Thermal Radiation Heating

Orion AM's patent-pending 3D printing process utilizes Thermal Radiation Heating which heats the material (not the air) up to 400°C, fusing the layers together to achieve injection molded strength and density in 3D printed parts.

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A new approach to Additive Manufacturing

Overview

Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) suffers from weak interlayer bonding, delamination and warping because the material cools down after being deposited. Typically 3D printing systems with heated chambers use convection to heat the air which suffers from high heat losses and thermal gradients, thus limiting the heating of the material and thermal stability. Orion AM's process utilizes Thermal Radiation Heating which heats the material to much higher temperatures thus eliminating warping, distortion and delamination.

Benefits

With Thermal Radiation the heat penetrates through the material, allowing the layers to truly fuse together. This results in parts that are more uniform in strength, more dense and stronger. This enables the full strength of the material and the production of end-use parts. The process is also capable of producing hermetically sealed parts, making it suitable for the production of seals, underwater housings and parts for vacuum applications.

Results

Orion's technology resolves the anisotropic nature of FFF 3D printing, even for difficult to print aerospace-grade materials like PEEK and PEI. This results in nearly isotropic properties.

Demonstration of effect of Thermal Radiation Heating On Internal Structure of 3D-Printed PEEK

Fully Bonded Structures

When Thermal Radiation Heating (TRH) is not used, the print lines produce cold joints in between both the lines and the layers, resulting in weaker parts. This is depicted in the upper half of the print shown in the image.

In contrast, when TRH is activated, the internal structures are fully bonded, dense and without voids. This is shown on the bottom half of the print shown in the image

Solid Infill

A computerized tomography (CT) scan of Orion AM's specimens shows an average void content of less than 0.05%, meaning that the internal density of the structures are 99.95% dense, which is comparable to injection molding or CNC machining.