Aurora locks down Aussie 3D printing patent

ASX-listed 3D metal printing group, Aurora Labs has locked down an Australian patent for a key part of its Multi-Layer Concurrent Printing, or “MCP” technology as it looks to progress its flagship RMP-1 printer technology to commercial readiness. The patent adds to the two the Perth-based company has already secured in China and Japan. MCP patent applications in other jurisdictions including the US and Europe are at various stages of the approvals process.

Aurora Labs Chief Executive, Peter Snowsill said: “It’s particularly rewarding to have Aurora’s ability to innovate endorsed at home. Intellectual property is central to our future commercial success and provides a secure platform for our continued development.”

The MCP patent in Australia coincides with Aurora Labs’ launch of an internal intellectual property project designed to tease out the commercialisation potential of individual elements of its IP associated with the company’s full suite of technologies under development, not just MCP.

According to management, the development and implementation of a range of software, hardware and printing process features, together with MCP, have the potential to contribute in their own right or collectively to an improvement in printing reliability, accuracy and productivity and a reduction in the cost of printed parts.

As part of its commercialisation strategy Aurora Labs has been forming strategic partnerships under joint venture or licensing models or with major industry players who have the capacity to manufacture, sell and distribute the printer.

Aurora Labs has already set up partnerships with Granges AB, a Sweden-based leading supplier of rolled aluminium products for heat exchanger applications and engineering, procurement and construction firm Worley’s consulting division, Advisian Digital.

Granges and Aurora Labs are involved in a research project investigating the material properties they can develop using their combined expertise in aluminium alloys and additive manufacturing, with an emphasis on alloys for the automotive sector.

The Advisian tie-up, known as AdditiveNow, has been combining the two companies’ engineering and additive manufacturing expertise to produce complex 3D printed parts for the energy, chemicals and resources industries.

Aurora Labs’ 3D printing technology effectively “prints” or manufactures metal items from multiple layers of metal powders fused together in a single pass, rather than printing layer upon layer as per other additive manufacturing processes.

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