Nexa3D Siemens QLS
Nexa3D has announced a partnership with Siemens which will see its Quantum Laser Sintering (QLS) platforms, formerly marketed under the NXT Factory brand, equipped with automation controls.
Through this collaboration, Nexa3D's entire QLS portfolio will be 'standardised to Siemens advanced factory automation and edge computing technologies.' The company will commence shipping of the Siemens automation-powered QLS-350 from Q1 of 2021 and believe the partnership will bring its 3D printing technology ‘up to full Industry 4.0 preparedness.’
Working with customers in the automotive, aerospace, medical and industrial fields, Nexa and Siemens are said to have proven the need to combine connectivity, digital twin sensing and data acquisition to facilitate predictive maintenance, process monitoring and print optimisation around the clock.
"We are very excited to partner with Siemens, the world’s leading provider of factory automation and digitisation technologies, to jointly deliver the next generation of manufacturing capabilities to our customers," commented Kuba Graczyk, Head of Thermoplastic Additive Business at Nexa3D. “We believe that this collaboration is essential given the strengths of the 3D printing industry as demonstrated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and this is the right time to realise the combined potential that this partnership unlocks for the benefit of our expanding customer base."
“We are very pleased to join forces with Nexa3D and together unleash the power and potential of our products to create more resilient and sustainable supply chains,” added Tim Bell, Head of Additive Manufacturing, Siemens Industry, Inc. “COVID-19 underlined the incredibly rapid and flexible nature of our combined factory automation technologies and additive manufacturing capabilities compared to traditional manufacturing and demonstrates how vulnerable the global manufacturing supply chain is to unexpected disruptions. Working together with Nexa3D, we are bringing decades of proven Siemens factory automation experience and technology to additive manufacturing to help customers mainstream mission critical production tools for future manufacturing strategies.”
Meanwhile, Nexa3D has also made progress on the stereolithography side of the business with the introduction of a photoplastic material called xCE-White.
Nexa3D white material
xCE-White has been designed to enable the 3D printing of end-use parts and injection moulding tools on the NXE400 machine. It is said to be the fastest single cure material in the company’s portfolio and boasts high flexural strength comparable to dual cure cyante esters. Nexa3D believes the material could be successfully deployed in the automotive space, as well as for automation and robotic assemblies. It has been tested in a variety of end use cases, exhibiting excellent thermal stability. When used for the production of injection moulding tools for thermoplastics like PP and PETG, it has been successfully injected hundreds of times at temperatures between 230°C and 280°C without showing any visible temperature degradation or adhesion and without the use of any mould release agents.
“We are very excited to bring to market our fastest functional photoplastic material yet, underscoring Nexa3D’s commitment to providing our customers with the highest levels of design agility and supply chain resiliency both now and post-COVID-19 that produce functional parts literally within minutes,” commented Michele Marchesan, Chief Growth Officer for Nexa3D. “With xCE-White available through our rapidly expanding global reseller network, we are delivering a new performance photoplastic that is ideal for many production parts in addition to being an outstanding injection moulding tooling material.
“Our expanding portfolio of ultrafast stereolithography and laser sintering production printers, coupled with our growing family of high-performance photoplastics and thermoplastics, provides a significant speed and productivity advantage at an attractive cost of ownership.”
