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News Release from: 3D Systems | Subject: SLS system materials
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 16 October 2002
Metals advances announced for laser
sintering
Advances in aluminum, nylon and steel materials for laser sintering manufacturing will allow automotive and commercial industries to produce parts quickly without expensive tooling.
3D Systems (Nasdaq: TDSC) has announced that it will introduce four new materials for the SLS system between the end of 2002 through the first half of 2003 The announcement is being made at the company's SLS Systems Users Group, held September 29th to October 2nd in the US
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 23 Mar 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The new material offerings will include the next version of LaserForm( steel material as well as aluminum, fire retardant nylon and A6 steel material.
"We continue to make tremendous strides in our materials development for the SLS systems.
The results that we have seen from our materials development programme are very promising," says Grant Flaharty, president and COO for 3D Systems.
"For aluminum we have partnered with the University of Queensland and UniQuest (both in Queensland, Australia) to develop the material.
Internally we have developed a fire retardant nylon, which has passed FAA tests, an A6 steel material and anticipate launching a new LaserForm steel material in Q4." "Industries such as automotive and commercial products will benefit from the ability to quickly produce complex aluminum parts without the time or cost associated with die-cast tooling.
At a time when industries are looking to provide custom intricate parts from metals or nylon, we are on the edge of breaking the barriers that will allow companies to expand their offerings.
The new materials will have applications including tooling (LaserForm and A6 steel materials), aircraft component end-use part manufacturing (fire retardant nylon), end-use steel (A6), and end-use die-cast grade (aluminum) parts.
"As industries move towards Advanced Digital ManufacturingSM (ADM), designers and engineers will be able to add custom features and complexity to their designs.
For the first time engineers will be able to design without the necessity to adapt their designs to the limitations of traditional manufacturing," adds Flaharty.
(This was Manufacturingtalk's Top Story on 15 October 2002).
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