DTM presents new system SINTERSTATION(superscript:
Ò) 2500(superscript:
plus) as well as
new materials at EuroMold exhibition.
Improved Value, Ease of Use, Accuracy and Increased Productivity define
DTM's newest Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing System
Hilden, Deutschland: At this year's EuroMold exhibition in Frankfurt/Main
from December 2(superscript: nd) through 5(superscript: th), 1998 in hall
8, booth F 11 DTM GmbH presents the new system as well as new materials for
Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing Applications.
The Sinterstation uses the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process
developed and patented by DTM. A key advantage of all DTM Sinterstation
Systems is their multi-material capability, which makes them adaptable to a
wide variety of manufacturing processes. This makes them far more flexible
than first-generation or single-material rapid prototyping systems. You can
output parts in many of the "materials of choice?, whether the quantity is
1, 10 or 10,000 parts. A single system can create functional prototypes
with properties similar to injection-molded plastic, patterns for RTV
molding and investment casting, sandcasting cores and cavities and metal
injection molds.
With the release of the Sinterstation 2500(superscript: plus) system DTM
presents the latest development. The primary advantages of the new system
generation are increased productivity, better accuracy, ease of use as well
as an excellent price performance.
In order to follow the trend to shorten product development and
manufacturing cycles and to offer better performance numerous improvements
have been made. A new CO(subscript: 2) laser and a new scanning system
provide better accuracy and even allow higher scan speeds compared to the
former system. A re-designed powder delivery system reduces the time for
powder supply. In addition the build chamber volume has been increased by
10 % to 380 x 330 x 460 mm(superscript: 3) . An improved thermal control of
the process chamber and laser module as well as a re-design of the process
chamber heating are expected to improve accuracy and surface quality. In
order to enhance the ease of use the Sinterstation system software has been
ported from a Unix-based operating system to Windows NT. On top of the
company's system software DTM includes now the Materialise NV Magics RP
software package. In addition to the ability to scale, rotate, offset and
slice STL files, Magics RP offers users optional features to measure, edit,
shell and repair STL files. The new Sinterstation 2500(superscript: plus )
will have a 50-W version of the new laser but can be upgraded to 100-W.
New Materials provided by DTM
The release of 4 new generation products upgrades the entire product line
and represents significant additions to DTM's family of functional modeling
and rapid tooling materials.
DuraForm GF ? a first-class material for demanding rapid prototyping
applications
DuraForm GF is the glass-filled version of the well-known polyamide product
line. This material is designed for rapid prototyping applications that
require exceptional resolution, fine feature definition and surface finish
characteristics. DuraForm GF combines the superior characteristics of DTM's
DuraForm PA with the added strength and durability of a glass-filled
material. Mechanical properties as well as thermal conductivity and
temperature resistance have been improved significantly.
Copper Polyamide ? Short-run tooling applications with new polyamide
material
Copper Polyamide is a new metal-plastic composite with excellent features
for the rapid production of small numbers of parts for testing and concept
evaluations. Because there is no furnace process the turnaround time to
produce unfinished mold inserts can be as little as a day. These inserts
are capable of molding several hundred parts from common plastics.
Rapid Steel 2.0 ? new metal formulation reduces build times by half and
improves surface finish in applications for metal mold inserts
For rapid tooling applications DTM is providing a new generation of
complementary solutions for molding. RapidSteel 2.0 is a second generation
material which allows manufacturers to create durable metal mold inserts
suitable for prototype and pre-production plastic injection molding and
mold inserts for die casting. Rapid Steel provides improvements in
processing time, finishing time and accuracy compared to the original
material.
New material for Investment Casting applications
Just in time for the Euromold show DTM announced the availability of a new
second generation material that has been designed especially for use in the
Sinterstation system. The new material offers extraordinary improvements in
surface finish characteristics and fine feature definition. Another
important advantage is the reduced ash content (< 0,1 %) as well as the
excellent burn out behavior. The new material is mainly designed for the
production of concept models and duplication masters for investment casting
and will be available end of this year.
DTM Corp. develops, manufactures and markets the "Sinterstation" line of
rapid prototyping products for applications in the growing rapid
manufacturing marketplace. DTM has an exclusive worldwide license to
Selective Laser Sintering technology. Today almost 250 Sinterstations all
over the world are installed. The company's products are sold, serviced and
supported directly through DTM Corp. in North America, in Europe through
DTM GmbH and also through agents and distributors worldwide.
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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