Gemco offers mixing and drying equipment for Additive Manufacturing powders
May 19, 2023
Mixing and drying equipment developer Gemco, Middlesex, New Jersey, USA, is offering an enhanced range of machinery designed to process engineering-grade metal, ceramic, and polymer powders for specific use in the Additive Manufacturing industry.
“Mixing and drying have a direct correlation to the performance, strength, and durability of 3D metal, ceramic, and plastic-based materials,” explains Gemco’s president and CEO Casey Bickhardt. “Our Additive Manufacturing mixing and drying equipment is a cost-effective and flexible alternative [for] designing and manufacturing 3D metallic, ceramic, and plastic powders for high-value components and critical applications in all the AM powder markets.”
Design aspects unique to AM powders are said to include gas purging and coating, which require an internal filtering system that delivers the carrier to the powder and not to the exhaust system. Vacuum integrity is critical to eliminating contamination ingress into the product.
“While most manufacturers won’t discuss leakage rates, it’s critical,” added Bickhardt. “Our experience as the number one mixer in the pharmaceutical industry and being trusted by the FDA has let us become the leader in blending science and technology. Our unique design facilitates the reaction, homogenising, drying, cooling, and reclamation processes all in one machine. This equipment represents the shortest processing for AM metallic, ceramic, and plastic powder mixing and drying. Reclamation allows for the reuse of expensive, unused portions of the AM powders without the need to purchase additional equipment. Waste is significantly reduced.”
Gemco’s Additive Manufacturing mixing and drying equipment features vacuum drying that allows the process to proceed faster and at lower temperatures. It offers lot sizes ranging from 10-1800 kg with full traceability of the different batches blended. The equipment incorporates stainless steel contact parts with pharma-grade finishes to prevent lot-to-lot contamination.
