High performance aluminium powder for additive manufacturing
Our new aluminium powder alloy specifically designed for SLM (Selective Laser Melting) and is the result of many calculations, iterations and real scale prototyping. The product combines the highest strength up to 250°C with all of the important properties that are requested for competitive manufacturing of lightweight parts.
Benefits
- Low weight of manufactured part due to high yield strength (500 mpa at rt)
- Highest yield strength at 250°c on the market (200 mpa at 250°c)
- Robust process due to wide process window with porosity level below 0.1%
- Works on eos m290 and similar slm systems
- Low manufacturing cost due to high build rate >40 cm3/h in slm
- No conventional heat treatment that requires a quench
Issue
Conventional high strength aluminium alloys are not designed for SLM. Many issues happen during the SLM process and the lose their mechanical properties. Existing Aluminium powder alloys for SLM on the market suffer from:
- limited mechanical performance
- low build rates
- need of a conventional heat treatment that induces distortions
Therefore, the manufacturing cost is high and the parts have a high weight. Available titanium alloys on the other hand have a higher manufacturing cost and a high density that increases the weight of the part when stiffness is needed. As selective laser melting is becoming a competitive process for the production of lightweight parts the need for high performance aluminium alloys for SLM is increasing.
Solution
We have developed a high performance Aluminium alloy dedicated for the SLM (Selective Laser Melting) process. The SLM parts built with our new powder alloy have a high mechanical performance both at room temperature and up to 250°C. The material reaches the highest yield strength of 500 MPa without conventional heat treatment that includes a quench. A wide process window can be used on a EOS M290 machine to obtain porosities below 0.1% which makes the process very robust. The highest build rate (> 40 cm3/h) makes the manufacturing cost competitive. The product allows to further reduce weight and costs of parts that are already printed with Al or Ti alloys. The combination of the design freedom of SLM with the high strength lightweight material allows to design and produce a wider range high performance parts.