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Additive Industries & ArcelorMittal Using MetalFAB1 3D Printer to Make Spare Steel Parts

One of the world’s leading steel and mining companies, ArcelorMittal, is partnering with Dutch company Additive Industries to investigate the use of metal 3D printing to make large spare parts for the steel industry. Additive manufacturing is used to fabricate spare parts for plenty of applications and industries, including maritime, railways, the military, consumer appliances, automotive, and many more. It makes a lot of practical business sense, as 3D printing spare parts offers companies, like ArcelorMittal, flexibility, a reduced production cycle, and on-demand manufacturing; if this happens onsite, it can even save on shipping costs.

3D printed spare parts used in ArcelorMittal facilities: (A) Example of part consolidation application with 316L original part on the left and 3D printed part on the right; (B) example of functional large parts with internal lattice structure made with 316L above 500 mm; and (C) lightweight (hollow) functional spare parts made with Maraging Steel with ArcelorMittal’s optimized parameters.

By collaborating with Additive Industries on metal 3D printing over the last few years, and using the technology to build on-demand spare parts, ArcelorMittal has improved its quality and process performance – allowing the company to print large, complex components that are ready to use.

“Additive Manufacturing is an exponential technology, moving very fast. Our collaboration with Additive Industries is a clear demonstration of our ability to remain at the cutting-edge of this technology: we started by printing small specimens and have now progressed to large size and complex parts,” said Jose López Fresno, Head of the Additive Manufacturing department, ArcelorMittal Global R&D in Avilés, Spain.

Operations in the steelmaking industry require components, and spare parts, that must hold up under difficult conditions. In the beginning of the ArcelorMittal and Additive Industries collaboration, they had to figure out how best to achieve the necessary requirements for component size and quality. But over the last two years of working together, the two have achieved an up to fourfold increase in component size, in addition to improving their reliability and quality. This means that the steel company has been able to increase the amount of applications for its 3D printed spare parts from small size part consolidation to jobs that need complex, functional, large, and strong parts.

MetalFab1 on the day of installation in ArcelorMittal R&D facilities in Avilés.

Now, the two are looking at what metal 3D printing can do for the steel industry with the MetalFAB1 by Additive Industries, which is one of the market’s largest 4-laser metal AM systems.

“Innovation and market leader ArcelorMittal have helped us to stress-test our MetalFAB1 system for critical spare-part production,” stated Daan A.J. Kersten, Co-Founder and CEO Additive Industries. “This enabled us to expand our experience to the steel industry from our main application markets in aerospace and automotive. It has become clear that metal 3D printing is a serious alternative for a large variety of cast parts.”

First introduced back in 2015, the unique MetalFAB1 printer has a 420 x 420 x 400 mm build volume, which makes it possible to fabricate large steel spare parts for the mining and steelmaking industries. But at the same time, it also ensures high productivity because it automated the manual steps of regular powder bed fusion 3D printers; this, in turn, equals the lowest cost per 3D printed part.

The modular MetalFAB1 has multiple build chambers, up to four 500W lasers, and can be configured for up to 11 different modules for more productivity or post-processing automation. It’s also well-designed for safety, which is perfect for ArcelorMittal and its focus on operator safety. In addition, 3D printing spare parts can help reduce waste – meeting another of the company’s objectives in terms of environmental safety.

“We are proud to work together with ArcelorMittal, jointly driving the business case for 3D-printed parts in the steel industry,” said Harry Kleijnen, Key Account Manager for Additive Industries. “ArcelorMittal’s typical applications have enabled us to further adapt the MetalFAB1 system to print high density, high volume parts. We are looking forward to expanding the range of applications and materials in this intense and strong collaboration.”

Since the first MetalFAB1 3D printer was installed at ArcelorMittal’s R&D facilities, the company has already used several of the 3D printed spare parts. To see the assembly and installation of the MetalFAB1 at ArcelorMittal, check out Additive Industries’ video here.

