3D Printing

3D Printing (3DP), also referred to as Additive Manufacturing is a manufacturing technique to create a three-dimensional object directly from a 3D model.

There is a wide variety of printing technologies available, nearly all of them print layer by layer. Most 3D Printed Titanium parts are still manufactured by Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) technologies such as Selective Laser Melting (SLM) or Electron Beam Melting (EBM).

There are many new printing technologies entering the market that are also referred to as Additive Manufacturing technologies 2.0. These new 3DP technologies are sinter-based and extremely efficient, allow great detail and most of them are less complex in usage. As a pioneer in Metal Injection Molding of Titanium, Element22 brings its experience, Know-How and IP to binder systems as well as post printing processes like debinding and sintering to the emerging 3DP industry. These are extremely critical factors for manufacturing Titanium components with excellent material properties.

These new printing technologies will allow the transformation from using 3DP for rapid prototyping to mass production over the next few years. Through these new 3DP technologies, cost efficient manufacturing of topology-optimized products can be realized at a minimal material loss and reduced energy usage. Another great advantage of these 3DP technologies is that they offer an alternative supply chain, on-demand manufacturing and a smaller physical inventory.

Here some highlights of the different sinter-based 3DP technologies:

Multi-Material combination possible -> diffusion bonding by sintering
Porosity of printed component can be varied in 3 dimensions -> human bone
Possibility to print components and sinter-supports in the same set up with some of the technologies
No molding tool required -> fast lead time
Prices and safety requirements for printers vary dramatically
Today: Excellent fit for prototypes, low volume production and complex geometries
Future: 3DP technologies have potential to run High Volume Production economically

Element22 has several sinter-based 3D printing technologies in its technology portfolio as shaping options.

We can help you find the best 3DP technology for your application!

Overview of some sinter-based 3DP technologies:

Cold Metal Fusion

Cold Metal Fusion (CMF) is based on integrating metal powder into a functional binder system. It is super fast and already used for many high end applications.

Metal Binder Jetting

Metal Binder Jetting (MBJ) is a powder bed based 3DP technology. MBJ spreads fine powder across the build bed, layer by layer.

Lithography Metal Printing

Lithography‐based Metal Manufacturing (LMM) is a 3DP technology for creating advanced metal models, prototypes and production parts by using the principle of photopolymerization.

Pellet Printing

Fused Pellet Fabrication (FPF) is a sinter-based 3D Printing process (3DP) similar to FFF.

Filament Printing

Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), also known as fused deposition modeling (FDM), is a sinter-based 3D Printing process (3DP).