InssTek and Z3DLAB to offer advanced materials for aerospace part repair and medical implant markets
July 22, 2016
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.
