Dear rp-ml suscribers,
Enclosed please find an update on the MJS process which was developed at IPA and
IFAM.
Metal and ceramic prototypes using the Multiphase Jet Solidification (MJS)
process
The Multiphase Jet Solidification (MJS) process which has been developed by the
Fraunhofer-Institute for Applied Materials Research (IFAM) in conjunction with
the Fraunhofer-Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA) is
now available as a commercial machine. The basic principle has been optimised
and implemented in a machine called RP-Jet 200 (for those who are intersted I
can mail a tiff-file which shows a picture of the system but it was to big for
the mailing list) with Logeto GmbH and ITP, Germany. The system consists of a
personal computer, a xyz-computer controlled positioning system (machine
precision 0.01 mm, axis traversing 200 mm x 200 mm x 150 mm) and a heated
chamber with a jet- and a hauling system. The chamber is temperature-stabilised
and can be varied within ± 1 °C. The material is supplied as powder, pellets or
bars. The extrusion temperature of the material is up to 200 °C. Different sized
extrusion orifices in the 0.5 mm to 2.0 mm range can be used.
Major goals and applications
In general, all materials which are processable in plastic or powder injection
moulding can be processed with the MJS process. The main restriction for
materials which can be handled on today’s system are a suitable viscosity around
10 to 200 Pa.s and a melting temperature of the binder lower than 200 °C.
Besides 316L (stainless steel) and silicon carbide materials investigations were
done on titanium, high speed steels (M4T2), stellite (Co-Cr-Mo), alumina and
magnetic materials (FeNi). The described materials were successfully tested and
cover many of the important groups of PIM materials. Therefore the use of the
MJS system in prototyping of PIM parts is very obvious. By studying the
debinding and sintering process on a prototype errors in tooling for PIM parts
can be reduced.
Due to the high flexibility of processable materials another field of
application is the processing of new developed substances without being fixed to
the limited range of materials that is offered by the Rapid Prototyping system
distributors. This includes also plastics like filled polymers or waxes.
The RP-Jet 200 is available through ITP, Lesumer Heerstr. 36, 28717 Bremen, Fax:
+49-421-63-83-190. Please mention the RP mailing list!
-- ***************************************************************** * Dr.-Ing. Matthias Greul * * Fraunhofer-Institut fuer angewandte Materialforschung (IFAM) * * Lesumer Heerstr. 36 * * 28357 Bremen * * Tel: +49-421-6383-189 * * Fax: +49-421-6383-190 * * Email: gl@ifam.fhg.de * *****************************************************************
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