Industrial Inkjet for Additive
Manufacturing:
The Future is Now!
Neil Firth, Meteor Inkjet
Ltd
Rapid + TCT, May 2022

The Future is Now!
Inkjet can drive adoption of Additive
Manufacturing
 Happening now through advanced processes such as Binder
and Material Jetting

The Future is Now!
Inkjet is a commercially mature technology
 Meteor Inkjet – what we do
 3D can take advantage of innovations developed for 2D

The Future is Now!
A complete end-to-end solution is available today
 Meteor, with our partners Dyndrite and Xaar, can simplify the path
to production for 3D inkjet printer manufacturers

Inkjet Drives Additive

What is inkjet?
 Inkjet is a precision, drop on demand,
fluid deposition technology

Inkjet Capability
Can jet a wide variety of different fluids
Headline Figures
• Single digit picolitre drop-sizes
• 100kHz printing frequency
• 1200dpi resolution
• 100cP viscosity at jetting
temperatures

Processes - Binder jetting
 Sand binder jet for metal casting
 Sintering of metals and ceramics
 Composite, blended alloys with nano
particles
 Functional, high strength and exotic
materials
Images: FormNext AM Field Guide

Processes - Material jetting
 Waxes and UV cured polymers
 Nano particle metals
 Multi-colour, co-moulding and multi-
materials
 High resolution, less mess, low waste
• Accuracy in the order of microns
Images: FormNext AM Field Guide

Inkjet Suits Additive Manufacturing
3D printing
Rapid prototyping
One-off models
Home use
Additive Manufacture
Highly detailed, functional components
Batch manufacturing
Streamlined processes
Workflow integration
Archivable parts, quality control,
repeatability, certification
Efficiency and sustainability
 Inkjet is industrial technology, so can be costly and complex

The Future is Now!
 Inkjet comprises less than 2% of the global additive manufacturing
space
“Market growth is hindered by low SME manufacturing uptake due to
misconceptions of AM prototyping benefits, coupled with high initial
investment cost vs low R&D budgets and fragmentation resulting in a
lack of standard processes”*
 Inkjet enables innovation in production, driving change
*Source: Grand View Research
 While it is easy to see the potential benefits,
adoption of this technology is complex

Inkjet is commercially mature

Meteor designs and supplies
electronics, software, tools &
services for industrial inkjet systems
Meteor Inkjet

Meteor Products
Electronics
Software
Tools
Services

• Modular, production-ready electronics for scalable implementation
• Solutions for all major industrial inkjet printheads
Meteor Electronics

. . . .
Meteor is a member of the Hybrid Software
Group
. . . .
RIP and workflow software for
flexo and digital printing
electronics software, tools
and services for industrial
inkjet
prepress software for flexo and
digital printers
workflow software for printing
organisations
colour profiling and conversion
software
interactive 3D modelling
software for packaging

Meteor has customers in 44 countries worldwide

Commercial
Print
Ceramic Tiles
Product
Decoration
Textiles Packaging
3D & Additive
Manufacturing
Labels
Signs, Displays
& Decor
Meteor customers operate in a wide
variety of markets

Experts in 2D inkjet
So what?
Commercial maturity
• Reduced risk of adoption
• Faster time to market
• Enables focus on innovation and
IP
3D can take advantage of
innovations developed for 2D

Transferable Technology

Jetting Difficult Materials
 High viscosity
• Ability to optimise for a broad range of high
viscosity materials using waveform
manipulation
• Extreme viscosity jetting
 Nano materials
• Recirculation
 Conductive inks (aqueous inks)
 Wide variation of printheads available

Wave form development for novel
materials in real-time
Measure
 Time of flight
 Drop volume
DropWatcher

High Laydown Technology
 Xaar’s High Laydown Technology
deposits large quantities of fluid in
each pass
• Varnish
• Tactile embellishments
• Braille and warning triangles
• Gloss and adhesive effects on ceramics
 Additive manufacturing
applications benefit from
increased printing productivity and
more robust components
Images: Courtesy of Xaar

Greyscale
 Greyscale is used to control drop formation
• Each pixel can have 1,2 or 4 bits
• Controls the waveform duration

GreyScale - 2D vs 3D
In conventional inkjet printing larger
drops produce a darker visual
appearance
In 3D/AM inkjet printing larger drops
can produce higher mass density

Greyscale Applications – 3D
 Mixing materials
• Meta Additive
 Shell lattice core for binder jetting
• Used in sand casting

Screening and RIP Technologies
 Opportunity to introduce algorithms into the workflow
 Designed to optimise color reproduction and combat mottling and
streaking
 Accurately manipulate the gray-level of each voxel

End to End Solution

The Future is Now!
Meteor, with our partners Dyndrite and
Xaar, help simplify the path to production for
3D inkjet printer manufacturers

End to End 3D Inkjet System
CAD Native
or STL, OBJ
Design (CAD) Build Preparation Printer
Slicer or
toolpath
Meteoryte™ &
Met3D
TIFF slices

The Future is Now!
 Inkjet can drive adoption of advanced Additive
Manufacturing processes
 Inkjet is a commercially mature industrial technology
 Meteor and our partners Dyndrite and Xaar, can radically
simplify the path to production
 Focus on your innovative application and IP, reduce time to
market and minimise risk

enquiries@meteorinkjet.com
+44 34 5844 0012
www.meteorinkjet.com
www.linkedin.com/company/meteor-inkjet
@Meteor_Inkjet