XJet has added 17-4PH stainless steel to its materials portfolio for metal and ceramic additive manufacturing. The new material offers high hardness and tensile strength, and will help XJet expand its industrial applications in various sectors including medical devices and surgical instruments, aerospace and defense, oil and gas filtration, and high-precision tooling and manufacturing.
 
The 17-4PH solution promises a rapid production process with a new soluble support material, based on XJet’s proprietary NanoParticle Jetting (NPJ) technology. The new support material maximizes the freedom of design and shortens the automated end-to-end manufacturing process of metal 3D parts, while further improving NPJ’s surface roughness and accuracy.

“17-4PH enables us to effectively collaborate with industry leaders to produce end-use parts at unique designs, quality and speeds that their respective industries will not have seen before,” XJet Chief Business Officer Andy Middleton said. “By increasing our customers’ potential, we aim to reshape the way each industry approaches the manufacturing of complex pieces.”
 
With XJet’s rapid three-step-process: print-wash-sinter, and the accuracy and smooth surfaces delivered by XJet NPJ technology, post-processing requirements are a minimum, shortening the manufacturing lead time to just weeks.
 
“The time and labor savings gained with XJet technology cannot be understated,” Middleton asserted. “And that’s due to the minimal post-processing requirement. With the new solution for 17-4PH, support materials can be removed in down to six hours – a stark contrast to other AM processes.”
 
XJet 17-4PH stainless steel’s material properties—high tensile strength, hardness, fatigue resistance, and corrosion resistance—in combination with accuracy to 50 microns with NPJ technology will unlock new possibilities for innovation and drive new applications, XJet executives claim.

“Another radical advantage of XJet’s new offer is its ability to create complex inner cavities that no other technology, additive or otherwise, can achieve,” Middleton added. “This innovation enables pre-assembly—particularly useful for a lot of medical device applications—and offers true design freedom.”
 
XJet provides high-definition end-to-end additive manufacturing solutions that empower companies to create products in metal and ceramic. The company is based in Israel.