Protolabs adds Inconel 718 and Maraging Steel 1.2709 to DMLS service.
Digital manufacturing service provider, Protolabs is expanding its metal 3D printing capabilities with the addition of Inconel 718 and Maraging Steel 1.2709 to its catalogue of Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) materials.
Protolabs’ growing range of DMLS metals already includes Aluminium, 316 Stainless Steel and Titanium available for rapid prototyping and functional end-use parts with complex geometries.
As a nickel-based heat resistant alloy, Inconel 718 is high strength, corrosion resistant and can be used at temperatures between -252°C and 704°C. Inconel, which has good tensile, fatigue, creep and rupture strength, is ideal for aerospace and heavy industries in the production of jet engines, rocket engine components, gas turbine parts, instrumentation parts, power and process parts and related equipment exposed to extreme environments.
The second material, Maraging Steel 1.2709, is a pre-alloyed ultra-high strength steel in fine powder form. It has very good mechanical properties and is easily heat-treatable using a simple thermal age-hardening process to obtain. The material, which offers high strength, high hardness and high-temperature resistance, can be used for tooling applications and for high performance industrial and engineering parts for use in aerospace and motor racing.
Headquartered in the UK, Protolabs offers a range of rapid manufacturing services including injection moulding and CNC machining, and both polymer and metal 3D printing technologies such as stereolithogrpahy, selective laser sintering, DMLS, Polyjet, and it's most recent addition, HP’s Multi Jet Fusion.