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HP Metal Jet
Home and Office Printing
Industrial Graphics Printing
Plastics and Metal 3D Printing
Powered by the Same Key Assets Thermal Inkjet Technology
PageWide Print Bars
• Inkjet inks modified to work as Binding Agents • Materials know-how • Printer system integration
30+ Years of IP
• Print modules and drive electronics • “Ink” containers and fluid delivery systems • Writing system algorithms
Vertically Integrated Manufacturing
• Inkjet technology and product development • Over 5K+ Inkjet patents
• HPI custom ASICs • Production lines, wafer fab, supply chain
Fig. 2 HP Metal Jet builds on key assets and capabilities of HP Inc.
HP’s systems are based on a number of key assets that have enabled the company’s businesses to thrive for several decades. HP Metal Jet represents a combination of innovation and time-tested technologies (Fig. 2). The technology simplifies design and manufacturing processes and reduces costs and time-to-market by eliminating two steps: mould creation and first-stage debinding. Because an additively manufactured part is created digitally, there is no need to spend time and money to design and create a mould. HP Metal Jet is also designed to fit seamlessly into existing production workflows and uses similar metal powders and sintering furnaces to those used in MIM. This enables MIM manufacturers to transition to HP
Mould Creation
Metal Powder
Metal Jet, or incorporate Additive Manufacturing into their wider workflow, without the need to more broadly overhaul their production process (Fig. 3). There are some design limitations associated with MIM that do not necessarily apply to HP Metal Jet, allowing HP Metal Jet users to unlock a new range of applications for production. HP Metal Jet can create larger parts than those commonly found in MIM, as well as parts that have much larger wall thicknesses (more than 35 mm) and varying or non-uniform wall thicknesses. The process does not require tapering for ejection, leaves neither parting line nor ejection marks and eliminates several other MIM-related artefacts.
Binder System
Injection Moulding
3D Printing
In addition, as with most Additive Manufacturing processes, HP Metal Jet allows for greater complexity in structures and geometries, producing parts that cannot be made with other methods. For example, HP Metal Jet enables new designs involving lattices, topology-optimised structures, complex internal channels, and other complicated geometries for mass production. Parts can also be built without support structures and with smaller holes, allowing for high-quality parts to be produced that would otherwise be challenging for other AM technologies. In addition, the technology allows for parts to be sintered to densities comparable to those achieved in MIM, with similar grain structure and isotropic properties.
De-caking
De-binding
Sintering
Optional Secondary Finishing
MIM
Optional
HP Metal Jet
Optional
Fig. 3 MIM vs HP Metal Jet
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Powder Injection Moulding International
September 2019
© 2019 Inovar Communications Ltd
Vol. 13 No. 3