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.
© РИА Томск. Павел Стефанский
"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.