Finding the flow creates a new way to 3D-print metal

04/03/17, 06:33 AM | Additive & 3D Printing, Supply Chain

Eric Mack for New Atlas: A team of engineers has developed a new way of 3D-printing metals that could improve on existing, laser-on-powder based methods. It relies on using semi-solid metals that are solid at rest, but can flow when force is applied, making it possible to move through the nozzle of a printer. Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) hope that the process could lead to higher-quality and lighter metal parts.

The team, along with collaborators from Worchester Polytechnic Institute, call the new approach "direct metal writing." Rather than starting with a metal powder as in currently popular 3D-printing techniques like selective laser melting (SLM), a block of metal engineered to be shear thinning is heated until it becomes semi-solid. Full Article:

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