Oskar Zielinski works in the research & development department at Arcam EBM – a GE Additive company in Gothenburg, Sweden. He is responsible for the maintenance, modification and repair of electron beam melting systems.
He recently put an Arcam Q20plus electron beam machine through its paces and created a statue of GE’s founder, Thomas Edison using Titanium (Ti64). The whole build took 90 hours and stands 387 millimeters tall.
Oskar created 25 pieces and generated different net structures inside each layer to test the capabilities of the machine. All 4,300, 90-micron layers were printed in one go, with only a little support between the outer skins of the slices and nets were all free floating without any supports at all.
The different net structures inside show the amazing filigree work of electron beam melting.
A time lapse showing the statue being printed layer by layer was captured from inside the machine using an Arcam LayerQam that is normally used for defect detection in printed parts.
“I am really happy with the result; this final piece is huge. I keep wondering though what Thomas Edison would have thought if someone would have told him during the 19th century about the technology that exists today,” said Oskar.
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There is an increasing need for electron beam machines in the manufacturing of different parts and components, in order to cater to the different applications in various sectors such as automobiles, aerospace, semiconductors among others.