Additive Industries launches MetalFab 420K Additive Manufacturing machine
Additive Industries, Eindhoven, the Netherlands, has launched the MetalFab 420K, a modular Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) Additive Manufacturing machine designed to enable higher productivity rates while maintaining high material quality levels. The machine is designed to meet the demands of key market sectors, including space, aerospace, automotive, and other high-tech industries.
“Our objective at Additive Industries is to develop manufacturing systems which provide market-leading quality and productivity for manufacturers working with Additive Manufacturing technology – this is the philosophy which drove our development of the MetalFab 420K,” stated Mark Massey, CEO of Additive Industries. “Based on the feedback of our valuable global customer base, we have built this new system from the proven DNA of our MetalFab product portfolio with a key focus on the needs of our demanding users in the space, aerospace, automotive and high-tech sectors who are looking to push productivity further in their manufacturing operations, where no compromise in quality is acceptable. The MetalFab 420K delivers this.”
MetalFab 420K specs
The MetalFab 420K features four full-field 1 kW lasers, each accessing the full 420 x 420 x 400 mm build volume. The lasers are automatically calibrated, and laser-to-laser alignment is built in.
By offering variable beam diameter as a process parameter, calibrated from 100-500 μm, the machine also enables opportunities for advanced material and process development. The machine’s open architecture also allows users to develop their own process parameters to push productivity or develop parameters for hard-to-process materials.
Homogeneous and high-velocity gas flow works to ensure consistency and quality across the powder bed, enabling high laser power and scan speeds, while advanced oxygen and humidity controls and monitoring to reduce powder ageing and improve part quality. The MetalFab 420K’s permanent filter design is also said to reduce maintenance intervals and enable improved waste handling without interrupting the build cycle.
Fully enclosed and automated powder extraction, sieving and transportation works to ensure operator safety and material quality control as standard.
The MetalFab 420K’s modular design also enables on-site capacity expansion for an enhanced degree of automation or flexibility; Additive Industries stated that up to eight jobs can run automatically without operator input and that the machine can install up to three materials simultaneously with multiple Additive Manufacturing cores.
“Our R&D team has delivered a range of technical innovations implemented in the MetalFab 420K which, with its open architecture, will allow our users to further push the limits of our technology to deliver even more challenging applications and reduced cost per part,” added Niels Cruts, Manager Technology. “The system has undergone an extensive development and testing period, including a beta programme where it has been run in a demanding production environment with one of our key customers in the space sector, producing production parts.”
The MetalFab 420K is commercially available from today, with orders currently being taken for Q2 delivery slots.
