Material collaboration leverages ExOne's knowledge of binder jetting technology with Sandvik's materials expertise.
ExOne has announced it has strengthened its material collaboration with the additive manufacturing division of global engineering company, Sandvik.
Sandvik already houses multiple ExOne systems in-house and is a beta customer for its new X1 25PRO machine which was officially launched at RAPID + TCT last week. The ongoing partnership between the binder jetting 3D printing specialist and Sandvik Additive Manufacturing aims to create a 'leading process solution that can be offered to a broad industrial customer base'.
The material collaboration is said to leverage ExOne’s knowledge of binder jetting technology with Sandvik’s materials expertise including metal powders, AM-processes for metals and post processing technologies such as machining and heat treatment.
John Hartner, Chief Executive Officer, ExOne, commented on the new program, “We are excited to announce our material collaboration partnership with Sandvik Additive Manufacturing. Sandvik is a world class engineering company with extensive knowledge of materials and their applications to various industries. We look forward to advancing ExOne’s binder jetting process with this new collaboration and creating new solutions that enable broader customer adoption.”
The collaboration will focus on qualifying and optimising Sandvik’s Osprey metal powders with ExOne’s binder jetting machines. This will include studying powder and binder interactions, developing process settings, and creating post-processing heat treatments for various materials, initially including stainless steels, tool steels, and nickel alloys.
Mikael Schuisky, VP and Head of R&D and Operations, Sandvik Additive Manufacturing, commented: “This material collaboration will strengthen our ongoing R&D cooperation with ExOne even further. It also offers great opportunities to qualify our leading Osprey metal powders for the ExOne platform, to enhance end customer productivity and product performance.”
The news coincides with the launch of ExOne's global enterprise program which will focus on process developments and powder optimisation for its metal systems to advance 3D binder jetted metal and ceramic applications.
