LÖMI launches debinding systems dedicated to sinter-based AM
December 2, 2019
LÖMI GmbH, Grossostheim, Germany, has launched a new system solvent debinding series EDA-AM to meet the increasing demand from the Additive Manufacturing industry. The company states that the three systems offer three-in-one functionality by integrating debinding, the drying of parts and solvent recovery. This is said to save time and cost, as no additional handling of the parts is required between the debinding and drying process steps, while the integrated solvent recovery ensures a continuous supply of fresh debinding medium.
LÖMI’s smallest AM solvent debinding system, EDA-30, is a tabletop unit with 16 litres batch loading volume for research, prototyping and small batch production. It is water-cooled and offers basic automation. The two larger systems EDA-30AM and EDA-50 both feature integrated tanks for the clean and used debinding solvent. The EDA-30AM is a semi-automatic air-cooled system with 16 litres batch loading volume, while the water-cooled EDA-50 offers 26 litres batch loading volume and full automation. It is PLC-operated, and a touch display shows real-time process parameters to facilitate process control.
“The solvent debinding process offers a number of advantages including a greater freedom of feedstock choice for AM part producers, as a wide range of feedstock can be processed,” explained Christian Ferreira Marques, Managing Partner at LÖMI. “This enables part producers to test new feedstock and to optimise their processes, without having to invest in a another debinding system and without becoming dependent on a single feedstock producer.”
Ferreira continued, “In addition, various organic solvents can be employed, such as ethanol, isopropanol and acetone. Solvent debinding systems offer very compact dimensions and are very economical in their operation due to their low energy consumption and very long lifetime, as the solvent debinding process causes very little wear and tear. The solvent is continuously reprocessed with a rate of up to 99% and returned to the process in a closed system. This makes our systems very safe and environmentally beneficial.”
