A Fully Integrated Metal AM Solution Unlike Any Other
Velo3D has developed a fully integrated manufacturing solution comprised of software, hardware, & an intelligent underlying manufacturing process allowing engineers to build mission-critical parts.
Fully Integrated Software and Hardware Solution for Unprecedented, Production-Ready Results
The Velo3D metal AM solution unlocks design freedom for innovative parts. It consists of Flow print preparation software, the Sapphire family of metal 3D printers, Assure real-time quality validation and control software, and is enabled by our Intelligent Fusion underlying manufacturing process.
Flow Software
Flow print preparation software is responsible for prescribing the manufacturing process for the Sapphire family of metal 3D printers.
The software’s controlled parameters eliminate the need to develop new part-specific parameters sets—saving months of development time and reducing the need for specialized technicians.
Native CAD Support for a Simpler Workflow
With Flow, you can easily import native CAD models without converting them to labor-intensive STL mesh file formats. This creates greater process control and leads to more consistent outcomes. Flow also enables easy manipulation of the part file to support, orient, layout, and add labels and serial numbers to the part.
Controlled Parameters for Consistent Properties
With its preloaded controlled parameter sets, Flow enables users to accurately print many of the most aggressive engineering designs without the need for feature-based parameter development. Flow provides greater control and helps users achieve their target material properties by assigning different core instructions to parts within the same build.
Faster Processing for Multi-Part Prints
Flow enables a faster method to calculate build times for builds of different part quantity. After a part has been prepared for print, users can vary the quantity of that part and see updated build times
to better understand the economics of scaled production.
Create a Velo3D “Golden” Print File
Leverage a digital inventory where qualified parts have a persistent, unmodifiable, secure, digital print file (or “Golden” print file) that can be transmitted to a Velo3D-enabled global print facility and recreated to match original specifications.
Inspector
No matter how you slice it, Flow’s Inspector gives you a deep understanding of the process before a print starts. This provides a powerful tool to review laser sequencing and parameter assignment. See exactly how Flow’s parameter sets are being applied to your part with detailed information on parameters and laser sequencing.
Native CAD Support
Consistent Properties
Faster Processing
“Golden” Print File
Sapphire Printers
State-of-the-Art 3D Metal Printers
Our next-generation Velo3D Sapphire family of printers all use the same software, run the same process, and use the same materials ensuring repeatable consistency across the fleet. Engineered to meet your design, performance, and quality requirements, our printers continually monitor and control the build layer-by-layer for predicable and efficient production. The outcome results in complex part geometries for real-world applications.
Unlike conventional AM printers, the Sapphire printers utilize a proprietary protrusion tolerant non-contact recoater that almost eliminates the risk of part collisions, dramatically improving yields and facilitating a printing process enabling lower angles and overhangs down to zero degrees, thin leak tight walls, large diameter and extremely small inner tubes, with little or no supports.
Features
Laser and Optics Fidelity
Run-time and one-click optics calibrations
Self-cleaning laser windows
Powder Bed Uniformity
Non-contact recoater
Per-layer 3D powder bed height mapping
Full-height printing without interruption for powder addition or filter changes
Environmental Control
Sub-10 ppm O2 during normal operation
Active humidity monitoring
Ambient temperature and pressure operation
Highly regulated chamber gas flows
High efficiency spatter removal
Sapphire & Sapphire 1MZ Printers
315mm Ø x 400mm z
315mm Ø x 1000mm z
Sapphire XC & Sapphire XC 1MZ Printers
600mm Ø x 550mm z
600mm Ø x 1000mm z
Velo3D’s Non-Contact Recoater
Velo3D’s proprietary non-contact recoater allows for the creation of complex, intricate designs while reducing defects and build failures.
Assure Software
Quality assurance is essential, and it’s never been easier.
Pre-print Calibrations
Assure displays Sapphire’s automated calibration results that ensure consistent geometric accuracy, surface finish, and validated material properties year-toyear and system-to-system. These in-situ calibrations can be run directly by the user from the printer control screen with no added equipment in a runtime environment. Results of these routines are displayed on Assure and archived for the life of the system for future reference. The main checks composing the Tool Health Checklist (THCL) include: powder bed qualification, focus calibration, laser alignment, thermal sensor alignment, and beam stability.
