XBEAM 3D METAL PRINTING – THE ROUTE TO INDUSTRIALIZATION OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

The new additive manufacturing technology of direct deposition type named xBeam 3D Metal Printing was presented at AeroMat 2016 in Bellevue, WA. It was announced an expectation that this new technology can solve the most critical problems of existing metal additive manufacturing systems, first of all of wire-based type, including porosity in as-built material, residual stresses and distortions, thick wall with rough surface, and all of this by much less production cost. These assumptions are based on exclusive technical capabilities of special low-voltage gas-discharge electron beam gun which is able to generate hollow conical electron beam providing unique physical conditions during fusion of feedstock metal wire and it layer-upon-layer deposition.     

Since that time the xBeam 3D Metal Printing has successfully passed initial validation in laboratory environment. All assumed physical and technical opportunities of this technology have received basic confirmation by numerous experiments executed on the pilot xBeam 3D Metal Printer in near production environment. In addition some new exclusive technological opportunities provided by xBeam 3D Metal Printing were discovered.

Ability of the xBeam 3D Metal Printing to provide defect-free metal structure of deposited material with good accuracy and high productivity together with simple and compact design, easy operation and maintenance, reasonable equipment price are opening an encouraging prospects of new technology to move metal additive manufacturing forward to real industrialization.