By harnessing the scalability of powder binder jetting, voxeljet AG and its partners are bringing additive manufacturing to the next level through the large-scale production of complex sand molds and cores for a leading German automotive manufacturer.

The new technology allows the production of highly complex sand cores at high speed. These sand cores can be used for the casting of critical engine components. When at full speed, the solution is expected to produce one unit per minute.

voxeljet announced an agreement for delivery of up to five VJET X printers in the upcoming two years, with an initial order of two for installation in 2019.

The project could potentially call for voxeljet, as subcontractor to the general contractor of the project, to deliver multiple units in the low double-digit range over a five-year period. This project will utilize sand cores for the casting of a critical engine component.

This will be the first commercialization of voxeljet’s new line of high-speed printers, called VJET X, for the mass-production of complex sand cores. Using its nearly 20 years of research and expertise in precision mechanics, microfluidics and materials science, voxeljet has developed an advanced and more powerful printhead and recoating unit. This next generation print engine significantly reduces the layer time, making VJET X more than ten times faster than previous models.

VJET X is expected to increase flexibility in production and allows the high-speed manufacturing of more complex geometries compared to conventional methods. Possible benefits are improved performance and increased efficiency.

We started nearly 20 years ago as a spin-off from Technical University Munich with a clear vision in mind: to replace conventional manufacturing by constantly pushing technological boundaries. Today I can say that, together with our partners, we believe that we are set to become the world’s first company to deliver a 3D printing solution for automotive serial-production. The 3D printing industry is at an inflection point and this achievement marks a key milestone in our mission. We have been working towards realizing this vision since our initial days in 1999, so this is especially exciting for us.

—Dr. Ingo Ederer, Chief Executive Officer of voxeljet