Metal printing on the EVO-lizer desktop 3D printer
EVO-tech is now also revolutionizing metal 3D printing! While several hundred thousand euros had to be invested in the purchase of a metal 3D printer up to now, it is now possible to produce metal parts with the EVO-lizer 3D printer. The technologies from MIM / PIM injection molding that have been known for decades are used. Here, plastics that are highly felt with metal are injected and then sintered.
Process description metal 3D printing
Feedstock
In the first step, a suitable binder system and a suitable metal powder are selected.
GRANULATE
In the second step, a feedstock, comparable to a plastic granulate, is produced from the binder and the metal.
FILAMENT PRODUCTION
In the third step, a filament is produced from the feedstock.
PRINT OF FILLED FILAMENT
In the fourth step, the metal filament is processed like a normal plastic filament in the EVO-lizer 3D printer. Here it is essential to ensure that the interior is heated and that hardened nozzles are used.
GREEN PART
After printing, the so-called green part is obtained, which from this step can be treated like a MIM or PIM green part.
BINDING
Most of the binder polymer is removed during debinding. There are different binding processes for this. Such as thermal debinding, catalytic debinding or solvent debinding.
BROWN PART
After the final binding, the so-called brown part is obtained. This is now very brittle and consists almost entirely of metal powder which is held together by very little residual polymer (backbone).
SINTER
In the last step, the component is now sintered at over 1300 ° C. The component shrinks by up to 20%, depending on the feedstock recipe.
FINISHED COMPONENT MADE OF METAL
After sintering, a finished component made of pure sintered metal is obtained. Any plastic residue was burned off during the sintering process.
Technical data metal printing
