Re:Desktop Metal gets $115M in funding to deliver metal 3D p...
by dogma1138 on Tuesday July 18, 2017 @06:04PM
(#14800410)
Does it actually has to go trough forging and tempering? They don't have a fusing element in the head?
Re:Desktop Metal gets $115M in funding to deliver metal 3D p...
by zwieback on Tuesday July 18, 2017 @08:00PM
(#14801063)
It goes through two additional steps: burning out the plastic and then putting the part into a furnace to get the metal particles to "fuse" together more closely, aka sintering.
The printing part just forms a "green" part, it's basically like you would make pottery, the actual strengthening of the part happens in a high-temperature furnace.
The important thing to remember is that the 3D printing doesn't generate the final part, the plastic binder in the filament has to be burned out and then the part has to "densify", e.g. the actual sintering where the metal particles fuse together creates the final material properties of the part.
The final part will be a lot smaller than the thing coming out of the 3D printer, controlling uniform shrinkage is probably a lot of the secret sauce.