Sciaky Inc., Chicago, reports that its Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (Ebam) technology helped a major automotive manufacturer cut significant time and cost from building and repairing several tooling and stamping dies. The manufacturer leveraged Sciaky’s Ebam to deposit complex tooling features, as well as to repair and to clad several high-volume parts. After successful proof of concept, the 3D printed tool was put into production.
“Sciaky’s technology is not limited to titanium parts and aerospace applications,” says Bob Phillips, Vice President of Phillips Service Industries Inc. “We have provided 3D printed solutions in stainless steel, tantalum, tungsten, Inconel, and niobium to customers in a variety of industries such as automotive, agricultural, defense, nuclear, oil & gas, and sea exploration.”
In July 2016, EWI (formerly the Edison Welding Institute) purchased an Ebam system to produce prototype parts for high-tech manufacturers in a variety of industries across the United States. Sciaky and EWI will work together to co-market their extensive metal 3D printing capabilities.
As the most widely scalable, metal 3D printing solution in the industry (in terms of work envelope), Sciaky’s systems can produce parts ranging from eight inches to 19 feet in length, and can also manufacture smaller and even larger parts, depending on the application. Ebam is also the fastest deposition process in the metal additive manufacturing market, with gross deposition rates ranging from 7 to 20 pounds of metal per hour. Plus, with a dual wirefeed option, two different metal alloys can be combined into a single melt pool to create custom alloy parts or ingots. In addition, the mixture ratio of the two materials can be changed to create “graded” parts or structures.
