Desktop Metal has acquired Aerosint, a Belgian company that specializes in multi-material powder deposition systems for AM.
According to Desktop, Aerosint’s 3D printing technology is based on a proprietary digital process that selectively deposits two or more powders to form a single, thin powder layer containing multiple materials. The process helps enable full three-dimensional control of material placement during printing and can reportedly be integrated into any powder bed AM process, such as laser powder bed fusion, binder jetting, high-speed sintering or selective laser sintering. It can used with polymers, metals, and ceramics, the company said.
Multi-material powder deposition can also help improve mechanical properties, such as wear resistance or vibration dampening, and chemical and physical properties, such as thermal and electrical conductivity, corrosion resistance, or aesthetics, according to Desktop.
It is suitable for making parts such as molds with conformal cooling channels optimized for heat dissipation, wear-resistant cutting tools with a hard exterior and ductile interior, conductive metal paths within polymer parts for flexible electronics, bi-material luxury goods with superior aesthetics, and RF components with different dielectric and conductive properties.
‘Multi-material printing is the next frontier in AM,’ said Ric Fulop, founder and CEO of Desktop Metal. ‘Today people print parts, but in the future, people will look to print full products, which may be composed of multiple materials. Industrializing Aerosint’s core technology and related powder processing systems will provide many benefits to the broad adoption of AM solutions.’
Aerosint will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Desktop Metal managed by its founders Edouard Moens de Hase and Matthias Hick, who will serve as managing director and innovation director, respectively.
This story uses material from Desktop Metal, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
