Sandvik is a global engineering company that integrates an AM unit has installed several Renishaw RenAM 500Q quad laser machines to improve materials development, AM process and post-processing.
Sandvik specializes in materials technology and has acquired a certain expertise within the AM metal powder market. With the installation of Renishaw systems, the company completes its existing systems that include 3D printers from EOS, Concept Laser, Arcam and ExOne. This variety of systems also outlines the variety of processes the company can exploit.
Indeed, the optimal balance of weight, strength, hardness, thermal characteristics, flexibility, geometric complexity, surface finish and other characteristics vary from one application to another and that’s the challenge of the company: being able to work across the entire value chain, from component selection, AM-design and modelling, to post-processing, testing and quality assurance.
Kristian Egeberg, President of Sandvik Additive Manufacturing, says: “We refer to our process as ‘Plan it. Print it. Perfect it.’ Printing is only one of seven steps you need to master to obtain a perfect AM component. So, you have to think beyond printing to get the best possible value from additive manufacturing.”
Even though attention is made on revolutionary designs, innovation at material level is equally important. With its Osprey™ range of metal powders, Sandvik has the in-house capability to produce a wide range of alloys portfolio, and can provide the metallurgical expertise to customize materials for every application.
“We work closely with our customers to tailor alloys in line with their exact requirements, even for small batch print runs,” says Annika Roos, Head of the Powder Division in Sandvik. “Not only do we match the alloy to the purpose, we can also optimize the particle size for the chosen printing process.”
Sandvik showcased some of its customer cases at Formnext. They included coolant clamps for Seco Tools that are made from maraging steel. Curved internal channels were also featured in addition to varel nozzles manufactured from cemented carbide, which are not only printed on demand to reduce inventories, but feature tailor-made threads that are tough enough for drilling in the oil and gas industry.
For further information about 3D Printing, follow us on our social networks and subscribe to our newsletter!
Would you like to be featured in the next issue of our digital magazine? Send us an email at contact@3dadept.com
//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});