Prima Additive to supply Print Genius 150 Double Wavelength to University of Birmingham
March 21, 2024
Prima Additive, a sub-division of Prima Industrie Group, headquartered in Turin, Italy, will supply the Print Genius 150 Double Wavelength Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) Additive Manufacturing machine to the University of Birmingham, UK. The machine will be installed at the University’s Advanced Materials & Processing Laboratory (AMPLab) at the School of Metallurgy and Materials.
The Print Genius 150 offers a unique configuration, featuring two lasers of different wavelengths within the same system. A 300 W infrared laser and a 200 W green laser which can work alternately on the same ⌀150 x 160 mm cylindrical work area. This solution can alternate between the two lasers on the same work area, thus enabling high performance, reliability, and accurate results on each application.
The interchangeability of laser technology ensures that both conventional materials such as steel, aluminium, nickel, titanium, and cobalt-chrome alloys can be processed on the same machine and highly reflective materials such as pure copper or precious materials can be processed on the the Print Genius 150. The green laser is said to solve the main problems of absorption, process stability, and poor efficiency that generally occur when these refractive alloys are processed with an infrared laser. In particular, due to the special configuration of a 30 μm spot size beam, the Print Genius 150 DW can process precious metals such as gold with high accuracy and quality.
The University of Birmingham is expected to use this machine primarily for research into novel material, including functionally graded materials, copper and its alloys, precious materials, and refractory metals. Funding to purchase this system was provided through a Strategic Equipment Grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The machine will serve as a national facility, where other users from across the UK, both in academia and the industry, will be able to access the Print Genius 150 for use in their research.
AMPLab is a centre of excellence in metal Additive Manufacturing technologies. It has received over £15 million of research grants in the past ten years from the UK government, the EU, and a long list of industrial and research partners in the UK and beyond. The university hosts materials processing facilities, including twelve laser-based Additive Manufacturing platforms.
Professor Moataz Attallah, AMPLab’s director, said, “The Print Genius 150 Double Wavelength is an exciting addition to AMPLab’s research facilities. The planned research activities will connect the research and innovation landscape, and through commercial work will promote collaboration with innovative manufacturing companies in the UK and beyond. The system is unique in its ability to deliver both infrared and green lasers, which will enable a significant amount of fundamental science to be explored, alongside novel applications.”
Paolo Calefati, Prima Additive’s CEO, shared: “We are thrilled to be suppliers and partners of a prestigious institution like the University of Birmingham: for us, collaboration with universities has always been crucial as it allows us to bring important developments to our products. Universities are often the gateway through which companies decide to approach Additive Manufacturing. For this reason, the Birmingham area is particularly strategic thanks to the presence of many leading companies, and we are happy that one of our machines can be available for university research and to support innovative companies in the area.”
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