Schunk Group, an international technology company featuring products made of high-tech materials, including sintered metals, has purchased an X1 25Pro large metal binder jetting system from ExOne. The new systems will be used for serial part production of binder jet 3D printed metal parts as a service to the automotive, aerospace, medical and other industries. The printer will be installed at the Schunk Sinter Metals location in Thale, Germany.

“We believe 3D printing is the technology of the future, and we will use our binder jetting system to develop technologies and parts that go beyond what we can provide with traditional sintered metal components,” said Tobias Franz Heusel, Global Account Manager at Schunk.

Schunk plans to integrate its ExOne X1 25pro metal 3D printer into its industrial ecosystem that already includes other methods of 3D printing producing parts with different materials such as copper, stainless steel and low alloyed steel, as well as conventional manufacturing processes such as axial pressing and metal injection molding. “We believe binder jetting offers four primary advantages. In addition to speed and freedom of design, the ability for part production in large volumes with 3D printing and a large selection of materials is fairly unique among 3D printing processes,” Heusel added.

Schunk selected ExOne as its binder jet partner, largely because of the company’s extensive history as the commercial pioneer and market leader in metal binder jetting. Over its history, ExOne has launched more than 10 commercial metal binder jetting systems.

“We are proud to partner with Schunk to provide ExOne binder jet 3D printing services in the European market,” said Eric Bader, Managing Director, ExOne, EMEA. “Schunk’s services will complement our own ExOne Adoption Center (EAC) in Gersthofen, where we will provide benchmarks to customers interested in purchasing machines.”