SLM Solutions launches 12-laser metal Additive Manufacturing machine
November 11, 2020
SLM Solutions Group AG, Lübeck, Germany, has officially launched its new SLM® machine, the NXG XII 600, which is now available for commercial offer. The Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) Additive Manufacturing machine is equipped with twelve 1 kW lasers and offers a square build envelope of 600 x 600 x 600 mm.
The company reports that the NXG XII 600 is “the fastest AM machine on the market,” offering build speeds twenty times faster than possible with a single-laser machine and equipped with technical features such as a zoom function to achieve the highest productivity and reliability.
It is designed to be used in serial production for high-volume applications, as well as for building large parts, thus opening up new applications in the automotive and aerospace industries and paving the way to industrialised serial AM.
According to SLM Solutions, the NXG XII 600 was designed from scratch for serial production and features a new optic system, said to be the most compact on the market. It enables large overlap and is based on a tailor-made laser scanning system to best fit the build area.
All 12 optics provide spot size definition via a double lens system called zoom function, enabling customers to choose between different spot sizes in the focal plane, boosting build rates to 1000 cc/h, and more. Producing a higher yield of parts in a single build job could enable mass production at a low cost-per-part.
To facilitate the integration of the NXG XII 600 into factories and supply chains, several automated features like an automatic build cylinder exchange, automatic build start, and external preheating station and depowder station, have been included.
In order to achieve homogeneous part properties all over the building platform, the company has also developed a new gas-flow setup along with an optimised chamber design and SLM Solutions’ patented sinter-wall technology. The company’s patented bi-directional recoating has also been redesigned to be more compact and gas-flow optimised.
The NXG XII 600’s robust machine design, with a new thermal concept, is said to reduce drifts to a minimum and allow customers to additively manufacture seamless parts. Additionally, the machine comes with a new UI concept which SLM Solutions states optimises the workflow and reduces operator training requirements. The machine is available with two different powder handling options: a gravity-based and a vacuum-based solution,.
Sam O’Leary, COO at SLM Solutions, commented, “The NXG Xll 600 is a revolution in industrial manufacturing. Up until now, the limit had been considered to be that of a quad laser system – what we deliver here with 12 kW of installed laser power is truly groundbreaking and a major step forward, not just for Additive Manufacturing, but for manufacturing in general.”
“The potential cost reduction and productivity gains that this machine offers you means for the first time in the history of Additive Manufacturing, you can have true serial production fully integrated into your supply chain,” he concluded.
