EOS, Hyperganic Partnership to Elevate Space Components

EOS is entering a partnership with Hyperganic, a global technology software company, to advance the field of space propulsion.

For centuries, humans used drawing boards to translate ideas onto paper before CAD systems changed the game. Yet, even small design changes can still require laborious remodeling work. Because every iteration costs time and money, CAD-based approaches compel engineers to design conservatively instead of pushing the limits, the companies say.

At the same time, freedom of design is one of additive manufacturing’s (AM) guiding principles, enabling part structures and applications that were impossible to manufacture using traditional production processes. The partnership between EOS and Hyperganic now takes this approach to the next level.  

“We are now partnering with Hyperganic to introduce another paradigm shift in AM. It is a design shift that expands solution spaces as well as performance levels,” says Dr. Hans J. Langer, EOS founder and an AM creative. “At the same time, it will revolutionize the design process for AM, making AM a truly digital workflow from software-generated algorithmic engineering to digital manufacturing.”

The company says a radical example is the aerospike rocket engine designed by Hyperganic and manufactured by EOS and AMCM (an EOS Group company). The aerospike engine, classically considered a tremendous engineering and manufacturing challenge, was built from the ground up using an algorithmic model by Hyperganic. One of the hundreds of designs produced by Hyperganic in just days was printed on the EOS M 400-4. The complex part was printed with no supports using the EOS NickelAlloy IN718 process.

Consequently, the aerospike engine was automatically reengineered for  production on a substantially larger AMCM M 4K from AMCM in EOS CopperAlloy CuCrZr. The combination of this design complexity with the capability to print in this size in a reliable manner is intended to drive the next innovations in space propulsion.