SINTERING POWDER METAL NEWS

Specialty Alloys Firm Enhances AM Capabilities with Powder Lifecycle Technology Acquisition

A Pennsylvania producer and distributor of premium specialty alloys recently announced it has acquired a leader in the development and supply of advanced metal powders and powder lifecycle management solutions.

Carpenter Technology Corporation, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, broadens its role as a leader in solutions provider in additive manufacturing with the approximately $81 million purchase of LPW Technology Ltd (LPW), based in Widnes, Chesire, United Kingdom, with additional processing operations near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The acquisition incorporates metal powder lifecycle management technology with quality control and traceability.

Tony R. Thene, Carpenter’s president and CEO

Carpenter’s alloy production includes titanium alloys, nickel- and cobalt-based superalloys, stainless steels, alloy steels, and tool steels and is used in applications within the aerospace, transportation, medical, and energy sectors.

“Our aggressive development in key aspects of Additive Manufacturing (AM) demonstrates our commitment to build on our industry-leading position in this space,” said Tony R. Thene, Carpenter’s president and CEO. “The acquisition combines LPW’s metal powder lifecycle management technology and processes with our technical expertise in producing highly engineered metal powders and additively manufactured components.”

Phil Carroll, LPW’s founder

Lifecycle management technology is becoming increasingly important to understanding how materials behave before, during, and after production in the powder-bed fusion process.  Understanding powder behavior is critical as AM becomes more widely adopted and implemented across various industries.

“LPW’s innovative platforms and enabling technology further solidify Carpenter’s position as a preferred provider of end-to-end next generation Additive Manufacturing solutions,” said Phil Carroll, LPW’s founder. “I’m extremely proud of the accomplishments we’ve achieved at LPW and I’m excited to be part of Carpenter’s continued growth and leadership in AM.”

 

Photo credit: Additive Manufacturing Magazine

 

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Industrial-Scale Metal Alloy Powder Plant Launched in U.K.

A U.K.-headquartered company with a solid-state alloy powder technology recently announced its launch of the world’s first industrial-scale metal alloy powder production facility based on the company’s process.

Metalysis will produce valuable alloy powders at the new plant, located in the company’s Materials Manufacturing Centre in Wath upon Dearne, South Yorkshire, U.K.

The Generation 4 (“Gen4”) project was mechanically completed on time in Q4 2017. It has since undergone hot commissioning, trial runs, optimization and handover to Operations, signaling Metalysis’ transition into commercial production following more than a decade of phased technology development.

Dr. Dion Vaughan, Chief Executive Officer, Metalysis

Gen4 is the first facility to take Metalysis’ solid-state, modular, electrochemical process to industrial scale and can produce tens-to-hundreds of tonnes per annum of high value, niche and master alloys. It creates a new U.K. source of supply for global end-users in advanced manufacturing disciplines including aerospace, automotive, batteries, light-weighting, magnets, mining and 3D printing consumables.

A standout benefit of Metalysis’ technology is its multi-metal capability, which enables it to produce alloy “recipes” that comparable processing routes cannot. Where conventional technologies are unable to elegantly combine elements with melting and density differentials, this technology can because it is a solid-state process. Gen4 enables Metalysis to commercially produce a demand-driven product mix of titanium alloys; master alloys including Scandium-Aluminide, which continues to pose excellent launch product potential as announced on 11 June 2018; compositionally complex alloys including High Entropy Alloys; magnet materials; high-temperature materials; and Platinum Group Metal alloys.

“In powering up and operating our industrial plant, Metalysis is poised to achieve its target to generate significant profits from our new South Yorkshire production facility,” said Dr. Dion Vaughan, Chief Executive Officer. “Ours is a true British success story with international implications. Metalysis has grown from the ‘lightbulb moment’ at Cambridge University in the late-1990s, relocated to South Yorkshire to benefit from regional excellence in operational skillsets in the early-2000s, and now onwards towards a bright commercial future.”

 

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Binder Removal in Vacuum Sintering

 

Source: TAV: The Vacuum Furnaces Blog

 

Andrea Alborghetti, Technical Manager of TAV Vacuum Furnaces

Heat Treat Today previously posted Parts 1 and 2 of this series on vacuum sintering. Part 1 focused on the two processing steps of debinding and sintering. Part 2 addressed primarily the vacuum sintering furnace itself. This installment analyzes the process and variables involved with binder removal.

