Rapidia Inc., Vancouver, has opened a new U.S. facility in Innovation Park, just outside Chicago, to showcase its additive manufacturing technology and serve its U.S. customers. The Rapidia system features a water-based metal paste process that produces parts in a range of materials, including stainless steel, Inconel, and ceramics.
The two-stage office-friendly system consists of a metal printer and a sintering furnace. The use of water, instead of a typical binding element, eliminates a solvent-based debinding step and is said to result in a fast, simple to use system that is environmentally friendly and completely solvent-free.
In addition to the growing additive manufacturing markets, the company sees the prototyping of powder metallurgy components as an ideal application for its technology. With the Rapidia system, those in the PM industry can produce prototype metal components in under twenty-four hours.
