Kanthal
Kanthal AM
Industrial heating technology brand Kanthal has launched an additive manufacturing service that will produce heating elements and components.
The Sandvik Group company’s move into the additive manufacturing space has also seen the development of a new iron-chromium-aluminium alloy called Kanthal AM100. Kanthal believes combining its extensive knowledge in the heating sector with additive manufacturing will bring about a ‘revolutionary’ change to the market.
Through the Kanthal Additive Manufacturing service, the company is offering feasibility evaluation of products for 3D printing, to design from scratch or modify parts, carry out prototyping and testing, and produce the end-use components. Kanthal is looking to use additive manufacturing to implement hollow or lattice structures to increase the surface area for heat transfer and flexural strength against deformation, for example, and has highlighted burner nozzles, protective shells and manifolds as suitable applications for the technology. Its Kanthal AM100 alloy will ensure the printed components can withstand high temperatures and resist corrosion against carbon/ hydrocarbon and sulphur.
Kanthal believes companies can achieve big gains by adopting additive manufacturing through its newly-established service, while highlighting how it can also fit in with their sustainability commitments.
“Our drive is to constantly provide better solutions for the customer,” commented Dilip Chandrasekaran, Head of R&D and Technologies at Kanthal. “Our materials, along with our competence and application knowledge, combined with the customer’s own application knowledge, are what is actually creating a value for them. Combining this further with unique solutions of designing and producing can create even more value.”
“We want this revolutionary technique to inspire customers to come to us with their new ideas, some of them that earlier has been inconceivable. Additive manufacturing has so many benefits, from both a design and business viewpoint, as well as, of course, from a sustainability perspective. For instance, using less material means less waste,” added Nicklas Nilsson, Kanthal President. “This technology is the future.”
