Product category:
Fast prototyping equipment, pattern-making and services
News Release from: EOS Electro Optical Systems | Subject: DirectSteel 20 laser sintering steel powder
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 20 June 2003
Laser very fine grain metal powders to
make moulds
TransCAT took only 16h using very fine-grained metal powders in a laser-sintering system to build the core and cavity of a plastics injection mould for producing thin-walled fan wheels.
Very fine-grained metal powders have been introduced to the UK by EOS Electro Optical Systems, Warwick, capable of forming 20 micron laser-sintered layers when using the company's EOSINT M rapid manufacturing machines Complementing existing 50 micron layer powders, they enable the production of metal prototypes or tooling moulds that are stronger, have greater detail resolution and better surface finish
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 12 Oct 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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DirectMetal 20 is a bronze-based powder whereas DirectSteel 20, as its name implies, produces sintered steel parts directly from a CAD model.
All components thus manufactured may be welded, machined, shot-peened, polished and coated, if required.
Applications of the 20 micron bronze material include the production of functional metal prototypes and injection mould tooling suitable for runs of at least a few tens of thousands of thermoplastic components.
Further reading
Laser sintering expertise brought to the UK
German rapid prototyping systems maker is bringing a wealth of rapid manufacturing technology and experience based on laser-sintering machines and metals, plastics and sands powders.
Laser sintering offers flexible plastics parts
Recent developments in laser sintering of plastics and metallic parts include flexible, thin-wall plastics products and a plastics injection mould made from layers of 20 micron steel powder.
Improved surface finish reduces the amount of hand polishing necessary and the higher density sintering results in sealed surfaces.
DirectMetal 50, by contrast, has a porous surface that can be advantageous for self-venting tooling and allows optional infiltration with epoxy resin.
The 20 micron version of DirectSteel enables heavy duty plastic injection moulds and inserts to be produced, capable of tool life up to and above 100,000 parts.
Die casting moulds sintered from the powder are suitable for small series production of light alloy components up to, say, a few thousand parts.
Owing to its strength, a functional metal prototype made of DirectSteel 20 may be heavily loaded without breaking.
Direct metal laser sintered parts are typically built using a skin-and-core strategy, sometimes with an inner and an outer skin.
Parameters for both of the new powders are 20 microns layer thickness for the skin, 60 micron layers for the core.
However, for faster build rates, the skin and core layers may be 40 and 80 microns respectively, or 60 microns each.
German-owned EOS presented at the last EuroMold exhibition in Hannover a number of practical examples of the use of these 20 micron layer powders.
In one case, a Swedish company built tooling for the head of an innovative golf putter using DirectMetal 20.
A prototype series of 3,000 parts was delivered in six weeks and the same tool is being used to produce a further 10,000 heads in PC/PBT (polycarbonate blended with polybutylene terephthalate).
Another example was a Belgian firm that used DirectSteel 20 to produce a mould for making 50,000 PA6+15%GF (polyamide-6 plus 15% glass fibre) components for the interior of a Mercedes passenger car; and in a further ongoing project, the company is making more than 200,000 pulley frames per month in POM (polyoxymethylene) using a DirectSteel 20 tool.
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