Liquid Metal Printing in 3-D
Engineering360 News Desk | February 06, 2017With aid from the STARTUP-NY tax-free entrepreneurial program and grants and faculty expertise from the University of Buffalo, a father-and-son team is commercializing a machine that prints 3-D objects using liquid metal.
Most available metal printers use a process of laying down powered metal and melting it with a laser or electron beam. Some powder particles do not get melted, leaving weakened spots.
Two products printed with Vader Systems machine. Credit: Douglas LevereIn 2012, at the age of 19, Zack Vader developed his own metal printer when no company could print the 3-D print parts he needed for a microturbine generator. He exposed molten metal in a confined chamber with an orifice to a pulsed magnetic field. The transient field induces a pressure with the metal that ejects a droplet (see video).
The technology is considered cheaper than traditional metal printing and suitable for manufacturing custom medical implants, surgical devices, and automotive parts. It’s also faster, delivering 1,000 droplets per second with micron level accuracy while doubling the speed of conventional 3D powder bed metal printers.
On a Vader machine, a strand of aluminum is fed into a heat element that melts it at 750 C (1,382 F). The liquefied metal is then passed to a ceramic tube that forms an ejection chamber and has a submillimeter orifice. A magnetic coil surrounds the tube and receives a short-lived electrical pulse to create a pressure within the tube that ejects a droplet of liquid metal through the orifice. The ejected drop is projected downward onto a heated platform that maneuvers to create solid 3-D shapes based on layer-by-layer deposition and the coalescence of the droplets.
The system will be modified in the near-term with the addition of nozzles to make it faster. Eventually the machines will be able to melt and print steel at 1,400 C (2,552 F).
I was thinking of converting diesal engine fuel injectors to do this type of stuff.. incorporate heat bands like in an injection molding machine and there's your print head.. ???
In reply to #1
That's a start... but prepare for failure...
Companies are investing huge in the development of this technology. And there are a lot of issues to be worked out.
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To my idea the shown technology is most interesting. To avoid oxidation can the processing be carried out in vacuum. Is it as such possible deminishing porosity as well to avoid the need of Hipping operations and just heat treatment to obtain desired mechnical properties.
In reply to #2
To avoid oxidation can the processing be carried out in vacuum.
Yes, there are a few more,...
What about using cnc wire feed welder? And they already use inert gas/argon to create an external inert atmosphere.
Also instead of heat bands the electricity would melt the alloy, or use magnetic induction and a combination of electricity...
In reply to #5
good ideas
There maybe some quality issues such as Splatter... so the issue is quality.
Other issues is the duty-cycle of the unit. If one is using a welder.
"Duty cycle is a welding equipment specification which defines the number of minutes, within a 10 minute period, during which a given welder can safely produce a particular welding current. For example, a 150 amp. welder with a 30% duty cycle must be "rested" for at least 7 minutes after 3 minutes of continuous welding."
In reply to #6
10-4 on that. Also Laser and Hi Frequency vibration i think could be contenders for this apparatus.
Just been doing some more research on the University of YouTube and came across this plasma coating process they call sputtering.. very interesting.
Also i think the best 3-D printer so far has got to be the Carbon 1.
So now what about combining the two technologies together?
Carbon 1 is kinda like a Holographic projector that uses light and oxygen in many different types of compound solutions to solidify a pattern.... so what about solidifying certain types of plasma compound substrates inside an actual hologram?
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