New partnership focuses on the introduction of case-hardening-steels to AM and will contribute to advancing metal part manufacturing and processing at scale.

With the goal of enhancing part processing, AM company SLM Solutions and high precision metal parts processor, Burgmaier have decided to extend their partnership. It’s been more than three years that the three companies have been working together, in order to open new possibilities in the tooling industry and hybrid manufacturing.

So far, using SLM Solutions’ metal AM technology has enabled Burgmaier to enhance

design, and manufacturing cost of various components, including AM-cutting-tools, manufacturing equipment such as nozzles or claws, and casting molds, all to great success.

Furthermore, in order to manufacture with high-precision, the company has been able to define a new hybrid manufacturing technique using various steels such as 1.2709 or 16MnCr5. 16MnCr5 especially is one of the most-used materials for the tooling industry that combines a very hard surface with a ductile core. With various heat treatments, one can flexibly adjust its characteristics to the customer’s needs.

Introducing case-hardening-steels to AM will lead to hard-wearing designs – from lightweight tools with flexible cooling channels to resistant and cost-efficient molds.

A press release explains that the hybrid-manufacturing process includes an innovative, self-developed system to clamp various base bodies and a standardized approach to manufacture the parts additively in a SLM® 280, enabling single-use and series production with the highest accuracy. Burgmaier achieves a positioning and repeating accuracy of fewer than 0.05 millimeters and a high-quality joint of the base body and the AM part. Despite the challenges of the Covid crisis in 2020, