On top of being one of Shane’s favorite metal 3D printing technologies, Optomec’s LENS (Laser Engineering Net Shaping) process is one of America’s favourite 3D printing technologies too, it seems. The Albuquerque (NM) metal and electronics industrial manufacturing specialist was selected last February by America Makes, one of the leading US associations for promoting 3D printing and 3D printing education, for two programs to speed the adoption of its technologies. Now it is going to enter an agreement with Technology Education Concepts (TEC) to bring metal 3D printing to universities and technical institutions throughout the United States.
LENS uses a high power laser (500W to 400W) to fuse powdered metals into fully dense 3 dimensional structures in a hermetically sealed chamber with oxygen and moisture levels below 10 parts per million to ensure excellent material properties. Its systems can be used to produce parts or to enhance existing parts produced with conventional methods and work with a wide range of metals, including titanium, stainless steel, nickel, cobalt and other engineering alloys.
“We are very excited by our new partnership with TEC, a company passionate about providing secondary and post-secondary schools with 3D solutions used to teach today’s young people about the fields of engineering, design, manufacturing and architecture”, said Ken Vartanian, Marketing Vice President at Optomec. “Our partnership will help accelerate the creation of a new generation of engineers and technicians trained in production grade additive manufacturing technology and ready to assume roles in industry.”
The partnership with TEC will also include Optomec’s Aerosol Jet Systems, one of the most amazing commercial technologies around. It is used to directly print functional electronic circuitry and components onto 2D and 3D substrates, without the need for masks, screens or plating. The system uses an “aerodynamic focusing technique” to collimate a dense mist of metal nano-particle inks and other electronic materials into a tightly controlled beam to print feature as small as 10 microns or as large as several millimeters in a single pass.
“TEC’s longstanding philosophy has been to bring quality commercial and advanced technologies to the academic marketplace in order to enable institutions and their students to contribute to tomorrow’s high manufacturing demands,” Richard Amarosa, President and Founder of TEC, Inc., stated. “Optomec Additive Manufacturing Systems – he added – are at the forefront of important advancements for Advanced Manufacturing in our future. TEC feels that this technology is a ‘must have’ for institutions focused on creating a highly knowledgeable engineering workforce for the next ‘Industrial Manufacturing Revolution.’ These are exciting times in manufacturing, and we look forward to including Optomec in our Science and Engineering Manufacturing Solutions product line.”
The video below shows the LENS process:
