Hirtenberger Engineered Surfaces and CADS Additive start digital innovation partnership for metallic 3D-printing. Companies plan solutions for Hirtisation®-specific data preparation for the metallic powder bed process.
Hirtenberger Engineered Surfaces (HES), the leading specialist for the chemical/electro-chemical post-processing for the de-supporting and levelling of additively-manufactured metallic components and CADS Additive, specialising in the development of support geometry algorithms and path generation (slicing/hatching) libraries for additive manufacturing, combine their know-how for the purpose of process optimisation for metallic additive manufacturing.
During the course of the cooperation, both companies want to optimise and coordinate the essential cornerstones for the purposes of manufacturing orientation, support geometry and path generation for large-scale, industrially-efficient usage. CADS Additive offers the in-house algorithms for the definition of innovative support geometries and path optimisation which fulfils the highest standards in manufacturing precision and cycle time. The “Hirtisation®” electrochemical de-supporting method that was developed by HES has been integrated as a design rule into the data preparation and is supposed to substantially increase the precision of the a-priori path generation and manufacturing planning.
Working jointly, CADS Additive and HES will raise the industrialisation of the Hirtisation® process to a new level. In addition, it is also being envisaged to develop a process-specific data preparation software which enables the customer to have a complete preparation process – including Hirtisation® – for established AM machine models in a joint software solution.
“Through the combining of our exceedingly high-performing services for the generation of complex support geometry and laser path data – Additive.Support and Additive.Core – with the process-relevant know-how and design rules of Hirtisation®, we will obtain the possibility of raising this cutting-edge technology to a new level with regards to first-time right and productivity”, stated Wolfgang Höller, CEO of CADS Additive GmbH.
“The cooperation with CADS Additive will enable us to sustainably integrate our Hirtisation® post-processing approach into the process chain of additive manufacturing and to decisively implement large-scale industrial usage.”
Wolfgang Hansal, Managing Director, Hirtenberger Engineered Surfaces GmbH
For the first time, we will be able to coordinate the entire process chain – additive design and printing, handling and Hirtisation® – from the component planning stage and also be able to optimise it with regards to time- and cost-efficiency considerations.
About Hirtenberger Engineered Surfaces
Hirtenberger Engineered Surfaces is a process provider and technical partner in the electro-chemical surface technology for innovative functional metallic surfaces. The products offered are firstly multi-functional shift systems based upon pulse plating as well as secondly processes and modules for the surface processing of 3D-printed metallic components. The Hirtisation® technology that has been newly developed for this purpose represents a top-performance tool for the post-processing of additively-manufactured components: Completely without utilising mechanical processing steps, sintered particles and support structures are removed and surfaces are smoothed.
A fully-autonomous finishing module for Hirtisation® of 3D-printed metallic components generates high efficiency for the process sequence. In recent years, Hirtenberger Engineered Surfaces has become one of the most important providers for industrial post-treatment of 3D-printed metallic components in Europe. Hirtisation® is suitable for all standard 3D-printed metals and alloys.