Sintavia expands rocket manufacturing capability with two M4K-4 AM machines from AMCM
January 13, 2021
Sintavia LLC, Hollywood, Florida, USA, has acquired two new M4K-4 metal Additive Manufacturing machines from AMCM GmbH, an EOS Group company based in Starnberg, Germany. As one of the leading AM rocket parts producers in North America, Sintavia will use the new machines to expand its portfolio of rocket thrust chamber design and manufacturing for the rapidly growing commercial space industry.
The M4K-4 is described as a stretched version of the EOS M400-4 machine, a Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (LB-PBF) machine offering more powerful lasers and an upgraded cooling system. Its four 1 kW lasers can build single-unit components with dimensions of 450 mm x 450 mm x 1 m.
“Since the acquisition of our first M400-4 three years ago, Sintavia has devoted tremendous resources to developing successful and repeatable operating procedures for the quad laser printing of extremely thin walls, such as those found in the thrust chamber of a rocket,” stated Brian Neff, Sintavia’s Chief Executive Officer.
“We now have eight M400-4 quad laser printers, and we expect that the successful strategies employed on the M400-4 will likewise work on these new M4K-4 units. We are pleased that we will be the first rocket printer in North America to offer the expanded footprint of the M4K-4 to our commercial space customers,” added Neff.
The design of the M4K-4 is said to have been driven largely by demand from commercial space launch customers looking to optimise thrust chamber assemblies with fewer traditional joining steps. For most existing commercial rocketry currently in production today, the M4K-4 is able to manufacture the entire thrust chamber assembly as a single unit, including optimised regenerative cooling passages, thereby dramatically reducing manufacturing complexity and time.
The two new machines are scheduled for delivery in June and July this year and will be set up to use high-performance copper and nickel alloys.
