TOMSK, May 17 – RIA Tomsk. Tomsk engineers developed the first domestic 3D-printer, which can "mold" products from metal wire, the chairman of the board of directors of the TETA company Grigory Semenov told reporters on Wednesday. The RSC Energiya became interested in the printer, the adviser to the president of the corporation Alexander Chernyavsky specified.
The presentation of the printer to the representatives of Energiya Rocket and Space Corporation was held on Wednesday within the framework of the IV Forum of Young Scientists U-NOVUS, which takes place in Tomsk on May 17-19.
"We made (a printer for the printing metal – Ed.) as a hobby, we don't sell to anybody yet. But as we get the results that suit us, we will promote the product. <...> The installation is designed to make details that are not necessary in mass quantities. They can be made from refractory materials – tantalum, titanium", – said Semenov.
The head of the company specified that Tomsk citizens developed the first domestic printer, which will produce elements not from powders, but from metal wire. At the same time there will be used not the laser printing, but electron beam technology. Such a printer is more productive, and the resulting products seem to be cast, without porosity, reducing their durability, but are less precise.
"Now we receive a semi-finished product that requires additional processing. In the future, I hope, we will live to see that the finished parts will be ready. The consumer of such products is space, aviation industries: they need thin-walled details, where 90% of the material leaves during processing, and it turns out that processing by cutting is very expensive. In time, we hope, we will conquer a mass consumer – automotive industry, household products", – he added.As in his turn Chernyavsky told reporters, RSC representatives believe that the new printer will allow to print elements of rocket engines and heat exchangers. Now it can print details up to 3 cubic meters. More precise prospects of using the equipment will be clear after its testing. "No later than the next year, the test (of the printer) should end", – the representative of RSC Energia added.
According to the regional administration, along with the specialists of the TETA company, scientists of the Institute of Strength Physics and Materials Science of the SB RAS and Tomsk Polytechnic University participated in the development of the printer and technologies for its application.