US company Desktop Metal offers arange of additive manufacturing options, according to the company’s vice-president, product, Larry Lyons, who outlines its two basic manufacturing technology families – Studio and Production. The first is intended as a prototyping tool and the second is for final part production. Each works in a different way, through the melting of metal powders, which are formed into the intended product configuration with the aid of a binder material, before that binder is removed and the final geometry is fixed with a bake process. 

However, as the company brings materials from prototyping to manufacturing applications, Lyons says he expects the tool steel material to prove of particular interest to the market, not least the automotive industry…