FIT Additive Manufacturing Group invests in additive cold welding process

Additive cold welding process

Katja Preydel, 20.09.2018, 09:22

FIT Additive Manufacturing Group invests

The FIT Additive Manufacturing Group is one of the first users worldwide to expand its technology park with the latest machine from Australian manufacturer SPEE3D. With the SP3D (Supersonic 3D Deposition) process, components made of copper and other metals can be produced for the first time in record time using 3D printing in a cold welding process.

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FIT invests in additive cold welding process © SPEE3D

The raw material used is metal powder, but it is not built up in layers in the powder bed. In the SP3D process, a rocket nozzle fires the material onto the carrier plate at three times supersonic speed. The bonding of the powder particles does not result from heating or a melting process, but from the extremely high kinetic energy of the ejection.

One advantage of the process is the "rocket-fast" build-up rate, which, according to the manufacturer, is hundreds to thousands of times higher than with powder bed-based processes. In addition, SP3D makes the difficult additive manufacturing of copper parts not only possible for the first time, but also suitable for industrial use.

FIT Additive Manufacturing Group invests in additive cold welding process © SPEE3D

When the machine is delivered in late fall 2018, an intensive test phase will begin. "Particular attention will be paid to the functional properties of the components produced with it," says Philip Emmerling, development engineer at FIT. "The initial tests have been very promising."

The Group positions itself as a competent development partner for industrial customers. "This makes us much more than a manufacturing service provider. Our extensive technology park covers a wide range of technologies, regardless of the manufacturer, and we always keep our eyes open for new impulses. This enables us to offer customers the optimum solution for their often highly complex development and production requirements from a differentiated range of technologies," says Carl Fruth, founder and CEO of FIT, describing the strategic interest in this and other technological innovations.

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