Andrea Alborghetti, technical manager of TAV Vacuum Furnaces and contributor to the company’s blog, provides an analysis of burning vs capturing binders, addressing advantages as well as problems that may arise and how to execute control in the process, as in this example:

“One thing that is worth clarifying is that the flames usually seen on the outlet of kilns that use combustible gases (hydrogen, for example) as the process gas, were not originally designed to burn the binder disassociation residues to reduce emissions to the legal limits. Rather, it is solely for disposing of the emitted hydrogen safely, thus avoiding hazardous, potentially explosive atmospheric concentrations being created outside of the kiln.”

Read more for further analysis of binder removal, including discerning the type of residue found with your process: “Perfect Vacuum Sintering Step by Step #3”

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The Vacuum Sintering Furnace Examined

Andrea Alborghetti, Technical Manager of TAV Vacuum Furnaces

 

Source: TAV: The Vacuum Furnaces Blog

Following up on the first installment of his series on “perfect vacuum sintering” (linked here), Andrea Alborghetti, technical manager of TAV Vacuum Furnaces and contributor to the company’s blog, provides an overview of the right insulation for a vacuum sintering furnace, an examination of hot zone design, the distribution of gas-flow, and the box for loading and unloading.

Read more: “Perfect Vacuum Sintering Step by Step #2”

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Swedish Group Invests in Titanium, Nickel-Based Metal Powders Production

Annika Roos, head of product area powder at Sandvik Materials Technology

A Swedish engineering group in metal-cutting and materials technology recently announced that it will invest about $24.5 million in a new plant for manufacturing of titanium and nickel fine metal powders near its raw material supply and additive manufacturing center in Sandviken, Sweden.

The group’s investment within Sandvik’s Materials Technology will complement its manufacture of broad stainless steel, nickel-based, and cobalt-chromium alloys in the United Kingdom and Sweden. Sandvik powders reach sectors throughout Europe, North America, and Asia through the Osprey™ brand.

The demand for metal powder for additive manufacturing is expected to increase significantly in the coming years. Titanium and nickel-based alloys are key growth areas in the field of additive manufacturing, accounting for a significant portion of the metal powder market.

“This investment is an enabler for future growth and means that we are expanding our metal powder offering to include virtually all alloy groups of relevance today. In addition, it will also support the overall additive manufacturing business at Sandvik,” said Annika Roos, head of product area powder at Sandvik Materials Technology.

The facility is expected to be operational during 2020.

 

 

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Aeronautic Supplier Purchases Sintering Ovens

A new sintering line suitable for PTFE insulation has been designed and installed by a manufacturer for a producer of aeronautic cables. This machine is suitable for the thermal treatment of the insulation on conductors with diameter 1-7 inches.

In order to guarantee the uniformity of the process, WTM, which specializes in the application of materials for aircraft and aerospace cables and devices particular attention, focused on the definition of the temperature profile to be applied to the cable passing through the sintering ovens. Considering the maximum cable dimension, WTM, which is located in Austria and Italy opted for the induction preheating in the first part of the equipment. The sintering process occurs successively by means of three infrared ovens, equipped with independent control zones, each of them with a maximum temperature of 1022°F.

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AP&C Adds Powder Manufacturing Capacity

Arcam AB, listed on NASDAQ Stockholm, and a leading supplier of Additive Manufacturing (“AM”) equipment, announces that its powder manufacturing subsidiary AP&C in Montreal, Canada, continues to add significant capacity by building three new atomizing reactors. The new capacity increase follows on significant growth in 2015 and a surge in demand for AP&Cs high quality titanium powders.

AP&C continues to build capacity to address the fast growing market for metal powders for additive manufacturing. AP&C’s Plasma technology converts efficiently raw material to powder with excellent key properties such as flowability, density, chemistry and traceability. With the present build-out AP&C will reach a capacity of at least 500 tons per year.

“The need for high end titanium powder is driven by the fast growth and adoption of Additive Manufacturing. Arcam is determined to serve the industry through cost efficient solutions thus converting traditional manufacturing into Additive Manufacturing. A requisite is to offer highest quality powder for production at competitive cost”, says Magnus René, CEO of Arcam.

“With this investment we are committing to supply our present and future customers with superior quality materials to meet the high manufacturing standards of the biomedical and aerospace industries. With the new reactors and atomizing technology advancements, AP&C will triple production capacity in 2016”, says Alain Dupont, President of AP&C.

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