Interview first published in the September/October 2021 issue of 3D ADEPT Mag, then placed online in March 2022. Roles, projects and targets reflect that period.
Luisa Elena Mondora and Matteo Vanazzi founded F3nice in spring 2020 after exploring ways to recover metals from offshore decommissioning in 2019. Their project aims to turn selected metal scrap into AM powder, linked to on-demand parts production.
The name F3nice refers to “Fenice”, the Italian word for phoenix. The interview describes interest from Equinor Ventures and a letter of intent, which should not be equated with a completed equity investment. Mondora answers eight questions about materials, testing and the company’s environmental objectives.
What services does the company provide?
Mondora: F3nice sells high quality, sustainable metal AM feedstock, with a process that saves over 90% emissions compared to the standard process. To some end-users, F3nice offers the chance to recycle their own dead inventory, scrap metal, and acquire the metal feedstock made with it, in alignment with their sustainability mandate towards circular economy and lowering CO2 emissions.
According to you, what are the key steps of powder production lifecycle?
Mondora: I would say that the choice of the atomization technology is not taken enough into account when choosing the feedstock for an AM process. Let’s talk about standard materials, such as Stainless steels, Inconel alloys and others. Today on the market we see powder made with water atomization and IGA (inert gas atomization) marketed towards highly complex printing processes such as powder bed fusion. Given that the cost of the feedstock account only for a very limited fraction of the AM process cost, why settling for a lower quality powder (in morphology, rheology, and other characteristics) that may lead to lower properties on the printed artifact, when VIGA (vacuum inert gas atomization) feedstock yields such a superior quality? This is the reason why we chose VIGA as atomization technology for F3nice plant for those materials.
This describes F3nice’s choice for the materials concerned. Powder quality does not depend on the process name alone: composition, contamination, particle-size distribution, flow and the intended application also matter.
Are these steps necessarily the same when you use waste to produce powders?
Mondora: Sorting and preparation of the scrap metal is key to guarantee the high standard quality of the powder and the repeatability of the process! Given that the atomization technology choice is one of the most important choices we had to make when we designed our production plant.
Can we recycle all types of metal AM powders/waste/scrap?
Mondora: With VIGA technology, we can work with all materials with exception of those that require a higher melting temperature, such as Titanium. For Ti Alloys (and other high value alloys, that require smaller batches) we are considering a second atomizer that allows plasma melting of the input metal.
Technical note: titanium’s liquid-metal reactivity and contamination control also matter, beyond melting temperature. Ceramic-free routes such as EIGA are used. The interview describes F3nice’s capabilities and plans at that time.
Does the recycled powder have the same characteristics and properties as the original one?
Mondora: Yes! We did a test print for tensile and elongation specimens using F3nice powder on an EOS M290 Printer, using standard 316 printing parameters, and then we printed the same specimens with EOS own brand feedstock. University of Stavanger performed mechanical testing on both set of specimens and the results where aligned; the differences in the mechanical properties where within the error range of the testing machine!
The reported results concern those specimens and test conditions. They do not establish equivalence for every alloy, property or finished part.
Let’s take the example of the widely-used AM process: LPBF. Can we recover F3nice 3D printable powders in a given production and reuse them? (If possible, how many times?)
Mondora: F3nice powder is identical to any other high-quality powder produced with VIGA technology and can be re-used during the printing process just as many times (the number depends on the specific alloy). The added value is that, once the powder is deemed ‘exhausted’, the OEM can contact F3nice and ask for it to be recycled instead of having the hassle of disposing it (at high cost) as hazardous waste. F3nice can provide this service not only for its products but also for any powder.
No universal reuse count is given. Powder monitoring and acceptance criteria need to be defined for the material and process; reuse in a build and recycling through remelting are different operations.
We know F3nice believes in a more sustainable world and is striving to play its part in this critical mission, but how sustainable are your products/processes?
Mondora: Thanks to the use of 100% metal scrap as input material, a very positive energy mix (we are based in Norway where, according to electricitymap.org, over 95% of energy comes from renewable sources) and an efficient patented process for the scrap processing, we are able to achieve over 50% of energy saved and over 90% CO2 saved compared to the same product made in the rest of Europe (for example Germany) with a standard process.
The reductions above 50% for energy and 90% for CO₂ are F3nice’s estimates for the comparison described, not guaranteed gains for every application. The renewables figure concerns electricity: the Norwegian government reported roughly 98% renewable electricity production in 2020–2021, which does not mean all energy used in the country was renewable.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
Mondora: We have just signed a 1-year contract with Equinor for the processing of their scrap, and the feedstock made with it will be used to print parts for the commissioning of Johan Castberg field, near Hammerfest, by Fieldmade – in a true Circular Economy Ecosystem!
The one-year contract and planned Johan Castberg parts in the final answer reflect the announcements of 2021; this passage is not confirmation of their subsequent delivery.
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