In 2022, the time finally came and Heraeus AMLOY reached another milestone. The first order for large-scale series production arrived in the Customer Services mailbox in the first quarter of 2022. Sennheiser, whose business with consumer electronics products such as headphones, soundbars and voice-optimized hearables is operated by Sonova Holding AG under license from Sennheiser, placed its trust in the former start-up and decided to cooperate with Heraeus AMLOY to manufacture the new IE600 in-ear headphone housings. Since then, the company has been additively manufacturing housings in four-digit quantities every month.
But what do 3D printing, high-performance audio technology and the new class of amorphous alloy materials have in common that makes this application so special? The common path from the first samples through quality standards and validation iterations to the final state-of-the-art manufacturing process in additive series production of the IE600 amorphous metal enclosure. This is an outstanding advance that enables users and manufacturers to overcome the limits of technology, to introduce technology openness into the value chain in a targeted manner, and to realize products that exceed the market's requirements portfolio. But what added value do AMLOY's amorphous alloys deliver for the world-renowned brand's headphone components?
The handcrafted amorphous metal housing with its unique look fits ideally into Sennheiser's audiophile in-ear range and impresses with the sum of its application properties. While the robustness and durability of the amorphous housing stands out due to its mechanical strength, absolute hardness and chemical performance in the area of corrosion resistance, the high wearing comfort due to the low thermal conductivity as well as the optical and haptic surface qualities round off the result to a high-end product. The specific value chain of the 3D-printed series process has also proven that the material expertise of Heraeus AMLOY on the one hand and the innovative technological enthusiasm of Sennheiser on the other can lead to detailed form perfection in scalable high performance with reproducible quality, in a technological manufacturing process that was originally designed for prototypes or smaller product volumes. This shows that additive manufacturing will continue to play a central role in the manufacture of amorphous components whose limits in terms of size, structure and, above all, performance are being redefined by the new, commercially reliable class of materials - the proclaimed goal has therefore been achieved. Sennheiser's high-end sound technology is securely housed in a rugged enclosure that resists all signs of corrosion and wear, leaving the end user to do what matters most: Decades of enjoyment from the product.
Started with Sennheiser, Heraeus AMLOY is heading in the right direction and has received further series orders for additive manufacturing but also for injection molding during the year. Therefore, nothing else stands in the way of Heraeus AMLOY's internal but also global growth.
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