Printing in 3D

Materials development for 3D printing to meet demands of scientific use

DESY and DMG Digital Enterprises SE cooperate for identifying the ideal materials for 3D-printing and application in miniature accelerators and other accelerating technologies

DESY is testing different novel materials for 3D printing, which are currently being developed by DMG Enterprises, a Hamburg based manufacturer in 3D printing technology. In addition, already existing materials are being tested by DESY researchers, who will share their insights and experiences from working with these materials with the research and development team at DMG for the brand Moiin.

The material properties for the applications at DESY need to reflect ultra-precision demands, as the team at DESY prints miniature capillaries with an inner diameter of about 1 mm and a wall thickness of only 100-200 μm. The capillaries are printed for one of DESY's current projects to accelerate or deflect electron beams with terahertz radiation. An important requirement is the strength of the material and a certain stiffness of the capillary, but also the reduction of absorption losses of the THz rays in the printed material. Another demand towards the material is that it can be used as in an ultra-high vacuum environment.

Up to date the DESY team has worked with plastic Moiin Tech Clear developed by DMG in addition to the materials under development. These materials reflect the demands by scientific users for complex applications. Good results were achieved with the ASIGA MAX UV 3D printer. This material-printer combination was therefore the first to be tested by DESY scientists, where initial tests show promising printing results. “We need reliable materials for extremely detailed structures, which need to withstand extreme conditions – such as ultra-high vacuum, which we need for beam manipulation, radiation generation and diagnostics,” explains François Lemery, DESY-researcher in the accelerator division who is heading the project. He continues: “Max Kellermeier, our Ph.D candidate, has been driving the characterization of the printed samples using laser-based measurement methodology and vector network analyzers to obtain a complete picture of the material properties in the THz range. The results are very promising to further integrate 3D printed plastics for novel future accelerator applications.”
Enhanced materials for 3D printing, developed by this cooperation between DESY and DMG, will not only benefit multiple projects in the scientific field, but can spur innovation in a wide range of applications for 3D printing with high throughput and stringent quality requirements.
DMG Digital Enterprise SE is a manufacturer in the field of additive technology, 3D printing materials and digital production technology. DMG has specific expertise and experience in 3D printing application. The research and development team for the Moiin materials is particularly interested in gaining more insights into how the materials behave in an ultra-high vacuum environment and translating that into even better materials for additive manufacturing.

published

  • 2021/03/17

Press Contact

  • innovation@desy.de