Protolabs
Protolabs Cobalt Chrome
Protolabs UK is now able to additive manufacture parts in cobalt chrome, opening up applications for customers in a number of industrial sectors.
Cobalt chrome is renowned for its excellent corrosion and creep resistance, can withstand temperatures up to 600°C and has excellent biocompatibility thanks to its low nickel content.
Protolabs believes these characteristics, plus the ability of Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) to produce fine resolution parts with wall thicknesses of 1.00mm, will garner interest from the oil and gas, aerospace, orthopaedic and dental industries.
“One of the problems of cobalt chrome is that it is so hard wearing that it is very difficult to produce parts from it using other processes such as CNC machining,” commented Andrea Landoni, 3D Printing Product Manager for Protolabs. “The properties of parts produced by DMLS are also equal to or better than those of wrought materials and the process is ideal when the geometry or structure of a part is simply not possible using any other process.
“3D printing is also ideal for rapid prototyping if you need to test a new part for both form and function. The production process is rapid, from uploading the design into our Protoquotes software you will typically get a quote back within a few hours. Once approved, the part can then be produced for shipping in as little as a day. When you contrast this to the several days or even weeks quoted by other suppliers, then you can dramatically shorten your development and product lead times.”
Protolabs also has the capacity to additively manufacture parts in aluminium, Inconel, 316 Stainless steel, titanium and copper (CuNi2SiCr) with DMLS technology, while also boasting a number of polymer 3D printing technologies, like Stereolithography and Selective Laser Sintering, and CNC machining and injection moulding capabilities.
