Additive Industries and Materialise have collaborated on a new build processor that promise performance, productivity, and process control enhancements for its metal additive manufacturing (AM) systems.
The new Next-Generation Build Processor, which is available immediately for users of its MetalFab 3D printers, is a powerful software solution that is said to offer 'significantly faster' pre-processing, better handling of large and complex builds, improved process stability, and greater control over scan strategies.
Materialise, which has introduced similar Next-Generation Build Processor products for the likes of Nikon SLM Solutions and Renishaw, has built on the existing Additive Industries Build Processor (first introduced in 2015) by introducing multiprocessing and optimised algorithms that, according to benchmark testing, demonstrate a reduction in processing time from 46 minutes to just 6 minutes.
Rik Bakker, CEO of Additive Industries, commented: "The introduction of the Next-Generation Build Processor represents another important step in our strategy to maximise productivity and process performance for our customers. By unlocking the advanced features developed for MetalFab 420K platform we are enabling manufacturers to produce more parts, more efficiently, and with greater process consistency."
The new build processor is also said to enable many of the advanced software-driven capabilities introduced on the modular MetalFab 420K, launched last year, including optimised laser load balancing, variable beam diameter control by vector type, improved thermal stability through ghost vectors and advanced exposure strategy controls. It has also been designed for easy integration with Materialise Magics for build preparation, configuration, and job submission.
Karel Brans, Senior Director Partnerships, Materialise, added: "For MetalFab customers, this means faster, more stable builds, finer control over scan strategy, and real gains in throughput. The processing time reduction we're seeing here directly impacts cost per part. It also connects directly into the CO-AM ecosystem, so that build data becomes part of a wider digital thread from design through production, unlocking further automation possibilities. Working with Additive Industries on this Build Processor is a good example of the kind of partnership we believe AM needs going forward."
