Last month, GKN Powder Metallurgy (
www.gkn.com) announced a strategic collaboration with HP Inc, saying it will be the first to use the just-launched HP Metal Jet in its factories to produce functional metal parts for automotive and industrial leaders, including Volkswagen and Wilo, and for companies around the world.
The HP Metal Jet features binderjetting technology that produces ‘green’ parts, which are then sintered in a standard furnace to produce high-quality isotropic components meeting ASTM standards.
According to GKN Powder Metallurgy, it represents “a paradigm shift in 3-D printing for all markets, as it increases users’ productivity up to 50-fold compared to other 3-D printing methods — and at nearly half the cost of other binder jetting systems”.
It is claimed the technology will give GKN Powder Metallurgy greater design and manufacturing flexibility, lower development costs and a reduction in the time-to-market for mass-produced parts from months to weeks.
Peter Oberparleiter, CEO of GKN Powder Metallurgy, said: “Our vision for additive manufacturing moves beyond prototypes and small-series production and into mass production.
"We see a future where every modern digital company will have a cutting-edge 3-D printer in its facility — enabled by GKN technology, design and support — to produce metal parts in 24hr.
“This strategic partnership with HP is the tipping point to accelerate that vision. We want our customers to challenge us to break design barriers and accelerate the adoption of binder jetting technology.”
GKN Powder Metallurgy will build on its foundation of sintering 13 million metal parts per day and continue on the path to Industry 4.0, since binder jetting is a highly digital process, and the company has already digitised its factory floors.
It will be the only partner using the HP Metal Jet in the automotive and industrial markets, until the machine becomes generally available in 2020.