Renishaw and Sandvik announce collaboration at Formnext.
Renishaw and Sandvik are partnering up in an effort to qualify and optimise new metal powders for additive manufacturing production applications.
The two companies have been working together since last year which has seen the development of process parameters for a range of Sandvik metal powders, including stainless and maraging steels, and the latest Osprey nickel-based superalloys for Renishaw’s laser powder bed fusion systems. Now, with the opening of its new state-of-the-art titanium atomiser and powder processing facility, Sandvik aims to turn its attention to qualifying new alloys for industrial and medical applications.
“Much of the innovation in AM in the next few years will come from the pairing of enhanced machine performance with improved alloys,” explained Stephen Crownshaw, AM Business Manager at Renishaw. “Better alloys mean better material properties, enabling the manufacture of AM components that are even more efficient and cost-effective. The consistency of Renishaw’s latest AM systems, combined with Sandvik’s material expertise, provides tremendous opportunities to advance AM processes and to make a stronger business case for AM.”
So far, the pair's parameter development work has highlighted where small changes to the composition of Sandvik alloys, such as a crack-free Osprey HX nickel superalloy, can be made to optimise mechanical properties. Moreover, the collaboration has also led to a range of additive production capabilities for Sandvik including AM variants of its own cutting tools. In one case, Sandvik Coromant’s lightweight CoroMill 390 milling cutter in titanium, which is 80% lighter than a conventional tool and enables metal-cutting productivity gains of up to 200%, has gone into series production on the RenAM 500Q and was launched on the market in April this year.
Mikael Schuisky, VP R&D and Operations at Sandvik Additive Manufacturing said: “AM is transforming the manufacturing landscape, with better equipment and materials being the driving forces behind that change. Sandvik’s unique end-to-end process knowledge – spanning raw materials, powder production, additive manufacturing and post-processing methods such as machining – puts us in the ideal position to help manufacturers to exploit this exciting technology. Renishaw’s latest quad laser systems help us to extract AM’s full potential.”
