The company says that this increase in capacity will enables process and materials development to continue alongside increased levels of early-stage manufacture of aerospace parts.
The etals used include nickel alloys such as C263, Inconel 718, Inconel 625 and Hastelloy X, as well as cobalt chrome and 316, 17-4 and 15-5 stainless steels. The functioning parts are built from manipulated 3D CAD files in the M 270 machines using a 200W ytterbium laser to selectively solidify layers of metal powder, 20 microns at a time, in a 24/7 lights-out process.
The parts are then heat treated, finished and supplied to drawing, with further special processes subcontracted to the aerospace supply chain in the UK.
