Legor and HP to ‘disrupt luxury jewellery and fashion industries’ with precious metal 3D printing

HP has announced a strategic partnership with metallurgy expert Legor Group SPA to develop precious metals for its metal 3D printing technology aimed at jewellery and fashion applications.

The collaboration makes the Italian precious metals science company the first to produce such specialty materials for HP’s Metal Jet binder jet additive manufacturing technology with a specific focus on these markets.

“Our vision for additive manufacturing goes beyond small series and prototyping,” said Massimo Poliero, President & CEO of Legor Group SPA. “We see a future where every modern business will have one or more of HP’s state-of-the-art binder jetting printers in its facilities, enabled by Legor’s technology, design and support to reduce the time to market for both precious and non-precious metal parts. This strategic partnership with HP is the keystone to accelerate this vision and move the industry toward more sustainable manufacturing.”

The partners are said to be starting with the production of functional stainless steel jewellery and fashion accessories, and will simultaneously be working on R&D at Legor’s 3DMetalHub in Bressanvido to parameterise and characterise bronze and silver powders and ultimately gold.

“Our work with Legor aligns perfectly with HP’s vision to disrupt manufacturing norms, accelerate digital manufacturing and sustainable impact for customers around the world,” said Didier Deltort, President, HP Personalization & 3D Printing. “The combination of our breakthrough Metal Jet 3D printing platform with Legor’s materials expertise and customer-centric approach will disrupt the luxury jewellery and fashion industries. This is an exciting milestone as we prepare to make Metal Jet more broadly available to the market later this year.”

Poliero added, “Producing metal powders and 3D metal objects is part of our DNA and we have always been collaborating with customers in the jewellery and fashion accessories world. The digital capabilities of HP Metal Jet provides an alternative method to the classic investment casting which requires the combustion of waxes or resins and the use of gypsum (calcium sulphate) as casting material, containing free breathable silica. It is our way to promote more robust and intentional sustainability into production processes.”

Building on its polymer Multi Jet Fusion technology, which has seen HP surpass a 100 million 3D printed part milestone, the company first announced its Metal Jet technology back in 2018. Its binder jet metal AM process has been adopted by customers such as Cobra Golf which has used the technology to produce customised equipment, and Volkswagen which has set itself a target of producing 100,000 additively manufactured components at its Wolfsburg facility each year by 2025. Speaking to TCT last year, Ramon Pastor, Global Head of HP’s 3D metals business, said HP’s Metal Jet technology is “on track to launch in 2022.”

HP is planning on showcasing its latest Metal Jet parts at RAPID + TCT in Detroit on May 17-19.

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See the additive manufacturing and 3D printing developments in person by joining us at RAPID + TCT in Detroit on 17-19th May and at TCT 3Sixty in Birmingham, UK on 8-9th June.