Sep 28, 2014
3D metal printing uses fine metal powders to produce highly complex metal components. The powder's purities and how well it is ground result in different quality of 3D printed metal objects.
NanoSteel Company Inc., a corporation based in Province, Rhode Island, has announced this week the company's newly engineered powders designed for additive manufacturing. By leveraging its uniform metal matrix microstructures in the laser-sintering process, the company was able to build a crack-free, fully dense bulk sample.
Over its twelve-year history, NanoSteel has created progressive generations of iron-based alloys from surface coatings to foils to powder metals and sheet steel. NanoSteel's breakthrough overcomes one of the major hurdles to achieving a high-hardness metallic partthrough additive manufacturing - the tendency to develop cracks during part builds. These cracks are the result of stresses developed during part build, given the typically limited ductility of these materials.
To address this challenge, the company worked with a global process development partner to optimize the parameters for a steel alloy with high volume fraction of hard borocarbide phases. The company has now successfully produced a fully dense (99.9%) crack-free parts with hardness values over 1000 HV, wear resistance comparable to conventionally manufactured M2 tool steels, and a uniform microstructure. Importantly, these properties were achieved without the need for post-processing such as hot isostatic pressing (HIP) or further heat treatment, reducing production cost and lead times.
"Currently, the material options to produce highly wear-resistant parts through additive manufacturing are limited" said Harald Lemke, NanoSteel's General Manager of Engineered Powders. "By extending the reach of steel into markets currently served by WC-Co, ceramics, and other non-ferrous metal matrix metal composites, NanoSteel has the potential to generate cost-efficient wear parts to serve the tooling, mining, energy, and transportation industries in applications such as pumps, bearings, and cutting tools."
Through a one-step 3D-printing process it is now possible to produce high-hardness ferrous metal matrix products. The company is currently extending this breakthrough into more complex geometries and broadening its property sets to fully validate the market potential for 3D-printed steel components.
Posted in 3D Printing Materials
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