Thermal-processing companies around the world are feeling pressure to lower the environmental impact of their operations and make them more sustainable. These pressures are coming from both governmental regulations and societal expectations, resulting in increasingly stringent requirements that are expanding globally. Many companies are accelerating their own “green” initiatives and programs to leap ahead of these regulations and lead this transformation for their industry. Join this free webinar, sponsored by Honeywell, on June 3 at 11:00 a.m. (EDT) to learn more about the solutions that are available today to help achieve your sustainability goals.

SSI Sintered Specialties invested in a high-temperature refractory metal-lined vacuum furnace from Elnik Systems to expand its services into powder-metallurgy processes. The furnace, which is scheduled for installation in September 2021, will join a growing fleet of new equipment at SSI’s technology center in Janesville, Wis. Along with providing customers advanced powder-metallurgy processing, this investment positions SSI to immediately target the addition of metal 3D printing to its portfolio and the expansion of its current metal injection molding (MIM) operations. The furnace will also allow SSI to develop sintering profiles for both technologies.

Materialise opened a new 3,500-square-meter Metal Competence Center for 3D printing in Bremen, Germany. The company invested approximately $9 million to construct the facility, which has the capacity for more than 30 industrial metal 3D printers and over 120 employees. Materialise previously operated two facilities focused on metal 3D printing in Bremen, including a software development and distribution center and industrial manufacturing center. The Metal Competence Center unites and expands Materialise’s metal 3D printing sites in Bremen under one roof to support integrated production and development. It will also enable increased collaboration between software development and manufacturing teams to better serve industrial customers around the world.

Quintus Technologies delivered a hot isostatic press (HIP) to full-service additive manufacturer Burloak Technologies. The Oakville, Ontario-based company will use the HIP to significantly increase production and deliver new levels of mechanical performance and strength properties in parts for mission-critical applications. The unit combines high pressure, heat treatment and cooling in a single process, which removes several operations from the AM production line. The HIP’s highly customizable cooling cycle can be programmed to stop at a specific temperature while maintaining the desired pressure setpoint. Rapid cooling under pressure minimizes thermal distortion and non-uniform grain growth in components, producing finished parts with optimal material properties.

Wall Colmonoy has fully installed what it says is the first Desktop Metal Shop System in the United Kingdom. Using Desktop Metal’s binder-jet technology, Wall Colmonoy can now offer affordable and fast metal 3D printing of small to medium parts. The Shop System complements the offerings of Wall Colmonoy’s Precision Components business. The division, based in Wales, encompasses a 23,500-square-foot machining facility and 19,000-square-foot casting foundry. The binder-jet printer will enable Wall Colmonoy to collaborate with customers by developing additive-manufacturing prototype or parts components, moving theoretical designs into proven applications without the restrictions of conventional subtractive manufacturing techniques. Components can be developed and manufactured for fit and function trials utilizing the company’s wear- and corrosion-resistant solutions for demanding applications or simply for end use in a desired application.

Hard lessons learned from the 2020 pandemic taught us that we needed to rebuild and re-establish our U.S. supply-chain ecosystem. The systemic shock to our global supply chains left us with bottlenecks, shortages and an acute awareness of our overdependence on imports.

Nikon Corp. acquired majority ownership of Morf3D Inc., a metal additive-manufacturing (AM) company specializing in AM and engineering for the aerospace, space and defense industries. El Segundo, Calif.-based Morf3D helps customers realize the potential of AM to solve complex design and manufacturing challenges. Using additive design and analytical tools combined with serial production experience, the company accelerates fully optimized functional structures and build processes.

Quintus Technologies will deliver a hot isostatic press (HIP) to the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Dresden, Germany. The HIP will permit researchers to refine processes for pressure-supported heat treatment, which is used to maximize theoretical density, ductility and fatigue resistance in high-performance materials. Applications for the new system include the hot isostatic pressing and heat treatment of specialty materials such as nickel-based superalloys and intermetallic compounds like titanium aluminides, as well as densification of the unconventional microstructures associated with additive manufacturing (AM).

In a project co-funded by Ford Motor Company and the ExOne Company, a team of engineers, material scientists and manufacturing experts developed a patent-pending process for rapid and reliable binder-jet 3D printing and sintering of aluminum that delivers properties comparable to die casting. Collaborative and individual patents are expected to be filed by Ford and ExOne as a result of this ongoing project. Some aluminum alloys can be 3D printed today using lasers, but the process is much slower than the one developed by Ford and ExOne. The new process is expected to increase Ford’s efficiency by allowing the company to affordably produce complex parts uniquely designed for additive manufacturing, which enables size and weight reductions, part consolidation and performance improvements.

A new online estimating tool is available for companies considering moving production of metal parts to high-speed binder-jet 3D printing.