ExOne collaborates with ORNL on Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing
May 7, 2019
The ExOne Company, North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, USA, has announced a collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA, the largest U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) open science laboratory, to pursue further advancements in Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing.
The collaboration project is initially targeted on the development of technology for new Binder Jetting systems, focusing on optimising chemistry and process parameters for ExOne’s sand and metal Additive Manufacturing systems. This includes leveraging ORNL’s instrumentation and advanced data analysis methodologies.
The collaboration will reportedly draw on the DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) at ORNL and its efficiencies in instrumentation capabilities. Additionally, it will seek to optimise binder development for H13 tool steel. ORNL is targeting the production of 500 tools and dies by 2022 for the moulding, stamping and forging industries, and expects to establish Binder Jetting as the leading low-cost method for the fabrication of advanced tooling.
“We look forward to continuing Binder Jetting research with ExOne,” stated Amy Elliott, ORNL Lead Researcher on Binder Jetting. “Over the past several years, we’ve worked with ExOne on four Binder Jetting systems and we’ve made exceptional progress in enhancing this Additive Manufacturing technique. Industry collaborations such as this help the US remain competitive in manufacturing.”
“By collaborating with a world-class lab like Oak Ridge National Laboratory, we accelerate ExOne’s Binder Jetting technology capabilities. We believe these collaborative efforts will effectively and efficiently result in the establishment of new materials, binders and process developments, retaining our significant edge over competitors and other technologies in the industrial manufacturing space,” added Rick Lucas, ExOne’s Chief Technology Officer.
