Additive manufacturing is growing rapidly, as is its sub-section devoted to the printing of metal. Where are the companies pushing boundaries? What is the next technological leap?

At Rapid + TCT in Detroit, Desktop Metal for the first time showcased a collection of 300+ 3D printed parts across its expanded Team DM portfolio, which now includes metal, polymer, elastomer, ceramic, composite, and upcycled wood 3D printing solutions, following several acquisitions.

3D printing company XJet will bring metal to the fore of its exhibit at Rapid + TCT in Detroit from May 17th to 19th. For those curious to see the metal technology in production, the company is hosting an open house event with Azoth, XJet’s first metal customer, at its Ann Arbor facility on 16th May.

Israel – Additive manufacturing specialist, Azoth, has received XJet’s first Carmel 1400M metal AM System — the first metal and ceramic material jetting system in the world. Repeatable, quality parts suitable for industrial production were the main reasons cited by Azoth for the investment.

South Korea — Desktop Metal and the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (Kitech) announced a partnership to accelerate the industrialisation and adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) in South Korea starting with the installations of the Desktop Metal Shop System and Production System P-1 platforms.

USA — Desktop Metal has received a $7.9 million order for binder jet additive manufacturing systems from a major German car maker for the mass production of metal automotive powertrain components at scale.

Germany — A new 270-square-meter metal binder jetting facility and showroom have been opened at Ex One’s European headquarters in Gersthofen, Germany. The centre now offers European manufacturers end-to-end binder jetting adoption services, including benchmarks, design support, and materials, process, and work cell development.

Global manufacturing leaders move beyond prototyping to fully embrace 3D printing for series production. Printers are getting faster, can produce bigger parts and create reproducible qualities. What are the latest developments?

UK — Materials informatics (MI) is one of the most exciting areas in materials science. 3D printing has presented an obvious target for the use of materials informatics and is already producing some very promising results.

In December 2020, Ex One was issued a patent on binder jet 3D printing in an inert atmosphere sufficient to allow reactive materials to be processed. The feature is to smooth the way for production 3D printing of high-demand materials that require environmental controls.