PR90400

BONN, Germany, July 1, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

In an industry-first, GKN Additive successfully adapts and enhances DP600 like

material, a widely used low alloy dual-phase steel in the automotive industry,

for AM manufacturing, and enables diverse designs and applications in

Automotive and in other industrial sectors.

The newly developed metal powder materials DPLA (Dual Phase Low Alloy) and FSLA

(Free Sintering Low Alloy) meet similar requirements for mechanical properties

as DP600 (HCT600X/C), such as higher ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and low

yield strength (YS) to UTS ratio, and can be used in Laser Powder Bed Fusion

(DPLA) and Binder Jetting

[https://www.gknpm.com/en/our-businesses/gkn-additive/explore-3d-metal-binder-je

tting/] (FSLA) respectively - a true world first for these two additive

manufacturing processes. The powder materials as well as parts manufactured

with these materials are available for purchase immediately.

Target customers are the automotive industry - for example, to adapt the design

of automotive sheet metal parts, or to develop completely new structural

components - but also manufacturers in the industrial sector.

Capabilities of DPLA and FSLA go beyond the traditional automotive material

DP600

It's important to understand that DPLA and FSLA are more than the traditional

automotive material DP600 (HCT600X/C) simply translated into AM. The new powder

materials are specialized for additive manufacturing with regard to

spreadability, laser absorption (Laser AM) and sinterability (Binder Jetting).

As Christopher Schaak, Technology Manager for Binder Jetting at GKN Additive,

explains: "Traditional DP600 offers specific standardized mechanical properties

achieved by heat treatment.

"The dual-phase steel AM materials developed by GKN Additive on the other hand

are very flexible in their characteristics, as their mechanical properties can

be tuned more widely by the heat treatment after the laser or binder jetting

process." This enables a variety of different use cases in the industrial

sector as well and makes the material an interesting candidate for a wide

spectrum of customers, as already shown in the IDAM project

[https://www.gknpm.com/en/news-and-media/news-releases/2020/the-evolution-of-met

al-3d-printing/].

"By using a subsequent heat treatment process to achieve the desired properties

with the material within a wide range (medium to high strength properties), an

AM provider can use an established printing process that does not need to be

changed," says Sebastian Bluemer, Technology Manager Laser AM at GKN Additive.

"This allows streamlining of internal processes and enables a faster product

delivery."

Before using DPLA and FSLA, GKN would first receive desired characteristics

from a customer and then had to develop and qualify a new material for the

laser powder bed fusion or binder jetting process to specifically meet these

demands. This took significantly more time than the newly developed materials

(DPLA/FSLA) with their predefined wide property field, where different

mechanical characteristics can be achieved with one developed printing process,

simply by varying the subsequent heat treatment.

New design possibilities, faster functional validation, potential for weight

reduction

For manufacturers in the automotive sector for example, these two materials

offer a new level of design freedom and potential for weight reduction. "With

these AM processes, manufacturers in the Automotive industry can construct body

parts differently than what was possible with traditional sheet metal parts. If

you look at a tailored blank, many sheet- metal parts and support parts need to

be formed and joined together to achieve a certain stiffness. By using

structural components printed with AM on the other hand, you would need less

process steps and less material, leading to cost optimization and a weight

reduction," explains Christopher Schaak.

Furthermore, the time it takes for a new product to enter functional validation

can be significantly shortened through AM processes. "Our customers want to

know what the new AM material can achieve in their respective use cases," says

Sebastian Bluemer, "and how it can be used. It's faster to print parts with AM

than to retool complete traditional production lines and manufacture the parts

the conventional way. This means that AM is a good solution to quickly and

functionally validate a material and a component, and to analyze faster and

more efficiently, whether the material can help with a specific application or

not."

Besides optimizing existing designs, both Binder Jetting and Laser Powder Bed

Fusion with the new material can also be used to develop completely new designs

(Design for Additive Manufacturing), for example bionic structures – which is

where Additive Manufacturing truly shows its power.

Relevant Links:

Download the FSLA and DPLA Material Datasheet

[https://www.gknpm.com/globalassets/downloads/additive-manufacturing/datasheets-

am-components/FSLA-and-DPLA.pdf/]

Join our Binder AM Business Case Challenge

[https://www.gknpm.com/en/our-businesses/gkn-additive/explore-3d-metal-binder-je

tting/]

About GKN Additive

GKN Additive is a digital manufacturer of advanced AM parts and materials for

prototypes, medium series, and the aftermarket, striving to push new

technologies to the limit to make them simpler, faster and more accessible. GKN

Additive is backed by GKN Powder Metallurgy's expertise in powder production,

metal processing and an engineering network of over 6,000 employees in 29

locations around the world.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1555322/GKN_cross_section.jpg

Logo -  https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1555321/GKN_Additive_Logo.jpg

Contact for journalists:

Susanne Trautmann

Global Marketing Manager Additive Manufacturing

susanne.trautmann@gknpm.com

+49 (0)1516 4044890

Source: GKN Additive