Uniformity Labs launches UniFuse IN718 Nickel Alloy for Laser Powder Bed Fusion

The company says the product delivers higher throughput and superior, more uniform mechanical properties than competitor powders.

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Uniformity Labs has announced the availability of its UniFuse IN718 Nickel Alloy and optimised parameters for Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) printing at 60µm layer thickness with lasers power at 400W.

The company claims that the material achieves a 2.2X faster exposure time and ‘superior’, more uniform mechanical properties than that of a competitor’s lower layer thickness scan strategies targeting best-in-class mechanical properties.

The higher tap density and optimised particle size distribution creates a highly uniform, denser powder bed, yielding repeatable part builds at the highest throughput, according to Uniformity Labs.

The company says this allows for customers that are using powders from Uniformity to produce parts with improved and repeatable mechanical properties, that are also possible when printing at significantly higher build rates, utilising thicker build layers and more efficient use of the L-PBF lasers.

“With UniFuse IN718, we deliver best-in-class mechanical properties, surface finish, printing yield, and part reliability with substantially increased throughput printing at 60µm layer thickness,” said Uniformity Labs Founder and CEO Adam Hopkins. “This is significant for advancing AM as a viable pillar for industrial manufacturing and shows that our technology and process deliver on the promise of no compromise additive manufacturing.”

Uniformity Labs says it is addressing the industry challenge of achieving serial production in AM economically through the development and production of its advanced ultra-low porosity metal powder feedstock. The company says its work is allowing additive manufacturing to become an increasingly better-established serial production tool.

Here are the key statistics for UniFuse IN718 as printed:

  • 60um layer thickness, 400W
  • > 99.95% density, 2.2 times the throughput with comparable properties compared to competitor 40um layer thickness printing 
  • Ultimate Tensile Strength (Rm z) – 990 ± 15 MPa 
  • Ultimate Tensile Strength (Rm xy) – 1064 ± 4 MPa
  • Yield Strength (Rm z) – 614 ± 12 Mpa 
  • Yield Strength (Rm xy) – 744 ± 6 MPa 
  • Fracture Elongation (Rm z) – 36 ± 1.3 
  • Fracture Elongation (Rm xy) – 30 ± 1.1 
  • Surface roughness in the z direction no treatment (um) 6.4 ± 0.6

Here are the key statistics for heat treated UniFuse IN718:

  • 60um layer thickness, 400W
  • > 99.95% density, 2.2 times the throughput with superior properties compared to competitor 40um layer thickness printing 
  • Ultimate Tensile Strength (Rm z) – 1436 ± 5 MPa 
  • Ultimate Tensile Strength (Rm xy) – 1512 ± 11 MPa
  • Yield Strength (Rm z) – 1301 ± 7 Mpa 
  • Yield Strength (Rm xy) – 1364 ± 10 MPa 
  • Fracture Elongation (Rm z) – 13.1 ± 1.8 
  • Fracture Elongation (Rm xy) – 15.3 ± 0.7 
  • Surface roughness in the z direction (um) 6.4 ± 0.6

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