EOS Showcases New Industrial 3D Printer and Latest Software Versions at formnext

EOS is at formnext 2017 in Frankfurt this week, displaying its two latest 3D printing products at Booth G50 in Hall 3.1. The first of these two is its new polymer laser sintering system, the EOS P 500, first unveiled to the public earlier this month ahead of the massive additive manufacturing conference, and featuring enhanced part quality and new opportunities for material advancements. EOS is also showcasing its extensive software portfolio at the event, including the latest versions of EOSPRINT 2 for job and process management, the process monitoring EOSTATE suite, and EOSCONNECT, which offers industrial-grade connectivity.

The highly productive, automation-ready EOS P 500 is able to print with plastics that require operating temperatures of up to 300°C, and is perfect for companies that want to mass produce engineering-level quality polymer parts on an industrial level. The 3D printing system is highly efficient, features a dual-laser system and new recoater, and can print parts twice as fast as the EOS P 396, currently the fastest laser sintering machine on the market.

The 3D printer’s material flow has also been optimized – layer times are decreased by preheating the polymer in advance. It also features a newly streamlined build process steps, a three stage filter-unit for successful build processes, and industrial quality assurance, thanks to data evaluation and optical and thermal cameras.

Recently, the company signed a joint development agreement with Arkema to develop a material based on its KEPSTAN PEKK, and so the first high performance polymer available for use with the EOS P 500 will be chemically resistant and thermally stable PEKK, a good, lightweight alternative to metal.

Materialise will be the first company to acquire the new EOS P 500.

“We look forward to the boost in productivity delivered by the EOS P 500 solution and the new possibilities for series manufacturing created by the integrated platform automation,” said Bart Van Der Schueren, Chief Technology Officer at Materialise. “The shorter cycle times will help us to meet increasingly tight deadlines as the demand for industrial polymer printing grows. We look forward to exploring the use of new materials and new applications with the support of the mid-temp capability.”

The EOS P 500 is the company’s first polymer additive manufacturing machine that’s supported by its intuitive CAM tool EOSPRINT 2, which allows engineers to assign and optimize build parameters for CAD data. The latest version debuted at formnext this week, featuring all sorts of new features designed to help engineers achieve production-ready design.

“We understand the challenges of our customers with regards to industry 4.0 and the need for increased productivity. EOS’ software solutions support companies across all process steps in additive manufacturing – from an efficient preparation of the AM build job with EOSPRINT to quality control as part of the EOSTATE monitoring suite,” said Dr. Tobias Abeln, CTO at EOS. “And with EOSCONNECT, all the machine and production data collected can be made usable on a live basis. To enable this, EOS offers an open interface capable of providing integration either into intelligent EOS applications providing productivity increase or to be used by third party applications. This way we lay the foundation for companies to truly integrate additive manufacturing in industrial production environments.”

The company’s software has all of the tools necessary for businesses to integrate industrial 3D printing into their existing manufacturing process, starting with job and process management software EOSPRINT 2. The latest version includes unique exposure patterns and Z-segmentation, and allows customers who are integrating post-process machining with 3D printing to benefit from reference point calibration, which is necessary to set the same zero point across multiple machines. It can also make better material and process development possible, thanks to the expert functionalities available in the DoE (Design of Experiments) Set-Up feature.

EOSCONNECT gives industrial users an intuitive, user-friendly app so they can take a look at their machine and production data in a dashboard, and the high level of connectivity it offers allows companies to improve their productivity with transparent visualization and production process validation. The automated, intelligent multi-monitoring EOSTATE suite, made up of four separate monitoring tools, allows users to complete quality assurance checks of their data in real-time.

• System – uses sensors to permanently monitor the system status, along with external production conditions.
• PowderBed – a camera takes a picture of the building platform before and after each recoating cycle so users can trace if a cycle was complete and consistent.
• MeltPool – perfect for users looking to optimize manufacturing methods or advance research and process development, as it allows the complex melting process to be put on display.
• Exposure OT (optical tomography) – offers real-time, camera-based monitoring of the metal 3D printing build process, so companies can catch and reject defective parts earlier.

Don’t forget to check out EOS’ latest offerings at formnext this week, at Booth G50 in Hall 3.1.  3DPrint.com is also at formnext, working hard to bring you all the latest news from the showroom floor. Follow us on social media to get all of the latest news and announcements.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below. 

[Images: EOS]