Partners Managing Director Michael Medici joins Markforged's board.
Markforged participated in TCT Asia 2019 in Shanghai
Markforged intends to use the funding to accelerate its product roadmap, including the introduction of mass-produced printers and new materials. It plans to add a regional headquarters in Asia this year and double its global engineering staff. In Boston, Markforged will add another 200 jobs to its existing 230 employees. The company also plans to open a new plant in the Greater Boston area this year.
Founded in 2013 by CEO Greg Mark, Markforged produces industrial 3D printers for metal, composite and plastic parts. In September 2018, the company reached a settlement with its rival, Desktop Metal, on trade secrets and corporate patent lawsuits, resolving all pending lawsuits between the two companies. Both companies acknowledge that neither the company nor the individuals mentioned in the lawsuit have misappropriated any trade secrets or confidential information belonging to the other party.
"We have been actively observing the additive manufacturing market for the past ten years and are happy to work with the Markforged team," said Michael Medici, managing director of Summit Partners, who has joined the company's board of directors. "Markforged has been operating at an alarming rate over the past five years, providing superior products that address real industrial manufacturing needs. Greg and his team are focused on continuous product innovation, and we believe that the best state of Markforged and its customers is still behind."
Markforged introduced the Metal X 3D printer at CES 2016, a revolutionary system that enables safe and efficient desktop metal additive manufacturing. At the time of the release, Mark commented, "If you can afford a metal printer worth $ 500,000 to $ 1 million, buy one." In 2018, Markforged stated that it is accelerating Metal X shipments and has now issued more than 100 Taiwan ’s metal 3D printers, while rival DM ’s shipments are relatively small.
Metal X can process a variety of metallic materials, some of which are not included in existing industrial machines. This includes 17-4 stainless steel, 303 stainless steel, 6061 aluminum (Beta), 7075 aluminum (Beta), A-2 tool steel (Beta), D-2 tool steel (Beta), IN alloy (Inconel) 625 (β) and Titanium Ti-6Al-4V (Beta).
Markforged's metal 3D printer uses ADAM technology
ADAM is somewhat similar to adhesive spray technology. First, a 3D solid is constructed by depositing metal powder surrounded by a plastic adhesive layer by layer, and then the adhesive is removed by sintering, leaving only the metal part. It is worth noting that because the sintering process is a holistic sintering that allows metal crystals to "pass" the bonding layer, the prints from this technology are very strong and can be directly applied to industry. Atomic diffusion is the translocation and movement caused by the thermal movement of atoms at high temperatures that breaks the positional constraints of the crystal. Usually, during the phase transformation and precipitation that occurs at high temperatures, iron atoms and alloy atoms change the phase structure and composition through diffusion. This is Diffusion phase transition.
Markforged metal 3D printer using ADAM and adhesive spray technology is made of wire! Not metal powder, but metal wire! This means that METAL X can be used more conveniently! It does not require a strict use environment, and the parts printed by METAL X can be used directly after sintering!
Metal X metal 3D printer printing process
The material compatibility of Metal X is also very good. At present, it can print a variety of metals such as titanium, aluminum, and high-end stainless steel 17-4 and 303. In the future, it is said that it can also print tool steel commonly used in injection molding processes. In addition, it is also equipped with a laser detection system that can be connected to the cloud software Eiger, which can detect the condition of each print layer during the printing process.
Metal X metal 3D printer prototype
Features:
Low cost: The cost of use is only one-tenth that of other metal 3D printers, and one-hundredth of that of traditional metal processing.
Easy to use: Cloud-based printer management software, built-in touch screen interface, and automatic tracking materials make the Metal X system the easiest way to make metal parts.
Advantages: By printing metal powder in a plastic matrix, the safety risks caused by traditional metal 3D printing are eliminated, while new features such as closed cell filling are used to reduce part weight and cost.