Direct-Material Jetting Takes Shape for Metal & Ceramic Surgical ToolsDirect-Material Jetting Takes Shape for Metal & Ceramic Surgical Tools

At MD&M West 2025, XJet will highlight NanoParticle Jetting and its potential for new medical device designs as well as sustainable manufacturing.

Daphne Allen, Editor-in-Chief

January 23, 2025

5 Min Read
NanoParticle Jetting for surgical medical devices
A metal tray in printing, with metal material in gray and support material in white.XJet

A manufacturing method for printing metal and ceramic surgical tools will be highlighted at MD&M West 2025. The approach offers an alternative to traditional manufacturing methods such as molding and CNC machining and may offer quality and sustainability benefits.

XJet will showcase its direct material jetting technology called NanoParticle Jetting (NPJ), which uses dispersion ink at the submicron level. The company will be coexhibiting with its partner HS&S Machine Tools and Metrology at Booth #2995 and will display a selection of medical application parts in both stainless steel and ceramic.

“XJet’s technology enables jetting of both build material and support material simultaneously,” Guy Zimmerman, CEO of XJet, tells Design News. “The build material contains metal or ceramic materials that form the metal and ceramic parts printed, and the support material is in a unique formula proprietary to XJet designed to allow geometrical freedom as well as easy and low-labor support removal. Both materials are suspended in a liquid carrier and are packaged in sealed cartridges.” NPJ uses ultra-fine particles with high surface area, which reduces the energy required for sintering, he adds.

Printing entails loading both the build material and the support material cartridges into the system without additional preparation of materials, Zimmerman explains. “Through the ink circulation system, both materials are jetted simultaneously on each layer on-demand with minimal waste, at a layer thickness of 7-10 microns. Once the materials get to the printing tray at the bottom, the carrier liquid is evaporated in a thermal process, leaving the materials on the tray for next steps of support removal and sintering.”

Related:Back to the Grind: It’s Time for the Additive Manufacturing Industry to “Collaborate” and “Do the Hard Work”

NPJ may offer medical device design engineers an alternative to CNC machining, metal injection molding, and other traditional manufacturing methods. “XJet’s high-quality solution for precision not only offers uncompromised part quality compared with traditional methods at lower cost per part and better material properties for short to mid-run jobs but also offers new design possibilities that both traditional methods and other common AM methods cannot achieve,” says Zimmerman.

For example, NPJ can be used to produce surgical forceps in one piece (see the below image). “Previously, stainless-steel forceps parts were made in two pieces and later on assembled,” says Zimmerman. “With XJet’s solution, with its soluble support removal capability, the part is now made in one piece, with no compromise on part quality and resolution.”

Pre-Assembled_Surgical_Foreceps_made_by_XJet_Solution[62].jpg

The method can also be used for stainless-steel tubing. Referring to the below image, Zimmerman explains that “the curly geometry was previously made in traditional methods, yet it can only be produced at higher quantity and minimal flexibility in geometrical update. It is also not previously achievable via other common AM technologies, given the curly geometry and inner cavities.

XJet-metal-tubing.jpg

“These capabilities have opened doors for product designers in the medical field to create novel geometries that were previously impossible either in the geometrical feasibility, or in terms of industrial production feasibility, unleashing new competitive edge for medical players who would like to be head of the market,” he adds.

NPJ may also help medical device manufacturers meet biocompatible and traceability requirements. “We ensure biocompatibility through carefully engineered ink formulations designed to eliminate harmful contaminants,” says Zimmerman. “Our precise NPJ and sintering processes produce dense, uniform parts with minimal porosity, reducing leaching and contamination risks. Full traceability is maintained across the workflow—from raw materials to final inspection—ensuring compliance with medical safety standards.”

When asked why dispersions would be better than using powders, Zimmerman offered the following quality, efficiency, and sustainability benefits:

  1. "Quality enhancement: 

    1. Dispersions allow for much finer particle sizes and better particle distribution compared to powder-based systems.

    2. They enable more uniform material deposition and better control over the printing process.

    3. They enable lower sintering temperature for optimal part quality.

    4. They may offer better printing quality, resulting in higher density parts (>97% depending on the material) with better surface finish.

  2. "Material efficiency and sustainability benefits: Hazard-free process: No direct exposure to powder, no need of post-job powder collection, and therefore no need of extensive protection gears (goggles or protection uniforms)."

Zimmerman shares some additional sustainable manufacturing benefits:

  • "Material efficiency: Unlike CNC machining, which can waste up to 50% of raw materials, XJet's system uses almost exactly the amount of build material needed for the desired item. Additionally, while most additive manufacturing technologies require support structures, XJet's unique approach uses water-soluble support materials that can be dissolved, and is also used “on-demand,” further reducing material waste. 

  • "Unlike LPBF systems, XJet’s technology is only putting down on the build tray the amounts of materials needed for the manufacturing of the parts. There is no full tray 'cake' at the end of the job. 

  • "Manpower and operational efficiency: The production cycle with XJet’s solution is much shorter, which requires only printing-washing (support removal)-sintering (metal process requires debinding, too). Plus, with XJet’s SMART support removal station, the whole process is fully automated with minimal manual intervention, bringing cost on manpower down. The low sintering temperature also reduces energy consumption.

  • "Non-hazardous and safe environment: Unlike competitors' systems that require operators to wear protective suits and masks due to toxic powder inhalation risks, XJet's materials are suspended in liquid and stored in sealed bottles, completely free of toxins. The system eliminates the need for respiratory protective gear, special uniforms, and complex filtering or sieving systems, resulting in a clean, risk-free manufacturing environment for operators.

  • We also enable a non-acid environment for the support removal station, where the waste-water discharge can be released without additional process, ensuring maximum compliance to local environmental requirements."

Visit MD&M West booth #2995 to learn more.

We are exhibiting with applications that serve not only to disrupt visitor’s imagination in the possibility of geometries in the precision world, but also to showcase the true industrial manufacturing capability for precision parts, which were mostly for low-quantity prototyping previously,” says Zimmerman. 

XJet is certified for both ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 certificates for quality management, Zimmerman says. 

XJet_Ink_Series_Displayed_at_Formnext_2024.jpg

About the Author

Daphne Allen

Editor-in-Chief, Design News

Daphne Allen is editor-in-chief of Design News. She previously served as editor-in-chief of MD+DI and of Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News and also served as an editor for Packaging Digest. Daphne has covered design, manufacturing, materials, packaging, labeling, and regulatory issues for more than 20 years. She has also presented on these topics in several webinars and conferences, most recently discussing design and engineering trends at MD&M West 2024 and leading an Industry ShopTalk discussion during the show on artificial intelligence. She will be moderating the upcoming webinar, Best Practices in Medical Device Engineering and will be leading an Automation Tour at Advanced Manufacturing Minneapolis. She will also be attending DesignCon and MD&M West 2025.

Daphne has previously participated in meetings of the IoPP Medical Device Packaging Technical Committee and served as a judge in awards programs held by The Tube Council and the Healthcare Compliance Packaging Council. She also received the Bert Moore Excellence in Journalism Award in the AIM Awards in 2012.

Follow Daphne on X at @daphneallen and reach her at [email protected].

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