Thanks to a partnership with Loramendi and voxeljet, BMW's Landshut plant is now able to automatically 3D print large sand cores for casting cylinder heads for highly efficient engines. The new process for 3D printing sand cores is an important milestone for voxeljet (NASDAQ: VJET ) as the collaboration expands its partnership with the world's largest automaker and is a new one for BMW. Important milestone for the latter, which is increasingly automating additive manufacturing (AM) operations.
The Antarctic Bear learned that in May 2022, BMW announced the completion of the Industrialization and Digitalization of Additive Manufacturing (IDAM) project to automate the printing, finishing and transportation of metal laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) parts. This latest Industrialization of Core Printing (ICP) project applies a similar approach to 3D printing sand cores used to cast cylinders for the BMW B48 engine.
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△3D printed sand core made using voxeljet technology
Additive manufacturing is the manufacturing method of choice for car manufacturers because of its ability to optimize cylinder head designs, increase engine efficiency and reduce consumption. However, 3D printing sand cores requires various labor-intensive steps, including raw material preparation and recycling before printing as well as drying, removal and cleaning of printed parts after the job is complete. To streamline the process, the partners developed an automated production line equipped with voxeljet's VX1300-X printer and Loramendi's microwave curing.
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△Effective picture of BMW sand core production line
Loramendi and voxeljet started developing the ICP unit in 2019 with ASK Chemicals, which developed a binder that reduces post-processing of sand cores. The line consists of a robotic arm that automatically removes the 3D printed sand cores from the voxeljet machine and transfers them to the curing unit, before moving to Loramendi's microwave curing machine for finishing. With the new setup, the BMW Landshut factory is able to produce thousands of 3D printed sand cores per week.
While this represents another step forward in BMW's automation of the production of metal parts through 3D printing, it also builds on voxeljet's continued success in the automotive sector. Additionally, voxeljet’s U.S. customer, Tooling & Equipment International, has begun using 3D printed sand cores for the mass production of large-format, weight-saving structural components for the Cadillac CELESTIQ, a limited-series luxury car with an estimated price of $300,000 .
Voxeljet's stock price appears to have struggled since its debut due to the small market for the technology. Now that the major automakers are adopting large-scale sand core 3D printing for volume production, it could bounce back, but it could also be bought by Desktop Metal.
According to Antarctic Bear, China's sand mold 3D printing metal casting business has also developed very rapidly in recent years. The traditional foundry industry has been banned or driven away in many places due to pollution and other issues. However, with the addition of sand mold 3D printing technology, it becomes a green industry and is welcomed by the market and the government.
