EOS plans to unveil a new polymer 3D printing platform at Formnext 2026, with the full set of details scheduled for release on 17 November. Ahead of that launch, additive manufacturing service provider Materialise has run the machine under real production conditions and reports 44% higher productivity than on the previous EOS platform, together with a reduction of more than six minutes in build time per part.
Full technical details of the system have not been disclosed ahead of the show. What has been made public is that the platform uses a three-laser architecture with intelligent utilisation and dynamic load balancing, the last of which is described as maximising output per build by equally balancing the exposure workload. The system's increased laser capacity is credited with contributing to the higher productivity.
For the evaluation, Materialise printed a cable twist wheel for its customer GKN Aerospace. The service provider was not only checking whether the machine could produce the part, which it did, but also measuring reliability, the effect of the platform's new features, productivity and efficiency, usability and control, and how straightforward the printed parts were to post-process.
Three lasers and balanced exposure
Giovanni Vleminckx, process engineering manager at Materialise, said the three lasers make a visible difference in performance, and that their intelligent utilisation helps the company achieve considerably higher throughput while maintaining the level of part quality its customers expect. He added that what stood out was not one isolated feature but the overall performance of the system, which he said combines the productivity the service needs with the process stability and control required to bring demanding applications into production.
Process control and powder handling
The platform also offers extended process controls, allowing users to work with validated parameter sets or to open them up when greater control and closer alignment with specific applications and KPIs is required. On the powder side, an advanced roller recoater produces softer powder cakes, which Materialise says makes parts easier to unpack and depowder and reduces handling effort.
Vleminckx described the soft powder cake as a very tangible improvement for the company's operators, adding that easier unpacking and depowdering makes the overall workflow noticeably more efficient.
Measured on a production part
On the cable twist wheel build, Materialise measured a productivity gain of 44% over the previous machine and saw build time per part fall from 19:53 to 13:51 minutes. The company frames the combination of the three-laser architecture, the new roller recoater and open process controls as significant for a manufacturing service with high-throughput requirements that has to adapt to different production applications.
Several points remain open until launch, including the platform's build volume, material portfolio and full hardware specifications. EOS will show the system in person from 17 November at Formnext 2026 at its booth in hall 12, stand D71.