GE Additive, GEADPR068
GE Additive's Series 3 metal binder jet machine.
GE Additive has announced that production deliveries of its metal binder jet Series 3 printer will commence in the second half of 2023.
The company has made this most recent announcement after four years of customer discovery, collaboration, and testing to ensure its metal binder jet technology is ready for high-volume production environments. GE’s venture into metal binder jetting was first announced in 2017, one year after the company had acquired Concept Laser and Arcam to kickstart the GE Additive business.
At RAPID + TCT, GE Additive told TCT the company wouldn’t rush into launching the technology before it was ready and would continue working with Beta Partners like Cummins, Wabtec, Sandvik and Kennametal. Now, it appears the company is confident its Series 3 machine will be set for distribution in 2023.
“Fast-tracking solutions and bringing them to market soon is not a sound strategy and is often the reason machines end up gathering dust in R&D labs,” commented Brian Birkmeyer, Product Line Leader for Binder Jet at GE Additive. “During the Series 3 and Binder Jet Line’s development phase, we sought out customers who could give us honest, real-world insights from their high-volume manufacturing environments. We have taken their insights to complement our hands-on knowledge and experience of scaling additive production. The result is a modern, modular industrialised additive system – developed by additive users for additive users – that delivers quality parts, at cost, at scale and safely.”
The GE metal binder jet technology is said to be able to additively manufacture ‘complex, small and large parts with repeatability and reliability.’ GE also believes it will offer users ‘outstanding material properties’ that ‘exceed casting equivalents’ with through-hole diameters and wall thicknesses less than 500μm. Through the Beta Partner Program, the company has also said that its technology has proven out its capacity to print and sinter large parts which meet dimensional and feature resolution tolerances for production. To this end, it is said to have demonstrated capability in, but not limited to, parts up to 25kg in stainless steel, and ‘no known limitations on maximum wall thickness.’
Per GE, users of its Binder Jet Line will also be able to de-powder intricate parts without impacting fine features with the company’s proprietary binder systems, while also sintering parts within desired tolerances thanks to the distortion prediction and compensation capabilities in GE Additive’s Amp software. GE has also said parts can be printed and sintered with low surface roughness.
In terms of cost efficiency, GE is promising less spent on raw materials by recycling unused powder and leveraging ‘less expensive material vs other powder bed technologies.’ It also suggesting users will be able to utilise the entire build envelope ‘top to bottom, edge to edge, with no need for supports,’ and tackle new applications ‘otherwise too costly or difficult to manufacture with conventional or other existing additive technologies.’
Targeting scale, GE Additive is hoping to achieve the eventual deployment of ’40, 50, 100+’ machine installations, while also emphasising the technology’s automation readiness and ‘seamless integration into factory cells.’ The company has said the process and hardware is designed to optimise Takt times.
GE Additive, GEADPR068
Regarding safety, GE’s Binder Jet Line can be operated without hazard zoning required and has been designed for minimal operator contact with both system and metal powders. The machine will be UL listed and CE certified, while also boasting a 100% inert and sealed environment, a fully closed-loop powder-free exposure, and a real-time safety system on-board to monitor machine conditions. The machine has also been designed for compatibility with reactive and flammable powder and binders.
“In addition to a tangible business model, customers in fast-paced, high-volume manufacturing environments who are considering industrial-scale additive deployments also need to demonstrate positive financial and productivity impact as quickly as possible,” offered Josh Mook, Chief Engineer and Innovation Leader at GE Additive. “Customers shouldn’t have to reconfigure and tweak machines once they have been installed on their shop floor. We remain focused on only bringing technology solutions to market when they are ready and can help our customers demonstrate return on investment and total cost of ownership. That is certainly the case with our new Binder Jet Line and the Series 3, which is reliable, safe and meets their needs today and tomorrow.”
As GE Additive has worked to develop its metal binder jet technology over the last few years, it has aligned with several companies through its Beta Partner Program. Cummins was announced as a beta partner in April 2019, with Wabtec revealed in May 2019, and Sandvik and Kennametal following later. Last year, Cummins announced its first metal binder jet 3D printed part was in the final stages of production.
Each of these partners have contributed to the development of GE’s metal binder jet technology. In announcing the anticipated delivery of machines beyond the Beta Partner Program next year, GE said of the beta partners: “Core to this development and knowledge, sharing work remains a mutual commitment to formally identify, design and productionise specific applications at cost, quality, at needed scale, safely.”
GE Additive's metal binder jet update follows HP's own metal binder jet launch at IMTS last month, as well as Markforged's entry into the field with its acquisition of Digital Metal. Desktop Metal, with the integration of ExOne, is currently the leading provider of metal binder jet solutions.
