Tethon Corp. has received a grant from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development to pursue the design and production of a ceramic and metal 3-D printer. This 3-D printer will be the first commercially available desktop DLP printer designed specifically for ceramic and metal additive manufacturing (AM), the company states.
This academic R&D grant supports Tethon 3D in partnership with the University of Nebraska. Tethon 3D will collaborate with engineers Bai Cui, PhD, and Prahalada Rao, PhD, from the University of Nebraska’s Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering. Cui is an expert in ceramic materials for AM and Rao is an expert in 3-D printing hardware.
“While there are more than a dozen SLA [stereolithography] and DLP [digital light processing] 3-D printers that work well and are compatible with our UV curable ceramic and metal materials, they are all designed for plastic polymers,” says Tethon 3D CEO Karen Linder. “By optimizing a DLP printer for ceramics and metals and formulating our materials specifically for this enhanced printer, the industry can produce stronger and higher-resolution ceramic and metal 3-D-printed parts with the convenience and lower expenses of desktop DLP technology.”
