3D打印机和激光源开发人员3DM数字制造has teased a new technology that enables adopters to tune their Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) 3D printing laser to work with a specific material or application.
Compared to CO2 or fiber beams, 3DM’s customizable laser is said to yield higher-resolution parts with enhanced mechanical properties at reduced lead times. Having fully optimized its technology in R&D settings, the firm is now preparing to bring it to market through the launch of its own proprietary machines. Once released, these are expected to facilitate varied 3D printing use cases where customization is key.
3DM Digital Manufacturing首席执行官Ido Eylon解释说：“使我们独一无二的是我们制造自己的激光器。”“我们不使用二氧化碳或纤维激光器或类似的东西，实际上我们会生产自己的激光器，使用户可以瞄准与其塑料材料最匹配的某种波长。这就是我们技术核心的区别。”
SLS laser innovation at 3DM
尽管3DM名义上成立于2016年以色列，但其技术的根源与多数股东丹尼尔·玛格（Daniel Majer）博士一起进一步恢复。毕业Weizmann Institute of Science, the 3DM founder has spent 30 years around electro-optic part R&D, while also engaging in laser development, and spending almost a decade working on 3D printing.
Building on Majer’s research, 3DM has now developed a ready-for-market laser that enables the melting of polymer powders at speeds up to ten times faster than existing printing technologies. What’s more, the technology is said to be capable of turning thermoplastics into parts with a resolution much better than current leading printers, in a way that could open up new markets to industrial 3D printing.
In particular, 3DM believes 3D printing can take a larger share of a global polymer manufacturing market that was valued in 2019 at $570 billion. While “insufficient technological innovation” limited industrial 3D printing to “just a few per cent of this market,” the firm says its technology’s low-cost and high scalability has the potential to change this.
Though 3DM initially started out as an incubator company ofTerralab Ventures, which still owns around 23% of its shares, it has since been spun out and gone public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The deal, which saw the business’ IPO wrapped up by June 2021, saw it net around $13 Million, funding it’s putting towards launching its first commercial products.
3DM的技术如何工作？
那么，3DM的专有激光与市场上的其他激光有何不同？好吧，光源本身基本上是由一组小于米饭小的微小量子级联激光器（QCL）形成的。这些散发出几瓦的能量，可以定制其波长以适合给定材料和排列零件层的方式。
与固定在一定波长的传统二氧化碳激光器相反，3DM表示其技术允许更有效（并且可能更快）激光吸收。该公司还指出，其激光器的表面表面效果很高，以及其预期的波长灵活性如何使其与更宽的材料库兼容。
从本质上讲，3DM将其激光器变成了可销售的产品，它将其固定在由冷却机构，驱动器和镜头组成的组件中以形成激光模块。然后可以将其中的一些组合成梁单元，能够在3D打印过程中在给定粉末上创建第一个多波长斑点，并启用零件几何形状的编写。反过来，将四个光束单元组合在一起以创建一个3DM打印头。
借助产品的首次迭代，该公司使用缝合算法结合了四个梁头，以确保区域之间没有间隙。也就是说，该公司表示其方法是可扩展的，引入更多的光束可能会提高3D打印速度。在第三方测试中，该技术甚至比其他领先的SLS打印机的机械性能更好。
在其他地方，与便宜的纤维激光器相比，3DM的技术能够达到更高的波长，而无需添加剂以确保激光相互作用。实际上，该公司的激光器可以以中IR光谱的任何波长发射，从而使其能够匹配任何热塑性的吸收特性，并允许采用者为给定的用例选择最经济的原料。
3DM’s upcoming market offering
Already, 3DM has integrated its laser printheads into four-head prototype R&D systems, and its first-generation machine is now said to be closing in on ‘productization.’ Though the exact specifications of these machines haven’t been public, they’re understood to have printheads mounted to the roof of their build chambers, in a layout that makes cooling more efficient.
随着3DM继续迭代其技术，它旨在确定其潜在的可持续性和易于处理的好处。在应用程序方面，该公司已经验证了其从柔性材料（例如鞋垫）中生产零件的能力，但它继续为其激光器看到广泛的用例，尤其是在需要大规模定制和专业材料的区域。
Those working on materials or processes that are interested in collaborating on the laser’s benefits and application development are encouraged tocontact 3DM Digital Manufacturing here了解更多。
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特色图片显示3DM数字制造的激光打印头。通过3DM数字制造图像。
