Desktop Metal Uniformity Labs aluminium 6061
Desktop Metal and Uniformity Labs have announced the development of a fully dense and sinterable 6061 aluminium material for the Desktop Metal Production System.
The material will be made available exclusively for Desktop Metal’s binder jetting technology and has been described by the partners as a 'breakthrough' for 3D printing, such is the demand for the material in several key vertical markets. It is said to be the result of a multi-year collaboration between the two companies and will potentially be made available in the next year once fully qualified.
Desktop Metal and Uniformity Labs came together a few years back with the aim of developing a low-cost, raw material that would yield a fully dense, sinterable 6061 aluminium that boasted greater than 10% elongation, improved yield strength and improved ultimate tensile strength versus wrought 6061 aluminium with comparable heat treatment. The partners believe the resulting material is a ‘significant improvement’ over prior aluminium sintering techniques, which have required coating powder particles, mixing sintering aids into powder, using binder containing expensive nanoparticles or adding metals like lead and magnesium.
Though the companies still have work to carry out this year before the material is qualified for use on the Desktop Metal Production System, they say their 6061 aluminium material is compatible with water-based binders and has a higher minimum ignition energy than other commercially available 6061 aluminium powders, giving it an ‘improved safety profile.’ When processing the material on the Production System, which is set to start shipping this year, the companies also suggest users will be able to achieve consistent and high-quality material properties for the printing of end-use parts in volume.
“This breakthrough represents a major milestone in the development of aluminium for binder jetting and a significant step forward for the AM industry as it is one of the most sought-after materials for use in automotive, aerospace and consumer electronics,” commented Desktop Metal CEO Ric Fulop. “The global aluminium castings market is more than $50 billion per year and it is ripe for disruption with binder jetting AM solutions. These are the best reported properties we are aware of for a sintered 6061 aluminium powder and we are excited to make this material available exclusively to Desktop Metal customers as part of our ongoing partnership with Uniformity Labs.”
“The introduction of lightweight metals to binder jetting opens the door to a wide variety of thermal and structural applications across industries,” added Uniformity Labs CEO Adam Hopkins. “This innovation is a key step towards the adoption of mass-produced printed aluminium parts.”
Following this announcement, ExOne and Ford Motor Company announced their own efforts to enable the 3D printing of aluminium 6061 with the development of a patent-pending process.
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