Fluent Metal, a drop-on-demand metal printing technology, is developing production-grade liquid metal printing to lower the barriers to entry into metal additive manufacturing while providing unparalleled scalability and process tunability. The company is emerging from stealth with an additional $3.2 million in venture capital funding, led by E15 and joined by Pillar VC and industry angels, bringing the total funding to $5.5 million.
Fluent Metal is led by experienced industry professionals from Desktop Metal, Vulcan Forms, and the MIT Media Lab.
Fluent Metal’s Liquid Metal Printing Technology
Fluent Metal’s drop-on-demand approach is compatible with most metals, including refractories, and allows for the creation of parts in a single step, reducing variability. It is energy efficient, requiring less starting material and producing no waste, making it significantly more sustainable than current powder-based metal 3D printers.
“Drop-on-demand technology is an elegant approach to create complex metal components. Whether it’s prototype iterations of an idea or production runs of a single part, Fluent Metal will provide customers with great operational and material flexibility. This freedom will unlock new creativity and problem solving abilities across industries.”
– Peter Schmitt, CEO, Fluent Metal
Existing metal additive manufacturing technology has accepted the significant industrial scale overhead required to operate this equipment safely. Fluent Metal is working on an alternative lean overhead process that will be more sustainable, operationally efficient, and functional, similar to an inkjet printer.
Fluent Metal’s drop-on-demand approach is:
- Functional: Fluent Metal allows for true multi-metal printing by starting with wire and producing no waste. Even high-value metals can be intricately combined, resulting in properties that were previously impossible. The inkjet-like printhead and parallel throughput enable the creation of complex shapes such as fully enclosed voids and internal channels.
- Operationally efficient: Fluent Metal’s approach is intended to operate safely on a typical manufacturing floor or even in a prototyping shop, without the need for clean rooms or costly safety measures. Furthermore, material changeover is designed to be as simple as plug-and-play, reducing setup time and allowing for increased machine uptime.
- Sustainable: This method generates no waste and consumes less energy than powder-based technologies.
“As the manufacturing industry evolves in response to the changing needs of global supply chains and sustainability demands, we need novel approaches to drive creativity and expand our collective conception about what’s possible.”
– Philip Liang, Managing Partner, E15
Liang concluded, “In the near term, Fluent Metal will spark the imagination of designers, engineers, and technologists to consider how rapid, on-demand production of custom metal parts could transform their capabilities. At scale, this approach will revolutionize the entire footprint and direction of industrial manufacturing.”
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