On December 1, 2020, Mitsubishi Power, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), signed a technology license agreement with French metal processing expert Aubert & Duval to manufacture 3D printed metal powder.
This transaction marks the first step for Mitsubishi Power to fully launch its additive manufacturing business, combining Aubert & Duval's metal powder with Mitsubishi's proprietary 3D printing technology.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries enters the 3D printing field
Since the metal 3D printer developed by Mitsubishi Electric's compatriot Matsuura Machinery entered the 3D printing market in 2014, Mitsubishi's subsidiaries have increasingly adopted additive manufacturing technology in their processes.
In 2018, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation developed a "dot matrix" direct energy deposition (DED) precision metal 3D printing process to improve the manufacturing efficiency of finished parts in the automotive and aerospace industries. One month later, assisted British post-processing system manufacturer Additive Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) to accelerate the automated post-processing speed of the PostPro3D system.
After acquiring Dutch Filaments, a supplier of 3D printing filaments, Mitsubishi's chemical division, Mitsubishi Chemical High Performance Polymers (MCPP), collaborated with Belgian machine development startup Colossus to test 10 composite profiles on Colossus FGM 3D printers. According to Colossus, this printer is the first to use rPET (recycled PET) and rPP (recycled polypropylene) profiles.
Last year, MCPP installed a mass 3D printing production device called QPoD from 3DQue, a 3D printing startup in Vancouver, in its material testing laboratory in Michigan. Recently, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation has cooperated with German materials startup AM Polymers to develop polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) powder products for industrial 3D printing.
Technology License Agreement
Mitsubishi Power uses proprietary material technology in metal 3D printing. The specially developed gas nozzle can be integrated into the gas atomization system to produce metal powder materials by atomizing inert gas into vacuum molten metal.
Aubert & Duval provides high-performance alloys and metals for the aerospace, energy and defense industries. Because of their expertise in these fields, Mitsubishi chose Aubert & Duval as a partner for the development of the 3D printing business.
Mitsubishi's technology will be combined with Aubert & Duval's expertise in metal powder manufacturing to develop powders optimized for additive manufacturing processes. The partnership is expected to improve the performance of 3D printed products and enable Mitsubishi to participate in the metal additive manufacturing process from material development to final product manufacturing.
AM-Zone
In September, Mitsubishi Electric established a new additive manufacturing development plant at Hitachi Works in Ibaraki Prefecture. The factory is called AM-Zone, equipped with powder manufacturing equipment and multiple metal 3D printing systems, and can complete the entire additive manufacturing process from powder development to product processing.
In order to promote the popularization of additive manufacturing technology, AM-Zone has carried out visits and other activities. In view of the prevalence of Covid-19, it currently also provides online visits. Looking to the future, Mitsubishi Electric will seek to reduce labor costs by integrating remote operations and digital manufacturing.
Mitsubishi hopes to participate in all areas of the metal 3D printing process through the cooperation with Aubert & Duval and AM-Zone. They believe that the development of this new business field will enable it to contribute to the next stage of industrialization in the energy field and other fields.