InssTek and Z3DLAB to offer advanced materials for aerospace part repair and medical implant markets
South Korea’s InssTek and France’s Z3DLAB have announced their intention to offer ZTi-Powder® and ZTi-Med® materials on InssTek product lines aimed at the repair of used parts in the aeronautic sector and the medical orthopaedic implant markets.
InssTek is a specialist in Direct Metal Tooling (DMT) technology which has been successfully used to repair parts of the F-15K fighter jets belonging to the South Korean Air Force.
Z3DLAB develops and supplies Additive Manufacturing materials for advanced engineering applications. The company’s flagship ZTi-Powder is an enhanced TA6V powder, developed for additive powder bed Laser Selective Melting (SLM) and being up to 50% harder and more resistant. It is claimed that Z3DLAB’s ZTi-Powder and DMT technology from InssTek will provide a more advanced repair compared to regular TA6V, increasing the life of the repaired parts by up to 30%.
InssTek metal surface coatings applied to orthopaedic implants allow a three-dimensional interconnected array of pores throughout the coating thickness, which in turn helps to promote bone tissue ingrowth and provide long-term stability of the implant. The traditional processes used to apply these coatings including sintering and plasma spraying. The introduction of direct metal tooling (DMT) AM technology however, provides a number of significant benefits in terms of the strength and porosity characteristics of the finished product.
Z3DLAB early this year announced ZTi-Med®, a non-toxic and low young modulus Advanced Material for medical applications. This new material composed of Ti and Ceramic fusion can be applied as a coating on orthopaedic implants and provide non-toxic coating. The ZTi-Med will be available by 2020.
