Posted on 09/04/2014 5:58:40 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Tungsten is an extremely hard, robust rare metal that has the highest melting point of all the elements, at 3422 °C (6192 °F). It also has a density that is 19.3 times that of water and about 1.7 times that of lead, which makes it comparable to uranium and gold. And now, a Philips-owned company is 3D printing it.
Netherlands-based Smit Röntgen, a medical imaging parts manufacturer, has used Direct Metal Laser Sintering to 3D print tungsten parts. The company began researching the potential of 3D printing tungsten as a business opportunity over a decade ago and announced on Monday that it had collaborated with a metal 3D printer manufacturer to successfully produce a number of pure tungsten prototype parts.
“When talking to major players in medical and non-medical fields, it becomes evident that being able to 3D print pure Tungsten parts does attract global attention. By mastering this technique, the possibilities for creating new innovative products and niche markets are endless,” said Pieter Nuijts, Head of Marketing and Sales at Smit Röntgen.
Tungsten has been difficult to use for rapid prototyping because of its remarkable qualities, which make it hard to produce efficiently. Smit Röntgen claim they are now capable of using additive manufacturing to efficiently produce even highly complex or bracing parts out of pure Tungsten.
Check out the pure tungsten grid with 100 micron walls 3D printed by Smit Röntgen and showcased at Additive Manufacturing Asia 2014 in the video below.
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
Who is not a fan of Wolfram?
Naturally occuring alpha emitters. Gotta love that.
Doesn’t this stuff need to be sintered?
wow.
This is cool.
Otherwise I'll have to read the article....
the article says it is.
Thanks for the article.
Ask me again next week when we’ve finished the evaluation matrix...
There may be a revolution in 3D printing, but the web site banner is ridiculous - takes up more than 1/2 the page and doesn’t scroll...
I’ll get to work on fixing that right .... oh, wait...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.