Admatec Europe B.V. is in the process of serious ceramic 3D printing research. Both installing a Lithoz Cerfabb 7500 machine in their Netherlands facility and working on their own line of 3D printers, Admatec is hoping to become a leader in the field. And, after developing their ADMAFLEX machine last year, the company claims that it has significantly improved their prototype with their upgraded ADMAFLEX 2.0 model, of which they’ve already manufactured four machines.
The ADMAFLEX 2.0, Admatec says, increases the machine stability and overall accuracy of their ceramic printing process, creating components with a precision of +/- 0.3% or more and surface finishes with a Ra value of 1 micrometer (μm). With these new improvements, the company is already 3D printing objects for the endoscopy market, which often require short runs in the 15,000 part range that are more economically viable than to produce via injection moulding. For this reason, Admatec believes that ceramics printing is quickly picking up steam, with specific applications in the microreactor and dental markets, as ceramic 3D printing eliminates assembly steps in microreactor production and opens up design possibilities and increasing production speed in the dental field.
Managing Director of ADMATEC, Michiel de Bruijcker, says of the production their four ADMAFLEX 2.0 printers, “Over the past months Admatec pulled off a significant task by completing these printers. I truly believe ADMATEC does have the greatest capacity for printing functional ceramic components in the world. This puts us in a unique position to prove that printing ceramics is a true manufacturing process that will change the way we think about shaping ceramics significantly.”
As I learned in reporting on the recent investment by EOS’s CEO Dr. Hans J. Langer in Lithoz, 3D printing with high-performance ceramics has unique benefits over other materials. Ceramics have high temperature, corrosion, and wear resistance, while having low density and thermal expansion. They also have good conductive and insulating properties and are often biocompatible. As a result, they may be ideal for the electronics and medical fields. The area of high-performance ceramic 3D printing may often be overshadowed by other stories in the industry, but it may be one to pay special attention to in the near future.
