Oak Ridge National Laboratory installs Xerox’s ElemX
Xerox® Elem™ Additive Solutions has announced the installation of a Xerox ElemX™ metal Additive Manufacturing machine at the US Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.
The ElemX leverages the company’s liquid metal Additive Manufacturing technology, which uses aluminium wire and requires no special facility modifications for operation.
“Developing metal AM technologies that are simpler to install and integrate into existing manufacturing operations will be key to increasing adoption throughout the industry,” stated Tali Rosman, Xerox Elem Additive General Manager and VP. “Oak Ridge National Laboratory has a long history of advancing innovative manufacturing technologies. This installation will enable us to further refine our liquid metal AM technology and achieve our goal of creating more resilient supply chains for our customers.”
“ORNL has a long history of working with industry on alloy deployment and the improvement of material performance in AM,” added Ryan Dehoff, section head for secure and digital manufacturing at ORNL. “This process is promising for high-volume applications such as automotive; leveraging our experience with alloy development will help us expand the available number of alloys and applications.”
According to Dehoff, ORNL aims to solve challenges in Additive Manufacturing by improving performance characteristics, optimising systems and software to achieve mainstream manufacturing, developing qualification frameworks to create born-certified components and developing a comprehensive understanding of process capabilities and limitations through physics-based simulation and advanced characterisation. Researchers at MDF work with hundreds of industrial partners in an effort to advance the state of the art in Additive Manufacturing and open up new opportunities for the industry as a whole.
