AMCM has announced the development of the M 8K 3D printer, which is said to push the boundaries of metal 3D printing. AMCM’s M 4K offers a build space of 450 x 450 x 1000 mm and supports four 1 kW lasers, while the new M 8K will feature eight lasers and a build space of 800 x 800 x 1200 mm.
The development of the M 8K is supported by a national grant to AMCM to improve the competitiveness of the Ariane 6 program ArianeGroupa joint venture between airbus And Saffron based in France. The first application will be the pressure of the combustion chamber of the aerospace company’s Prometheus rocket engine.
Printed from CuCr1Zr, a low content thermally aged copper alloy, with a height of over 1,000mm and a maximum diameter of 800mm, the combustion chamber will be a benchmark in terms of dimensions and quality, according to the company.
“We needed to find a partner who was willing to work with us to push the boundaries of what was possible. This is literally the DNA of AMCM, which has already built an excellent reputation in this industry with several M 4K systems. ArianeGroup projects must meet ESA’s strict requirements to be approved for launch. “We therefore attach great importance to the quality of the parts, for example the microstructure of the material and the surface roughness,” said Jan Alting, Head of Future Propulsion at ArianeGroup.
Alting continued, “We acknowledge that AMCM has received this federal grant. We are confident that we can solve this challenge in a short time and help the company enter new markets. Driving breakthrough technological innovation is an essential part of our mission.”
“Designing a facility of this size presents a number of challenges. “The excellent laser, scanner and optics design with our proven beam sources is based on decades of EOS process expertise,” says Martin Bullemer, Managing Director at AMCM. “The construction volume is four times larger than the M 4K, which also means mass. Therefore, the Z-axis of the system must be able to move up to five tons of powder with the highest precision.”
Bullemer claimed that the importance of material supply is often underestimated, explaining: “For printing parts up to 1.2m high with high productivity and quality, powder management is crucial.” Feeding tons of metal powder reliably over several days is no child’s play. You definitely don’t want to interrupt the process.”
The company says that with larger parts and larger print runs, process control and validation becomes increasingly important. According to AMCM, it will integrate EOS Group’s latest technology with SmartFusion and EOSTATE Exposure OT (optical tomography) into the M 8K system to further improve in-process quality assurance and process monitoring and thus reduce testing effort.
Bullemer added: “Metal printing offers the potential to make the rocket engine manufacturing process more flexible, cost-effective and faster.” Our new M 8K system will be operational within a year. We promised ArianeGroup the first printed combustion chambers before the end of 2024.”
