Holo introduces PureForm technology for metal Additive Manufacturing
March 25, 2021
Holo, a volume production Additive Manufacturing company based in Newark, California, USA, has launched its PureForm™ metal AM platform, ramping up production capacity to manufacture thousands of parts per month from its newly opened facility in the Bay Area. The company’s sinter-based AM platform is based on the Vat Photopolymerisation (VPP) process.
“Most companies developing additive technology are focused on selling their printers,” stated Hal Zarem, CEO at Holo. “We are lowering the barriers to adoption by offering additively manufactured parts to our customers and addressing the largest sector of the AM market with finished parts”
PureForm uses a patented polymer binder compatible with a wide variety of materials including metals and ceramics. Combined with what is described as a proven back-end processes based on Metal Injection Moulding (MIM) technology, the platform provides scalable production tailored for high-volume manufacturing.
The company’s first commercial material is reported to be pure copper. At over $170 billion, copper is the third largest material market in the world – a material widely used for its electrical and thermal conductivity properties. Although processing copper is challenging for certain metal Additive Manufacturing technologies, Holo has developed a 99.9% pure copper material that retains the bulk conductivity properties of copper.
The ability to process this material has enabled the company to focus on developing cooling solutions for the rapidly growing high-performance computer market, electric vehicles (inverters and e-motors), complex three-dimensional electrical interconnects, RF antennae and heat exchangers. Holo is now sampling stainless steels to customers, opening up applications across a gamut of industries, from aerospace to medical.
“The challenge today with metal 3D printing is that the technologies are either too expensive and unable to scale for production, or low resolution, which limit applications,” added Arian Aghababaie, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Holo. “Holo’s PureForm technology enables us to produce high-resolution components directly for our customers, at a fraction of the cost of existing AM technologies and in production volumes.”
Holo is quickly ramping up volume and has begun supplying parts from its 1850 m2 production facility in Silicon Valley, where it is said to have the capacity to produce tens of thousands of parts per month.
