Additive Industries announces a new flagship machine while Renishaw joins Airbus on a project to lower L-PBF costs.
Polymer-based additive manufacturing (AM) may have had a ten-year head start on metal-based AM, but metal AM is quickly gaining ground in both research and industry.
On the latter front, the latest news comes from Eindhoven-based Additive Industries, which has just announced a new flagship machine: the MetalFab 420K. The new laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) system incorporates four 1kW lasers and a 420 mm x 420 mm x 420mm build volume. Other notable features highlighted by the company include:
- Variable beam diameter as a process parameter, calibrated from 100 to 500μm
- Automated laser calibration and in-build laser-to-laser alignment
- Advanced oxygen and humidity controls and tracking
- New permanent filter design
- Enclosed and automated powder extraction, sieving and transportation
Before its official launch, the MetalFab 420K underwent a six-month beta test program at one of Additive Industries’ customers in the space sector, according to a statement from Niels Cruts, Additive Industries manager technology.
“Based on the feedback of our valuable global customer base we have built this new system from the proven DNA of our MetalFab product portfolio with a key focus on the needs of our demanding users in the space, aerospace, automotive and high-tech sectors who are looking to push productivity further in their manufacturing operations, where no compromise in quality is acceptable,” said Mark Massey, CEO of Additive Industries in a company press release.
For comparison, the EOS M400-4 L-PBF machine has a slightly smaller build volume (400mm x 400mm x 400mm in the M400-4) and lower power lasers (4 x 400W). In that sense, it represents a middle ground between the M400-4 and the much larger Nikon SLM Solutions NXG XII 600, which has a 600mm x 600mm x 600mm build volume and 12 1kW lasers. Outside of Europe, the closest competitor to the MetalFab 420K would probably be the Farsoon Technologies FS422M-H-4, which also has four 1kW lasers and a build volume of 425mm x 425mm x 550mm.
Advancing L-PBF for aerospace
In related L-PBF news, UK-based Renishaw has joined an Airbus-led initiative to advance AM technology to make it more cost-effective, productive, and sustainable in aerospace applications. Renishaw and Airbus are joined by nine other organizations encompassing aerospace OEMs, Tier 1 & 2 suppliers, SMEs and research institutes. These include ASTM International UK, Authentise, GKN Aerospace, and the University of Sheffield, among others.
Dubbed the Digitally Enabled Competitive & Sustainable Additive Manufacturing (DESCAM) project, the four-year £38M research program is built around four pillars:
- Performance: new and improved alloys, multi-physics modeling
- Productivity: high-power lasers, beam shaping, advanced scan strategies
- Scalability: end-to-end digital thread, automated sustainable factory concepts
- Application: technology integrations aimed at demonstrating overall cost benefits
Planned outputs include ground and flight-test demonstrators, validated recycled or repurposed powder routes, widened powder specifications, verified parameter themes for quality and throughput, in-process monitoring software offerings, and guidance for routes to qualification and certification.
“DECSAM exemplifies the kind of industry-led collaboration needed to unlock additive manufacturing’s potential at scale,” said Andrew G. Kireta Jr., president of ASTM International, in a press release. “ASTM is proud to contribute to its success.”
