Laser sintering is well known as the technology of choice for ensuring the quickest route from product idea to market launch. Innovative companies from a broad range of industries are using this technology for e-Manufacturing – the fast, flexible and cost effective production directly from electronic data for every phase of the product life cycle.

 

The system: e-Manufacturing for the industrial sector The EOSINT M 280 is an updated and further improved version of the EOSINT M 270, the leading system on the market for the additive manufacturing of metal components. It directly produces top-quality metal parts on the basis of three-dimensional CAD data – fully automatically, in only a few hours, and with no need for tools. The Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) process builds the parts up layer by layer by melting fine metal powder with a laser beam, which enables the creation of extremely complex geometries such as free form surfaces, deep grooves and three-dimensional cooling channels. The system is optionally equipped with a 200 or 400 watt fibre laser. This type of laser provides an exceptionally high beam quality and power stability which can be monitored during the build process using the Laser Power Monitoring (LPM) option. Together with an optimized Gas Management System this guarantees optimal and consistent processing conditions for highest and constant part building quality. The system operates in both protective nitrogen and argon atmospheres. This allows the system to process a wide range of materials: from light metals to stainless and tool steel to superalloys.

 

The process software has been developed and improved over a period many years and contains many intelligent exposure strategies and features; these enable the optimization and adaption of the build process for a variety of material types and applications. EOS offers a range of powder metal materials for the EOSINT M 280 with corresponding parameter sets that have been optimized according to the application. These produce parts with standardized part property profiles (PPPs).

 

In addition, EOS ensures maximum reliability by intensive process development and thorough quality assurance of all products. The system’s capacity can be adapted to different customer requirements with a variety of options and additional equipment. The Integrated Process Chain Management (IPCM) modules enable greater productivity, higher quality and increased user-friendliness, and can also be added to at any time. The distinctive features of the EOSINT M 280 system are the quality of the parts it produces and the ergonomically designed peripherals. These features are what make the system the ideal production tool for the economical batch-size optimized manufacture of parts at all stages of the product life cycle. The system is therefore perfectly suited for an industrial environment.

 

The software: Achieving maximum productivity automatically EOS offers various software packages for processing CAD data and tracking production flows. EOSTATE was developed to provide users with an overview of all production-related data at any desired point in time. The software processes production data for freely definable timeframes and displays it clearly. The user’s requirements are accommodated within the integrated Basic, Quality Assurance, Controlling and Machine Park Management (MPM) modules. They ensure that production flows are easy to track and to manage.