Metal 3D Printing Industry Solution Strategy

November 9, 2020 by Team Metal 3D Co. Metal 3D Printing Sponsored

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Metal 3D Co., Ltd., established in July 25, 2018, is a subsidiary of Winforsys, a metal 3D printing-based manufacturing company, and is composed of experts in each of the areas involved in the launch of its business activities. In October of the year immediately following its incorporation, it moved into the Ulsan Regional Headquarters as a partner company of Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH) and pursued joint research with Hyundai Heavy Industry for the optimization of metal 3D printing. As a result, the company completed registration as a cooperative company of Hyundai Construction Equipment in April 2019 and is currently manufacturing components used for heavy equipment under optimized procedural conditions.

In addition, the company conducts general education in metal 3D printing, including demand-linked programs as well as education customized for local industry at the Ulsan Korea Additive Manufacturing User Group (KAMUG), and has successfully held the Ulsan 3D Printing Skill Contest.

Metal 3D Co., Ltd. is planning to enhance its technological competitiveness by introducing medical titanium implant product s manufactured using Winforsys metal 3D printers. Metal 3D has a history of manufacturing implant packages for slipped disc patients in cooperation with KAMUG. The company is currently pursuing GMP approval and planning to expand aggressively into the medical device market by establishing a factory for metal 3D printing of medical implants.

In addition, Metal 3D Co., Ltd. has developed a mass production quality control system that enables optimization and quality control of the metal 3D printing process for mass production.

This product is a metal 3D printing package optimized for laminated products, and offers the advantage of an uploaded powder history management system, vacuum chamber technology, and process and quality control system, etc. to secure reliability and quality, which are the most critical elements of metal 3D printing.

A metal 3D printed differential gear case.

Metal 3D printers use precision spherical power with high purity levels. However, given the characteristics of the process, it is possible that powder quality will degrade if recycling occurs more than 50 times. As such, there has been continuous demand for powder quality management in the industry.

In response, Metal 3D Co., Ltd. has enabled barcode-based history and storage quality management of the powder currently in use through its powder management system referred to as “Metalsys-Powder,” the first part of the company’s mass production quality control system.

Second, vacuum chamber technology has been applied to the metal 3D printer with the “Metalsys E Series” in SLM format, befitting its use in the manufacturing of medical equipment. It is therefore possible to process titanium in high-vacuum environments with this equipment while guaranteeing the safety of workers and the working environment through a built-in erroneous operation prevention module for the laser and application of an explosion prevention device for the chamber.

Metal 3D printed tire molds.

Third, although high quality control is essential for industrial and medical components given the characteristics of processed products, there are shortcomings with accurate quality control in the current X-Ray examination system due to issues of penetration and scattering during inspection of metal components. Accordingly, Metal 3D Co., Ltd. has developed “Metalsys-MPT (Melting Pool Tomography)”, which can guarantee the quality of the final product by inspecting the metal lamination process through continuous monitoring while the lamination-processed products are being manufactured.