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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.

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3D Printing News Briefs: September 18, 2018

We’re starting with a bit of business news in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, then a story about metal 3D printing, and then moving along with examples of some of the amazing and innovative things people have been making with this technology. Sigma Labs has issued a letter to shareholders about some company changes, and a YouTube video introduces some new hard tool steels for 3D printing. WASP is carrying on with a major project by its Crane construction 3D printer, and a University of Minnesota professors talks about 3D printing electronics directly on skin. BMW Motorrad created 3D printed motorcycle components, and a Wisconsin sign company is using 3D printing for its products. Finally, Wrights Robotics made a full-sized, 3D printed, talking robot from a little 1980s movie called Short Circuit, and a low poly artist made some neat 3D printed chain mail.

Sigma Labs Says Goodbye to Mark Cola

Mark Cola

This past Friday, September 14th, Sigma Labs, Inc., which provides quality assurance software under the PrintRite3D brand, announced that its President, Co-Founder, and CTO Mark Cola would be retiring next month. After the news had time to settle over the weekend, the company announced the release of a letter to its shareholders from CEO and Chairman John Rice. In the letter, Rice paid tribute to everything Cola had done for the company over the years, and also assured shareholders “that the succession taking place is smooth and secure,” noting that Cola’s internal management responsibilities will be covered by Sigma’s Vice President of Engineering Darren Beckett, while Dr. Martin Piltch will take over his role on the company’s outside team of technology consultants.

“We thank Mark as founder and a leader of Sigma Labs, for creating and driving a vision of advancing the Additive Manufacturing Industry’s ‘good’ 3D manufacturing technology to become a ‘great’ high-quality manufacturing technology assured by Sigma’s IPQA,” the letter reads. “We shareholders can thank Mark for building and leading the multi-discipline technology team that is commercializing our robust data-rich analytical and interactive software – hardware tools that promise to add real value to an industry that needs such a tool. Yes, Mark now surely has the right to step back. Thank you and well done, Mark Cola!”

Here at 3DPrint.com we’ve met with Mark and have been very impressed with his deep 3D Printing knowledge and his vision on 3D printing for manufacturing and know he’ll be sorely missed at Sigma Labs.

Hard Tool Steels for SLM 3D Printing

Formetrix Metals, a brand new company I’d not heard of before today, recently posted its first video about its use of BLDRmetal steel alloys for laser powder bed fusion 3D printing. The 3D printable hard tool steel was used to make industrial dies for rolling bolt threads, after the dies made with CNC machining had failed.

After designing the dies, new BLDRmetal tool steel was used to 3D print prototypes. Once the surface finish was complete on the prototype dies, they were able to achieve high toughness and a high case hardness of up to 74 HRC.

WASP Crane Construction 3D Printing

WASP (World’s Advanced Saving Project) is well-known for its large-scale construction 3D printers, and for the last two years has been working to develop a new one, called the Crane or “the infinity 3D printer.” Evolved from the BigDelta 12M, the Crane is a modular 3D printing system with different configurations to choose from. Next month in Italy, WASP plans to present the Crane to the public in Massa Lombarda, which is where the village of Shamballa is being 3D printed.

On October 6th and 7th, a program will be held surrounding the introduction of both the WASP Crane 3D printer and the Gaia Module, a 3D printed earth house. According to WASP, Gaia is “the first module in soil ever realized with the 3d print- technology.” For more information on the event, visit the WASP website. You can see the new Crane 3D printer in action below:

3D Printing Electronics on Skin

While augmenting humans with electronics that can monitor our vitals, enhance our senses, and provide us with real-time information may sound like just an episode out of new science fiction series Glimpse, from Futurism Studios and DUST, the idea of advanced wearable electronics is not so far-fetched. Researchers like Michael McAlpine, a 3D printed electronics expert and mechanical engineering professor at the University of Minnesota, are working to improve upon existing technologies to make this fantasy a reality. This spring, McAlpine published a study that demonstrated how to 3D print electronics directly onto skin with an inexpensive, self-made 3D printer and ink made from silver flakes. Recently, Futurism interviewed McAlpine about his research, and his thoughts on the future of 3D printable electronics.

