Jul 6, 2018 | By Thomas
Belgian 3D printing company Aerosint annouced it has closed a financing round of €850,000. Historical investors Meusinvest Group and Innovation Fund participated in this second funding round, as well as private investor Peter Mercelis. Mercelis is co-founder of Leuven-based company LayerWise, which focused on metal 3D printing for medical applications and was purchased by 3D Systems in 2014. After his recent investment Peter will also join the Aerosint’s board of directors.
“Peter brings more than 15 years of experience in 3D printing to the project,” said Edouard Moens, Co-Founder and CEO of Aerosint. “We are convinced that his unique expertise and network in 3D printing will open up new doors for the Aerosint technology. Peter has a very strong reputation in the 3D printing industry and we are thrilled to have the chance to work with him.”
Aerosint has invented what it calls the “first multi-material powder bed 3D printing process,” enabling high-performance polymer 3D printing with zero waste and extensive material possibilities. The company says this is the first (and as of now only) multi-powder printing process that can print parts made of different materials by melting powder layers composed of more than one powder.
It works using a new multi-powder dispensing technology, with a dispenser composed of multiple patterning drums (one per powder type) that selectively deposit fine powder voxels line by line. This process produces a sintering-ready powder layer composed of more than one base material, and can pattern at rates of up to 200 mm/s—comparable to today’s SLS recoater travel speeds and more than ten times faster than the upper limit of a theoretical pipette array.
There are bigger advantages to the new Aerosint technology than just combining multiple powders in a single 3D printing process. Besides this useful feature, the technology also produces virtually zero waste: by using an inert support powder, users can eliminate powder degradation that usually occurs when using the same polymer as both object and support material. Consequently, because no degradation of the support powder takes place, all of it can be reused in the next print job.
by Kevin Eckes, Ph.D., R&D Engineer at Aerosint SA
This latest round of funding will be used to strengthen the existing patent portfolio, finance collaborative development projects, and advance the technology further. Aerosint also plans to double its current team of six in the next one to two years to accelerate development and shorten time to market.
“When I first met the Aerosint team I was immediately convinced by their strength as a group and by the cleverness and robustness of their core technology,” said Mercelis. “What they have achieved with a relatively small team in only 2 years of development is quite impressive. Their technology is a true innovation that opens the door to plenty of very unique opportunities in polymer, metal, and ceramics 3D printing and beyond. At the same time the technology is perfectly compatible with many of the existing printing methods. Technical challenges remain but none that can’t be overcome. I believe the next months are going to be very exciting for the company now that their first full sintering prototype is ready.”
“We believe the project has a lot of potential and a clear economic value in a fast growing industry,” said Marc Foidart, Vice General Director of Muesinvest Group. “Peter Mercelis will be an important addition to the board and will help to accelerate Aerosint’s development.”
Posted in 3D Printer Company
Maybe you also like:
- Nano Sun launches Singapore's first 3D printing plant for water filtration membranes
- Singapore's Construction 3D Printing (AM.NUS) Program embarks on 3D printed toilet project
- Man teased on Twitter for how he ate a Kit Kat bar proposes with 3D printed bar
- ClearCaps uses 3D printers to produce 250 dental aligners in 24 hours
- BASF acquires 3D printing material companies, Advanc3D Materials and Setup Performance
- Zero Gravity bioprinter heads to ISS, plans to 3D print cardiac patch for damaged hearts
- ORNL uses plant-based materials for 3D printing
- Cintec uses 3D printing to help complete million-dollar restoration of Red House
3Ders.org provides the latest news about 3D printing technology and 3D printers. We are now seven years old and have around 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