Multi-Laser Alignment
Pre-build, in-situ alignment ensures high quality overlay between lasers. This fully automated calibration routine runs without additional equipment and validates alignment at multiple locations on the build plate. Additional run-time checks quickly validate alignment every layer making on the fly adjustments if necessary. This improves surface finish by removing part stitch lines and helps to eliminate overlay porosity due to mismatch.
Process Monitoring
During the process, Assure tracks a layer-by-layer validation of atmosphere, consumables, and powder bed health to enable part quality. Throughout the print, factors like oxygen and humidity are tracked to verify that material properties stay consistent. By monitoring consumable indicators, like filter life and powder levels, Assure helps to prevent unexpected interrupts. Lastly, the system continually monitors for part protrusions that can occur due to excessive stress or build set up issues.
Height Mapper
Integration with Grafana
Pre-Print Calibrations
Multi-Laser Alignment
Process Monitoring
Intelligent Fusion
Underlying Manufacturing Process
Design Freedom
Intelligent Fusion is the catalyst to the unique printing capabilities of the fully integrated metal AM solution. Specialized processes (recipes) were designed to minimize thermo-mechanical distortions and ensure high-quality surfaces at build angles as low as zero degrees. It is built into all Sapphire printers.
Geometry-Based Detection
Intelligent Fusion is the key enabler for printing lower angles, thinner walls, and high aspect ratios. This process control is so precise, the need to design-in support structures is greatly reduced and often eliminated.
Highly intelligent and sophisticated software uses geometric feature detection to apply the optimal physical processes to the appropriate features. To be able to do that, each geometric model is decomposed into various distinct geometric features and the appropriate optimal process is then applied automatically.
Additionally, the geometric feature detection algorithms use information from multiple layers, leveraging information from previous layers to define the print strategy for the next layer.
Monitoring the Build Process
To achieve consistent material properties across a printed part and reduce print variability from build-to-build, the Velo3D system ensures that every relevant build parameter is monitored throughout the build process.
Natural process instabilities caused by minute hardware and powder variations can cause the process to drift outside the acceptable range, thereby affecting the final part outcome. To achieve consistent material properties across a printed part and reduce print variability from build to build, the Velo3D system ensures that every relevant build parameter is monitored throughout the build process.
Design Freedom
Geometry-Based Detection
Monitoring the Build Process
Materials
The Sapphire family of printers are capable of printing a variety of metals depending on the need and use case. This flexibility gives engineers more options and configurations to achieve their goals.
Aheadd® CP1
Aheadd CP1 is Constellium’s new high-performance Aluminum-Iron-Zirconium powder, designed for laser powder bed fusion. Aheadd CP1 brings high strength & ductility, excellent thermal & electrical conductivity, high productivity LPBF processing, and simplified post-processing.
Aluminum F357
Foundry-grade beryllium free aluminum-silicon alloy. It has excellent weldability and is heat treatable to T5, T6 and T7. This alloy is a lightweight, corrosion resistant, and highly dynamic load-bearing material.
Ideal for heat transfer in the defense & automotive industries.
Copper C18150
C18150 is a 98.85% copper, 1% chromium, and 0.15% zirconium alloy used in the creation of rocket engines. While the alloy has traditionally been used for spot and seam, welding cold and hot rolled steels, coated materials, current-carrying shafts and arms, back-up bars for both resistance and arc welding, and electrical current carrying structural parts, C18150 is significantly stronger than pure copper and the addition of zirconium to chromium copper improves creep resistance at high operating temperatures making it ideal for use in rocket combustion chambers.
forAM® Haynes® 282®
A wrought, gamma-prime strengthened superalloy developed for high temperature structural applications, especially those in aero and industrial gas turbine engines. It possesses a unique combination of creep strength, thermal stability, weldability, and fabricability not found in currently available commercial alloys.
Ideal for high temperature applications such as gas turbine & power/process industry parts.
GRCop-42
Copper/chromium/niobium alloy developed by NASA to additively manufacture parts in need of high-strength dispersion & high conductivity. It retains strength at high temperature, due to the use of chromium and niobium in the alloy, has excellent creep resistance, and a low cycle fatigue life. Velo3D has developed processes that maintains high density in the printed part.
Valuable for rocket engine components such as fuel injector faces & combustion chamber linings with regenerative cooling.
Hastelloy® C22
An alloy containing chromium, molybdenum, tungsten, and iron, making the alloy resistant to seawater corrosion with excellent weldability. Resistant to both uniform and localized corrosion and a variety of mixed industrial chemicals. Superior pitting, crevice attack, and stress corrosion cracking.
