Additive manufacturing company XJet Ltd. has announced today that Italy’s largest additive manufacturing bureau, Beam-IT, has purchased an XJet Carmel1400 AM System.
The system, which uses XJet’s unique proprietary NanoParticle Jetting (NPJ) technology, is the first of its kind in Italy and will be installed before the end of 2018, bringing XJet’s rapidly growing install base to seven countries.
A specialist in metal additive manufacturing since 1997, Beam-IT’s Carmel AM System investment expands its remit from working exclusively with metal parts to supplying technical ceramics too. “Our customers have experienced the numerous benefits AM production brings to metal parts and many of them would love to see that in ceramics too,” explains Beam-IT President, Mauro Antolotti, “XJet’s NPJ technology provides a combination of detail, density and design freedom not previously afforded by other methods of ceramics manufacturing, so it feels like now is the right time for us to make this move.”
“Beam-IT has thrust itself into working with this new emerging technology, as a competitor to traditional casting processes. One of our next joint development programs with an aeronautical customer will be based on this interesting technology when applying metal alloys,” says Gabriele Rizzi, Beam-IT Sales Manager.
NPJ stands apart from other ceramic and metal AM technologies because it uses a liquid dispersion process. This provides unique benefits in mechanical and geometric properties, resulting in better quality parts and greater design freedom. XJet Carmel systems also bring many operational and safety advantages. Operators need only basic skill sets and minimal training.
With ISO 9001 and EN 9100 certifications in automotive, medicine, avionic/aerospace and racing, quality forms a big part of the picture at Beam-IT. “As Italy’s leading AM service bureau, we have partnerships with the most prominent companies in the biomedical, aeronautic, aerospace, racing and industrial sectors, similarly key universities and research institutions. As such, it’s imperative we produce items of the highest quality. After reviewing parts produced using XJet technology we were extremely impressed with levels of precision and detail on the parts. Near-net-shape was another crucial factor as the more time we can take off post-processing the better the process we have, giving our teams confidence to go for more complex and sophisticated parts designed for AM.”
XJet CEO Hanan Gothait comments “We’re delighted to be working with a company of Beam-IT’s heritage. Its extensive customer base means we can expect to see some very interesting applications over the coming months. As the first system to ship to Italy this sale also embodies another significant landmark for XJet, as the country – which represents exciting market potential – is added to our expanding map of installations and distributors.”
