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FreeFORM Technologies
FreeFORM Technologies: Leveraging MIM expertise to drive application development in metal Binder Jetting The synergies between Metal Injection Moulding and metal Binder Jetting are well known. Leveraging these synergies with the intention of accelerating binder jet application development is FreeFORM Technologies, whose team includes several experienced former MIM industry professionals. Here, FreeFORM’s Nate Higgins, Chris Aiello, Eric Wonderling and Meghan Kephart explore what has held Binder Jetting back until now, and how they intend to overcome these barriers.
Binder Jetting (BJT) is not a new technology – this is no secret to anyone remotely familiar with Additive Manufacturing. Developed in 1993 at MIT, the technology has had time to mature, but still has not been widely adopted for mass production. Why is that? Great equipment and MIM-grade powder are readily available, and engineers and procurement professionals are tired of paying for tooling. The lack of adoption should be an easy problem to solve, but, for many years, no answer was forthcoming. In early 2020, four individuals with backgrounds in Metal Injection Moulding, Additive Manufacturing, engineering software, and industrial automation saw an opportunity to solve this equation – thus, FreeFORM Technologies was born. Nate Higgins, president of FreeFORM, was previously a MIM process engineer, progressing to plant manager at a leading US MIM operation. Chris Aiello, VP of Business Development, has worked in technical sales and business development at two of North America’s leading MIM
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producers. Andy Reasinger, VP of Engineering, is an expert in automated manufacturing with expertise in custom automated solutions, whilst the fourth co-founder, Eric Wonderling, VP of Quality & Applications brings expertise in quality and engineering services, with a focus on development
tools for mechanical and electrical design, simulation, and manufacturing. From the start, it was clear to us that there was an overwhelming demand for a dedicated service bureau to offer metal Binder Jetting technology. Taking a decade’s worth of ex-
Fig. 1 An ExOne Innovent+ metal Binder Jetting machine at FreeFORM Technologies
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