Used in corrosive environments with high chloride & high temperature conditions, such as flue-gas scrubbers, nuclear fuel reprocessing, sour gas handling, & pesticide production.
Hastelloy® X
A nickel chromium-ion-molybdenum alloy that possesses excellent forming and welding characteristics. It is easy to fabricate with localized corrosion resistance and oxidation resistance up to 2200 Deg. Fahrenheit (1200 Deg. Celsius).
Used in high temperature & corrosive atmosphere applications. Commonly used in gas turbines, energy generation applications such as transition duct, combustor cans, afterburners, & spray bars.
Haynes® 214
Intended principally for use at temperatures of 1750°F (955°C) and above, Haynes 214 alloy exhibits resistance to oxidation that exceeds many conventional heat-resistant wrought alloys at these temperatures. This is attributable to the formation of a tightly adherent Al2O3-type protective oxide scale. This oxide scale also makes Haynes 214 ideal for use in high temperature oxygen environments found in some rocket engines in the pre-burner and main combustion sections.
Inconel® 625
A nickel-based superalloy that possesses high strength properties and resistance to elevated temperatures. Shows a remarkable protection against corrosion and oxidation. Its ability to withstand high stress and a wide range of temperatures, both in and out of water, as well as being able to resist corrosion while being exposed to highly acidic environments.
Ideal for nuclear energy & marine applications.
Inconel® 718
A precipitation-hardenable nickel-based alloy known for superb tensile strength under extreme pressure and heat. It has rupture strength at temperatures up to 1290°F (980°C), and is characterized by its superb fatigue, creep and corrosion resistance in extreme environments.
Ideal for applications in gas turbine & power/process industry parts in aerospace, defense, & chemical industries.
M300 Steel
M300 Steel is an ultra-low carbon alloy with very high strength & hardness properties derived from intermetallic compounds rather than carbon content. The material is comprised mainly of nickel, with cobalt, molybdenum, & titanium as secondary intermetallic alloying metals.
Scalmalloy®
Made from scandium, aluminum and magnesium alloy. It is the only AM alloy which substitutes for high strength 7000-series aluminum. Outstanding properties in terms of weldability and low thermal expansion. Well-suited for anodizing processes and offers good corrosion resistance.
Ideal for highly loaded, safety-critical parts exposed to high mechanical stress & which are required to be light weight.
Titanium 6AI-4V
An alpha-beta titanium alloy characterized by its strength-to-mass ratio and corrosion resistance. It is a strong lightweight alloy suitable for highly loaded structures.
Used in jet engines, gas turbines, pressure vessels, & biomechanical components.
“Building reliable propulsion systems at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods is Ursa Major’s core promise, and Velo3D’s 3D printing capabilities make them a crucial partner in scaling production for our commercial and defense customers.”
Jake Bowles, Director of Propulsion Research & Development
“Aheadd CP1 is a fantastic addition to our Additive Manufacturing services and Velo3D’s unparalleled print capabilities coupled with PWR’s brazed fin technology creates a unique performance differentiator for our customers.”
Mark Booker – PWR Technical Project Manager
“Velo3D really delivered on our turbopump, including its 3D-printed rotating impeller, all of which functioned perfectly the very first time at 30,000 rpm, using the first prototype.”
Max Haot – Founder & CEO – Launcher
“The unique abilities of Velo3D’s next generation technologies will allow us to minimize the re-design of our products for additive while also reducing the barriers associated with traditional metal additive systems on the build setup, maintenance, and supply chain scalability.”
“This diffuser was the perfect application for additive. When you implement an AM solution to manufacture this kind of part it takes all the complexity away.”
Rolf Meima – Director of Procurement – Siemens Energy
“Over the past few years, many of our customers have inquired about 3D printing. Velo3D’s ability to create parts without having to design them for additive manufacturing makes it stand out compared to other solutions. Its fully integrated solution is very complimentary to our existing offerings and will allow us to greatly improve the supply chain for our customers.”
Campbell Macpherson – EVP of Advanced Manufacturing
“We often have to make mission-critical metal parts as required in our rocket design. With Velo3D’s scalable additive manufacturing technology, we are able to use a high reliability process for fabricating parts without compromising design.”
Will Drewery – Vice President of Supply Chain – Astra
