German additive manufacturing system specialist EOS (www.eos.info) has launched the new EOS M 290. This has a build volume of 250 x 250 x 325mm. Adrian Keppler, chief marketing officer at EOS, said: “The system is designed to serve the requirements of customers needing a serial production capability.”

The EOS M 290 offers extensive monitoring functions, both for the system itself and for the build process, adding even more quality assurance to the field of additive manufacturing and making the system attractive for industrial applications in the aerospace and medical industries. With Eostate PowderBed, a camera built into the process chamber monitors powder deposition and exposure to the laser beam by means of still images.

Meanwhile, Eostate Base ensures consistent monitoring of a range of parameters, including the position of the laser scanner in the Z axis, air humidity, temperature and pressure. Finally, Eostate Laser Monitoring measures the laser power throughout the build period.

The EOS M 290 is equipped with a 400W laser. Moreover, the system can be operated under an inert nitrogen atmosphere or under argon, which allows the processing of a large variety of materials (these include light alloys, stainless steels, tool-grade steels and super-alloys). Meanwhile, EOS parameter sets ensure that parts can be manufactured with ‘standardised property profiles’ for a broad spectrum of applications.

Users of the latest machine are also supplied with EOS Parameter Editor, which allows them to modify a range of exposure parameters for themselves. A new version of the Parameter Editor is currently under development; this will allow modification of layer thickness, inert gas stream, build platform temperature and skip layers.

Meanwhile, the new Eosystem software includes an ‘operator assistant’ that guides the user through the program. It also allows jobs to be prepared and computed off-line, separately from the build process. Process gas management has also been optimised.