As anyone who has any experience with metal 3D Printing they know that printed binder jet parts typically undergo significant shrinkage and distortion during the sintering process which then renders parts unstable and reduces your overall yield. Traditional solutions like fixed ceramic supports do not always prevent distortion and can significantly increase part cost. 

In order to combat this issue, Desktop Metal developed Live SinterTM  that can be used on their Shop and Production systems. Live Sinter is a tool to reduce time consuming process iteration cycles required to reliably achieve tight tolerances on binder jet parts and dramatically reduce or eliminate the cost of supports.

Live SinterTM

• Simulates part behavior during sintering cycles in a furnace using digital models (e.g. STEP, CAD, STL) and a high speed GPU based, multi physics engine with embedded finite element modeling (FEM).
• Predicts sintering outcomes in minutes with high accuracy to identify crack regions and geometry deformation based on user inputted variables, including printing and sintering orientations.
• Generates sinter-ready, printable “negative offset” models through automated distortion compensation that scales and counter warps parts to account for shrinkage, creep strain, and friction drag.

We tested this software out for ourselves on a bike multi-tool that we designed in house, as well as multiple other parts to see how this sets Desktop Metal apart. Below you can see an example of our multi-tool in the software as well as an extended Two Minute Tuesday that goes into detail about the benefits of the software as well as why it’s needed as an add on for traditional Metal Binder Jetting 3D Printing.

Watch the 2 Minute Tuesday below to learn more about Live Sinter

If you’d like to learn more about how Desktop Metal can help your business contact us today!