Presentations from Rapid.Tech 3D

There's no such thing as can't

Additive (series) manufacturing requires customized materials

Additive manufacturing offers enormous potential for industrial applications by significantly increasing design freedom. To fully exploit these degrees of freedom, it is necessary to qualify new materials for additive manufacturing in order to meet market demands. PROTIQ focuses on the development of innovative materials that are considered "unprocessable" in industry.

For example, PROTIQ early succeeded in developing a unique process with which copper can be additively processed. Since copper reflects the radiation of conventional laser melting systems to a large extent, alloys with low conductivity are often used. With its innovative copper alloy, PROTIQ was the first supplier to be able to produce inductors of the highest quality, for example. On this basis, the process was continuously optimized. Thus, PROTIQ can now also process 100% pure copper in 3D printing.

The material zinc opens up another interesting area of application. Components made of the zinc alloy Zamak 5 are widely used as an established standard material for zinc die casting. PROTIQ is the first supplier worldwide to have succeeded in developing a process for additive processing of the series material Zamak 5, which overcomes the high time and cost requirements typical of zinc die casting. Prototypes and small series are thus produced at a comparatively low component price.

> More information about copper in 3D printing

> More about additively manufactured inductors
> More information about zinc in 3D printing

> News article about zinc

Lasts 4.0

Design and additive manufacturing of lasts for custom orthopedic footwear

Custom orthopedic shoes usually take several weeks to make. A decisive time factor here is the individual production of the lasts that are used to manufacture the shoes. This lengthy process can be shortened enormously with the help of additive manufacturing. Particularly in the orthopedic area, the optimized fit is another advantage.

PROTIQ uses selective laser sintering (SLS) as the 3D printing process for manufacturing the resistant plastic objects. The free last configurator enables the creation of individual 3D last models and integrates modeling directly into the ordering process.

> To the last configurator
> More about 3D printing in orthopedic footwear technology
> More about the SLS process
> Video of the configurator
> To the website of trinckle