Ceramaret adds XJet ceramic Additive Manufacturing machine
November 28, 2023
XJet, based in Rehovot, Israel, has announced that Ceramaret, a Swiss technical ceramic manufacturer, has acquired an XJet Carmel 1400C Additive Manufacturing. The decision reportedly followed an intensive benchmarking process, that concluded XJet’s NanoParticle Jetting process could produce parts that the team had previously considered impossible.
“XJet technology will provide us with new capabilities, new geometries we can offer our customers, whilst also delivering exceptional time-to-market. Taking seventy-two hours from a new file to a finished part, it’s an extremely fast process,” stated Senad Hasanovic, Ceramaret VP of Innovation. “However, it was the quality and global cost-per-part that really impressed me, demonstrating that this was an industrially competitive solution.”
“We couldn’t ignore XJet’s remarkable capabilities after that process, the applications XJet will open up for Ceramaret are remarkable,” Hasanovic shared. “We saw parts that are beyond the reach of any other production method. In particular, there were parts with internal shapes or channels down to 300 microns in diameter and near 300 mm long, which either cannot be produced in a single piece or cannot be produced in bulk with our existing techniques.”
Since then, Ceramerat has worked with XJet to test an impressive array of thirty different products, consisting of around 300-400 parts. Hasanovic and his team also visited XJet’s Additive Manufacturing Center in Rehovot, Israel, observing the entire production process firsthand.
Hasanovic added, “We scrutinised each of the test parts, polishing them and checking their structural integrity, their porosity, functionality and more. These investigations convinced us that the parts would meet the needs of our customers and add value to the manufacturing services we offer.”
Andy Middleton, XJet Vice President Europe, commented, “Ceramaret is known across numerous industries for its expertise in every aspect of ceramic production, so their decision to embrace XJet’s technology underscores its quality and value.”
“Achieving near-net shape is a proficiency Ceramaret particularly prides itself on – as does XJet. Our technology achieves it through a combination of unique capabilities, from NanoParticle Jetting to our post-processing steps, whether geometries are simple or complex,” Middleton added.
XJet uses nano particles to achieve fine detail and precision. The creation of internal cavities or channels, usually a labour-intensive post-processing tasks (sometimes impossible with other technologies) is made easier with XJet’s proprietary soluble support material that simply dissolves. Hasanovic described XJet post-processing as a “repeatable, stable, industrial-grade process that we feel already familiar with.”
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