EOS Expands Its Leading Role in Laser-Sintering with the Launch of New Metal and Plastic Materials


Materials advances increase market potential for plastics and metals
in additive manufacturing

Frankfurt am Main/ Germany, - EOS, the world leading manufacturer of laser-sintering systems, is introducing new plastic and metal materials at EuroMold in Frankfurt (in hall 11, booth C08), confirming once more the company's quality leadership in additive manufacturing. Based on these materials, completely new fields of application can be developed, costs can be reduced and customer requirements can be served in an ideal way. EOS is showcasing the range of its material and system portfolio with two operating systems at the booth - an EOSINT P 395 for plastic laser-sintering and the unveiling of the enhanced Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) solution, the EOSINT M 280.

Peter Klink, Executive Vice President Global Sales at EOS, adds: "Very often, the development of new materials is based on a close dialogue with our customers. These developments help to solve their challenges in production while reducing production costs. In addition, these new materials open up completely new fields of application."

For example, at EuroMold, EOS introduces a new metal material to the market, EOS NickelAlloy IN625. For plastic, EOS debuts two new materials: PrimePart FR (PA 2241 FR) and PrimePart ST (PEBA 2301).

Versatile metal material: EOS NickelAlloy IN625

The new material EOS NickelAlloy IN625 is very versatile. Its material properties, such as its high tensile strength, excellent processability and uniform corrosion resistance, make it ideally suited for use in aerospace, chemical, motor sport and marine industry applications.

First applications show promising results: Greg Morris, CEO of Morris Technologies, notes: "We are using IN625 with DMLS to build complex aerospace parts for high-temperature and high-strength applications. The process achieves material properties that are comparable to wrought metals and far exceed casting. For prototyping projects, DMLS saves our customers weeks and often thousands of dollars compared with traditional methodologies."

Flame-retardant material: PrimePart FR (PA 2241 FR)

PrimePart FR (PA 2241 FR) is a new, flame-retardant material that is particularly suitable for applications in the aerospace industry. This material, based on PA 12 polyamide, has an 11 percent elongation at break, which is significantly higher than its predecessor material PA 2210FR. Also, due to its better refresh rate, PrimePart FR offers increased economic and ecological benefits.

Flexible with unique material properties: PrimePart ST (PEBA 2301)

PrimePart ST is a flexible elastomeric material, offering a wide-range of mechanical properties depending on the laser-exposure strategy selected. Via the process control, the material can be converted into a hard- or a soft-type component. The material has an excellent refresh rate making it a valid ecological alternative compared to conventional flexible materials for laser-sintering. Due to its resilience, PrimePart ST opens up new fields of application, such as flexible fasteners, seals or buffers.

Part Property Management (PPM): Standards for e-Manufacturing

EuroMold 2010 marks the one-year anniversary of the successful launch of the EOS Part Property Management (PPM).

The PPM offers major advantages for e-Manufacturing by providing standards to ensure reliable and repeatable quality in laser-sintering. At any time, the designer has access to standardized property profiles and corresponding material properties and, therefore, the user-based decision-making and production processes become more efficient and transparent. As a result, builds are more easily repeatable.

Based on increasingly automated data processing and a more flexible production planning in manufacturing, the PPM results in enhanced efficiency and reduced costs, at the same time allowing for optimized and transparent quality assurance processes. These developments have helped laser-sintering become a competitive and cost-effective manufacturing method for plastic and metal parts. The PPM continues to evolve and move towards integrating customer-specific process parameters into the concept in the future.

About EOS

EOS was founded in 1989 and is today the world leading manufacturer of laser-sintering systems. Laser-sintering is the key technology for e-Manufacturing, the fast, flexible and cost effective production of products, patterns and tools. The technology manufactures parts for every phase of the product life cycle, directly from electronic data. Laser-sintering accelerates product development and optimizes production processes. EOS completed its business year 2009/2010 with revenues of 64 million Euros. The company employs 300 people worldwide, 250 of them in Krailling near Munich, Germany. For more information visit www.eos.info.

EOS Electro Optical Systems GmbH

Claudia Jordan

Group Manager Marketing Communications

Phone: +49 89 893 36 134

Fax: +49 89 893 36 284

e-mail: Claudia.jordan@eos.info

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