The best possible base material is the first step in repeatably printing a high-quality product. Our knowledge and experience in gases, high-pressure supply, recycling technology, and inert storage can help ensure your process runs reliably and productively— and the powder maintains its properties during transport and storage.
Metal powders such as Ti alloys are especially sensitive to storage conditions, and variations in the ambient atmosphere can impact AM process repeatability. Even if the powders are stored in a cabinet, the atmosphere inside can be affected every time the cabinet door is opened.
Messer addresses this problem with a storage cabinet that provides active protection of powder metals. The Messer AM cabinet continuously monitors the storage atmosphere and uses an inert gas to protect sensitive powder metals from changes in moisture, oxygen (O2) and temperature. It can correct for variations whenever the cabinet door closes and maintains O2 to very low levels to ensure long powder life.
Repeatable quality of the 3D printing process is vital for high-end aerospace, automotive and medical components, yet it becomes more challenging as parts get larger and geometries become more complex. Unwanted gases and moisture can enter the print chamber through insufficient purging, loose supply connections, or through the powder metal itself. Even slight variations in O2 levels in the print chamber can cause discoloration, affect critical mechanical properties such as fatigue resistance, and reduce powder life.
You can’t have the required precise, consistent printing process unless you maintain a precise, consistent atmosphere throughout the laser powder bed fusion process. Messer’s process gases and cutting-edge technology—including our ASURE3D™ Atmosphere Control System—grant you that precision.
The ASURE3D™ atmosphere control system from Messer supplies additional inert gas during the printing process and can quickly respond to changes in O2 or humidity to keep chamber atmosphere contamination to a minimum. The compact unit can be indispensable for improving the reproducibility of powder-bed laser fusion processes, and the enhanced sensor resolution (down to <10 ppm O2) and on-board continuous data collection ensures improved atmosphere monitoring beyond the capabilities of most commercial 3D printers. It can also essential for minimizing O2 and N2 levels for sensitive reactive materials and can be integrated into all existing printers.
Whether it’s a simple stress relief or a multi-step precipitation hardening, the right heat treatment is critical to optimizing the performance of your 3D printed parts. Messer’s heat treatment solutions and gases provide consistently high-quality results safely and cost-effectively no matter your material or application.
For binder jetting or extrusion printers, the debinding and sintering processes are often the most critical steps of achieving high quality parts.
Additionally, many critical applications require high pressure hot isostatic press (HIP) post-processing to remove porosity in the final 3D printed parts. Messer can provide you a turn-key solution for high-pressure gas supply systems, enabling high performance and reliability of even the most precise specifications for your HIP furnace.
Metal 3D-printed parts may contain adhered powder and other contaminants that are difficult to safety remove from the complex geometries possible with AM. Messer's ASURE3D CO2 cleaning process uses dry ice to blast powder residues and other unwanted substances from your workpieces – safely, efficiently, in an eco-friendly way, and without costly cleaning-related downtimes. The CO2 snow can be blended with blasting abrasives to remove difficult surface residues.
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