Metal powder sintering machines get rapid

Rapid manufacture of metal components in small, medium and even large volumes can be achieved with the new EOSINT M 270 laser sintering machine

Rapid manufacture of metal components in small, medium and even large volumes by fusing successive layers of powder using data from a sliced CAD model is said to be fast and cost-effective with the new EOSINT M 270 laser sintering machine.

Manufactured by the German company, EOS GmbH, whose UK subsidiary is in Warwick, the machine is equally suitable for manufacturing tooling such as plastic injection and diecasting moulds.

EOS is international leader in laser sintering technology.

In the latest machine, it has used a 200 watt Yb fibre laser which is capable of being finely focussed to 100 microns diameter, allowing greater detail resolution on the surface of the part than has been possible up till now.

However, if any particular area does not require such close definition, the focus can be varied to achieve an optimum balance between required detail accuracy and sintering speed.

Components are built at between 2 and 20 mm3/s in a 250 x 250 x 215 mm working area within the gas-tight process chamber of the EOSINT M 270.

Such fast build times result from using scanning speeds up to 3 m/s and also from the Yb laser's short wavelength, which is absorbed efficiently as thermal energy into the metal powder.

A further contributory factor to high productivity is the quick recoating time, giving only a short delay between the end of laser sintering the previous layer and the start of the next cycle.

To practice what it preaches, EOS manufactures certain parts for the M 270, such as the handle of the process chamber, by producing them on its own metal and plastic laser sintering machines.

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