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(Source/Images: Additive Industries)

The post Additive Industries & ArcelorMittal Using MetalFAB1 3D Printer to Make Spare Steel Parts appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

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Patented Metals with Extremely High Carbide Content

Metal materials with remarkable properties. This has been the focus of Swedish company VBN Components since the very start. In the middle of the financial crisis in 2008, VBN saw the opportunity to turn the steel business upside down by using additive manufacturing of high strength, carbide-rich materials. Today they present a range of patented alloys with unique performance.

The Vibenite® materials

VBN Components nurtures the Swedish heritage within the metal industry by continuously developing new and improved materials branded Vibenite®. Sweden was one of the first countries in the world to produce industrial steel with purity as a key factor. VBN takes this to the next level by 3D printing materials unique in their composition, offering exceptional wear resistance. Their properties are achieved by a patented additive manufacturing process through which metal materials with 100% density can be produced. Small sized uniformly distributed carbides in a specific matrix are the reason for the materials’ performance. They are all produced from a base of gas atomized metal powder and are therefore classified as powder metallurgy materials.

Vibenite® technology allows the user to switch to a more wear resistant material than what can be produced with traditional manufacturing. When 3D printing, most production and transportation steps are eliminated, material usage optimized, and environmental impact significantly reduced. Both performance and life-time of components increase with Vibenite®. These properties are easily tested by simply printing a full-quality prototype and running it! Better material properties are normally not heard of in the 3D printing business today, where typically difficult geometries are promoted.

Your application of choice can be printed with Vibenite® materials.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cross section of shaper cutter showing a 100% dense material.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caption: Hardness of Vibenite® materials compared to H13, a common tool steel.

Vibenite® 290, the world’s hardest steel

Today there are five different types of Vibenite® materials, with a hardness range from 58-72 HRC (600-1100 HV). Among them we find the world’s hardest steel, Vibenite® 290 with 25% carbide content. Its hardness of 72 HRC means it could never be processed traditionally. It was recently put through two abrasion tests to measure wear against rock, in collaboration with Robit Plc. The results spoke for themselves; Vibenite® 290 showed only 50% of the wear rate compared to reference material H500 (51 HRC) in the first test, and 25% of the wear rate in the second. H500 is commonly used in these types of abrasion lab-tests.

Total wear in grams in high-speed slurry pot test.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vibenite® 480 – a new type of cemented carbide

Recently, VBN Components announced that they can print cemented carbide. This type of material has previously been considered “impossible” to print, due to high carbide content. Vibenite® 480 contains an astonishing ~65% of carbides, which really beats al the odds. There is no mixing, drying, pressing or sintering needed, as in the traditional process. It has a long-term heat resistance of 750°C, is corrosion resistant and magnetic. Vibenite® 480 is niched both towards applications where steel is normally used, but where replacing it with hard metal would increase production efficiency, and also towards hard metal applications with complex geometry. Since it combines the best of two material worlds – powder metallurgy high-speed steel and cemented carbide, it is referred to as “hybrid carbide”.

3D Benchy printed with Vibenite® 480.

 

Milestones and future projects

These material innovations have raised quite a lot of attention. Already in 2013, VBN Components was awarded with Sweden’s largest and most important innovation prize, SKAPA, established in honor of Alfred Nobel. In that same year, Swedish steel giant Uddeholms AB contested VBN’s first patent regarding high purity in high carbon content materials. It took five years before the battle was finally settled, in favor of VBN Components, at the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich. Not long thereafter, just before Christmas of 2018, a multi-million license agreement was signed with a global engineering group. It implies an exclusive license within a specific niche of high-strength components, which is kept confidential for now.

VBN Components is the only company 3D printing alloys with high carbon content, resulting in hard and wear resistant unique materials. The extremely high cleanliness of Vibenite® alloys gives very high fatigue resistance. Following this path, VBN will continue developing new metal alloys and novel ways to print these. The possibilities are vast, from “Vibenite® Combo” which implies printing Vibenite® upon other existing components, to “Vibenite® Grado” which would give different properties in different parts of the component.