“All of these technologies we’re developing will lead to the post-computer era. You’re basically going from 2D to 3D [microchips to integrated circutry], which is essentially what biology is. So, that’s where the merger of electronics and biology is going to happen. Any privacy or ethical issues that spring from that aren’t going to be much different from the ones that we have with current electronics,” McAlpine said.

3D Printed Motorcycle Components 

The motorcycle brand of German automotive company BMW, called BMW Motorrad, recently developed a new motorcycle that’s full of 3D printed components and parts. This is not surprising, considering the parent company’s love for and use of 3D printing for both its regular and concept automobiles – BMW has been using 3D printing to build its cars for nearly 28 years.

3D printing can achieve parts with complex geometries, which is why it’s a perfect technology for the automotive industry. BMW Motorrad’s special concept motorcycle, called the S1000RR, demonstrates how the company can build new components using rapid prototyping technologies, as it is made of many 3D printed parts, such as a swingarm and an aluminum chassis. Take a look for yourself in the video below:

3D Printing Signs: Beneficial or Not?

Adam Brown in the shop at Sign Effectz.

Four years ago, a sign making company called Fastsigns decided to adopt 3D printing in three of its major markets – Chicago, Milwaukee, and San Diego. Fastsigns isn’t the only company to use 3D printing to make signage – a Milwaukee business called Sign Effectz, which was first founded in the company president’s garage in 1996 and now resides in a 17,000-square-foot facility, decided to explore 3D printing a few years ago, because it could open new ways of customizing signs and make it simpler and less expensive to produce small batches of custom products. But, workers in skilled trades may not appreciate the technology quite as much.

“Your fabricators on the floor now turn into (computer-aided design) modelers. I did. I love it. I came from busting my knuckles and dropping stuff on my toes and wasting material to problem solve and figure out how to build something… to getting to the 3D CAD modeling world where you can do all of that stuff in a virtual world and make sure 1,000 pieces all match and align and run it through animation to see if it works,” said Adam Brown, the President of Sign Effectz, before noting the potential downside of the technology.

“I wonder if you’ll be able to maintain the level of interest and passion in 3D CAD modeling because there’s little pain associated with it all of the sudden. It’s just a mental math problem and you hit print.”

In my opinion, products like custom signage are one of the many applications for which 3D printing is perfect. Using 3D design and CAD software to create signs is still a creative way to build something, even if you’re not manufacturing every bit of the sign by hand.

Full-Size 3D Printed Johnny 5 Robot

If you’re a fan of 80s movies, then you surely know of Short Circuit, starring such well-known actors of the decade like Steve Guttenberg and Ally Sheedy. With the tagline “Life is not a malfunction,” the movie tells the story of Number 5, one of a group of experimental military robots. When the robot is struck by lightning and electrocuted, he suddenly gains self-awareness and intelligence, and flees the laboratory, as he is afraid of being reprogrammed. He is later rechristened as Johnny 5.

Wrights Robotics recently completed its own life-size, 3D printed version of the Johnny 5 robot, and published a YouTube video showing its audio, neck motor, and lip light tests. Just like the real Johnny 5, this 3D printed robot moves, lights up, and talks, even uttering the movie phrase “Don’t disassemble Number 5!”

3D Printed Chain Mail 

If you’re a frequent visitor to Renaissance festivals, then you’ve no doubt seen plenty of chain mail in your day. But Agustin Flowalistik, a low poly 3D printing artist based in Madrid and the Fablab manager of Tecnolab, decided to create his own chain mail – of the 3D printed variety, of course. If you want to make your own, Flowalistik has made the files available for download at Cults3D, Thingiverse, and MyMiniFactory.

“The chainmail size is 195x195mm. A 60x60mm sample is available to test and find the right settings before printing the big chainmail. Print the model with a 0.4mm nozzle and 0% infill,” Flowalistik wrote in the Thingiverse description for the 3D printable chainmail.

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