HIP in CZ
If we want to produce really high-quality metal parts for the aerospace industry, for medical purposes or, as I am constantly proclaiming, parts for die casting dies with AM technologies, we should know who to contact with this service. In contrast to commercial heat treatment shops, there is a fundamental lack of commercial HIP plants in the countries of the Visegrad Group V4 (H, CZ, SK, PL). I tried to create a map of the available capacities, but it is very difficult considering that this is a strategic technology and we don’t read much about it on the web. The maps include both commercial HIP plants and in-house capacities.
HIP capacity in US
HIP capacity in Europe
As for CZ, the HIP for research and development is at Technical university in Ostrava, and the first industrial equipment from Quintus will be installed at Vibrom in the near future. In Slovakia, Gevorkyan in Vlkanová is the owner of one industrially used furnace. However, none of these facilities provide, nor will they provide, HIP services as we know them from commercial heat treaters.
The reasons for the current situation are obvious. The first is high investment costs. The second is the reluctance of institutions, both scientific and industrial, to join consortia for joint strategic investment. But it is understandable, the price of a device for HIP with a size that allows processing a 400×400 mm platform from 3D printing is close to €5 million. It is therefore 5 times more than the EOS 400 printer itself.
And so, the result of that effort is that everyone is trying to print so that HIP is not needed. But if I follow what is happening in other countries of Europe or the USA, they have already understood it there, and are adding HIP from the Swedish company Quintus to the 3D printing plants, enabling both HIP technology and post-process heat treatment, thus trying to close the entire production chain needed for AM technology.
If you have suggestions for adding new contact to the HIP provider maps, send me suggestions by email. It is not a problem to change maps. I think it would be good for others too….
December 17, 2022
Jiří Stanislav
