Uniformity Labs
17-4PH
Uniformity Labs has announced the availability of its ultra-low porosity 17-4PH stainless steel powder for the Desktop Metal Shop Pro Binder Jetting platform. 17-4PH is an advanced metal powder that, according to the company, delivers superior material properties, sintered part geometric accuracy, process yield and print uniformity at highest throughput.
Some of the features of the powder:
- Tap Density of 5.33 ± 0.05 g/cm3
- Sintered Density of 7.68± 0.03 g/cm3
- In-print brown density deviation of +/- 0.024 g/cm3
- Parameters averaging 4.49 +/- 0.05g/cm3
- Sintering shrinkage of 15.17% ± 0.65% in the X direction, 15.66% ± 0.65% in the Y direction and 18.18% ± 0.63% in the Z direction
The process stability reported is enabled by the low cohesion, low porosity powder that spreads uniformly across the build bed. Uniformity claims that the high brown densities result in up to 50% reduction in linear shrinkage relative to competitor materials and deliver 99-100% final part density for best-in-class materials properties.
The flowable nature of the powder improves throughput by allowing fast layering. The company states that this offers a net throughput benefit of approximately 50% relative to non-uniformity powders on comparable platforms. Uniformity says that this enables substantial cost reduction to be taken advantage of by parts manufacturers contemplating adoption of metal AM at scale.
The flowability of Uniformity’s low cohesion powders drastically facilitates de-powdering of high aspect ratio and geometrically complex parts with fine features and channels. This prevents breakage during the de-powdering process step and enabling binder jetting of more complex, high aspect ratio parts.
17-4PH is martensitic precipitation, hardened stainless steel, known for corrosion resistance, high strength and hardness levels, especially when heat treated. The powder can be heat treated to various hardness and toughness levels, which allows users to customise the post-sintering properties of the alloy to suit a variety of applications, such as chemical processing, manufacturing machinery and food processing.
“The application of Uniformity 17-4PH stainless steel for BJT delivers mechanical and process excellence for our customers who require materials that perform to the highest standard across each step of the production process,” said Uniformity founder and CEO Adam Hopkins. “Our powders deliver superior mechanical properties, surface finish, printing yield, and process stability, allowing one machine to do the work of several.”
