First Atomic Diffusion Metal 3D Printer

Markforged introduces its Metal X metal 3D printer, the first to use the company’s Atomic Diffusion Additive Manufacturing (ADAM) technique. This rapid technique is suitable for producing metal parts in demanding industrial, automotive, medical and aerospace industries. According to the company, the Metal X 3D printer is intended for manufacturers and machine shops looking to augment or find alternatives to CNC machining.

The ADAM technique is said to produce robust, accurate parts in a range of engineering metals. Parts are printed, layer-by-layer, using a metal powder contained in a plastic binder. After printing, plastic binders are removed and the part is sintered into customary engineering metals. By sintering the entire part at once, ADAM technology allows metal crystals to grow through the bonded layers, effectively erasing the layer-to-layer strength reduction of many other 3D printing processes.

The Metal X 3D printer features an industrial-grade print platform in a compact enclosure, but with a build volume measuring 250 × 220 × 200 mm. It is equipped with in-process laser inspection for dimensional accuracy as well as a cloud-enabled build camera. The printer also offers an integrated metal-material handling system. It enables full integration with the Eiger cloud software platform, also available in local storage and on-premise versions.

At launch, the Metal X will print high-end stainless steels such as 17-4 and 303. Tool steel for injection molding applications and other metals are under development and will be available later in 2017.