INTERDISCIPLINARY: DESIGN COMPETENCE PLUS INDUSTRIAL EXPERTISE.
Our interdisciplinary team of designers and engineers accompanies your project through all manufacturing stages – from development to the design and manufacture of individual components, subsystems and products for different industrial sectors.
We will not leave you alone if your component is not suitable for generative manufacturing, but will provide you with expert advice on other manufacturing technology or help you adapt your component.
BENEFIT FROM OUR EXPERIENCE AND OUR NETWORK
With our additive production, we supply you with application-oriented and competitive plastic parts for small and medium-sized series – whether in batch size 1 or 1000 pieces. After an intensive cost-benefit analysis, we plan the appropriate strategy together with you and decide on a project-by-project basis which process is the most suitable for you. For medium-sized series, we usually use conventional processes, such as injection molding in aluminum cavities in master molds. For the production of large series, you benefit from our extensive network of different manufacturers in Germany and Europe as well as our Chinese subsidiary in Tianjin. Our portfolio is completed by the development and design of housing concepts that can be manufactured economically and flexibly with steel or aluminum sheets.
MULTI-TALENTED IN STABILITY, SPEED, ACCURACY AND ECONOMY
The innovative Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing process combines the strengths of the two well-known rapid prototyping processes – Polyjet and Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) – and revolutionizes the world of 3D printing with its amazing performance: per second, the Jet Fusion printers dispense 300 million drops of liquid with an accuracy of 21 µm. The printing material used is the multifunctional and cost-effective polyamide 12 familiar from the SLS process, and the high number of print heads takes just a few seconds to print and bond the individual layers together. In addition, the bonding process is integrated into the printing process. With more than 3 cm of print layer per hour, Multi Jet Fusion is thus one of the fastest 3D printing technologies.
FLEXIBILITY THROUGH PRINT-ON-DEMAND AND TOOL-FREE PRODUCTION
All we need to print your component is a CAD file – and we are happy to produce this for you as well. Time-consuming and cost-intensive tool adjustments of traditional manufacturing processes are a thing of the past, changes to the component are adjusted directly in the CAD file, and production can continue without time-consuming tool changes. And always as a print-on-demand job in the exact run required. This saves time, money and storage costs. The 3D components also show flexibility after printing: The surface finish enables further processing such as grinding, coloring or painting and coating for perfect finishing.
THE BEST OF TWO PROCESSES COMBINED
HP Multi Jet Fusion technology combines the benefits of laser sintering through the use of approved and proven plastics with the attention to detail of stereolithography and polyjet. The high speed of the printing process combined with the low cost of materials makes it one of the most affordable additive manufacturing processes. An added bonus is that the surface of the parts produced has a high resolution, which can be finished automatically in conventional blasting and dyeing systems. This results in a much more favorable part price compared to known laser sintering technologies.
3D printing is thus shifting its industrial applicability from prototype production to the manufacture of components in small and medium series.
SUPERIORITY THROUGH ISOTROPIC PROPERTIES
In contrast to laser sintering, the Multi Jet Fusion process creates objects with almost one hundred percent density. The components produced with this process are also isotropic, which means that they have the same physical and chemical properties and exhibit the same high strength in all load directions of the produced component. This makes them far superior, for example, to non-isotropic components produced using FDM printing, whose fine structures can easily lead to fracture under unfavorable loads, depending on the direction of construction.
BEST PRACTICE
The high density and the associated load-bearing capacity are comparable to those of parts made by conventional injection molding processes. Our years of experience show: With Multi Jet Fusion technology, we have a process that can now also be used to produce plastic parts in medium and small series at economical and competitive conditions.
COMPONENTS MADE TO MEASURE
Multi Jet Fusion is a 3D printing technology that combines all the advantages of generative manufacturing in terms of component density and load capacity. The process also enables the production of complex geometries, undercuts and trapped installation spaces that cannot be achieved with conventional injection molding. This makes it possible to realize completely new application profiles for components intended for small to medium series. Wall thicknesses can be freely designed according to load requirements; the only restriction at present is the minimum requirement of 0.6mm. Sink marks are a thing of the past.
Build your component according to your technical and economic requirements – not according to the conditions of the manufacturing process!
HIGH QUALITY WITHOUT CONSTRUCTION STAGES
The components manufactured using the Multi Jet Fusion method impress with their high surface quality, which we further refine using conventional blasting. The surfaces correspond to an eroded surface as known from injection molding. They no longer have any construction stages and can be dyed, painted or coated in dyeing plants. Only a high-gloss surface is currently not yet feasible.
“AGENTS” FOR RICH DETAIL
The surface finish is achieved by the printing process used in the Multi Jet Fusion process: In this process, the print head sprays a heat-conducting liquid – the so-called “fusing agent” – onto a layer of the material powder. Immediately after printing, a heat source is applied. The areas with the “fusing agent” heat up more than the areas where only the powder was applied. Thus, the required areas are fused together, since the “fusing agent” (color: black) absorbs more energy than the excess (white) powder.
In the next step, another “agent” (active ingredient) is applied, which is used as a “detailing agent” to isolate. Applied around the areas where the “fusing agent” was previously applied, the “detailing agent” can produce sharp edges. This is achieved by the temperature differences between the printed powder and the unused powder that surrounds it. The “Detailing Agent” thus prevents the blurring of edges and enables the clear representation of all details of the component.
SOLID, RESILIENT, ACCURATE AND FLEXIBLE TO USE
Functional prototypes and technical components are often subjected to high thermal or mechanical loads – until now, this was precisely the limiting factor for rapid prototyping processes. While these can produce functional prototypes, they have problems with the stability of the printed objects.
For the first time, the HP Multi Jet Fusion produces components with a density approaching one hundred percent and which are virtually isotropic. They exhibit strength in all directions comparable to conventionally produced plastic parts. They are thus not only stronger and more resilient than laser-sintered parts, but with an accuracy of 0.2%, a print resolution of 1200 dpi and a layer height of 80 µm, they also have accuracies like the photopolymer-based processes polyjet and stereolithography. And it does so with convincing cost-effectiveness. The high speed, low material costs and extremely low turnaround times make it one of the most cost-effective additive manufacturing processes – regardless of whether you only need a prototype or a small series of 5000 pieces!
HP 3D High Reusability PA 12 is compliant with several important standards.
