Wayland Additive sells its first Calibur3 machine to Exergy Solutions
May 12, 2021
Wayland Additive, Huddersfield, UK, has announced the first sale of its Calibur3 metal AM machine to Exergy Solutions Inc, Calgary, Canada. Since its virtual launch, Wayland has reported significant interest in the Calibur3 machine from a wide cross-section of industry.
“We are extremely pleased with the response to the launch of our Calibur3 machine, and to be able to announce our first sale to Exergy is very exciting,” stated Peter Hansford, Director of Business Development at Wayland Additive. “We are in advanced discussions with a number of companies interested in our ground-breaking metal AM process, all of which recognise that NeuBeamTM affords them access to numerous production alternatives.”
Hansford continued, “Most importantly, the charging issues that make electron beam (EBM) processes so unstable have been fully neutralised with NeuBeamTM. Moreover, NeuBeam is a hot ‘part’ process rather than a hot ‘bed’ process, like traditional eBeam processes. This efficiently creates parts that are free of residual stresses because the high temperatures are only applied to the part and not the bed, ensuring free-flowing powder post-build (no sinter cake) and stress-free parts with reduced energy consumption.”
Traditional workarounds for the eBeam process have been developed by the AM industry, but these may lead to downstream complexities, explains the company. The use of very high processing temperatures across the entire build plate creates a part within a semi-sintered cake, which makes part removal and post-processing difficult, time consuming and expensive. These compromises also severely limit the materials that can be used, the geometrical forms that can be produced and, ultimately, the applications that can benefit from the eBeam process.
Neubeam is material agnostic, can produce complex geometries that are harder to achieve on other eBeam systems, and is typically 30–40% faster by removing the need to maintain and sinter the cake.
Exergy Solutions is an engineering consultancy offering end-to-end, fit-for-purpose lab- and pilot-scale equipment for research and innovation. The company has been operating in Calgary and opened its X-Lab in 2019, offering industrial AM and post-processing solutions, as well as a wireless augmented and virtual reality studio. Exergy works with clients in a variety of sectors including highly-regulated industries such as oil & gas, mining, manufacturing, and R&D.
The purchase of the first Calibur3 by Exergy Solutions has been supported by Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen). “NGen’s mission is to support the development of unique, world-leading manufacturing capabilities in Canada,” stated Jayson Myers, CEO, NGen. “It is investments like this that will enable our manufacturers to compete in the global marketplace and deliver the integrated engineering solutions that their customers need.”
Dr Dave Waldbillig, Director of Advanced Manufacturing, Exergy, added, “The investment in Wayland’s technology means that we can present a compelling solution to our customers’ wear challenges. The partnership combines the high wear resistance and toughness of the Vibenite® series of materials from VBN Components, with the larger build volume and speed of the NeuBeam process, and Exergy Solution’s application engineering support.”
“Exergy focuses on developing solutions for high-wear environments where complex geometries and large part sizes are needed for applications across many industry sectors, such as oil & gas, minerals processing, forestry, agriculture, pulp & paper, and power generation, among others. Wayland’s Calbur3 metal AM system supports innovation for Exergy with its ability to process a wide range of materials in its large build volume meaning we can focus on large footprint components.”
The Vibenite series of materials used by Exergy are developed by VBN Components, Uppsala, Sweden, and are characterised by the production of components with high fatigue resistance. This is due to the high carbide content, no porosities and full hardness all the way through the component.
“The alliance between Exergy, Wayland, and VBN means that we are able to offer significant customer benefits,” concluded Billy Rideout, Exergy CEO. “With support from VBN, Exergy can now supply full-service design, manufacturing, and qualification support for large parts with complex geometries made from materials that are difficult or impossible to machine. This, in turn, means longer component lifetimes, with the entire part (not just specific areas of the part) made from highly wear-resistant materials.”
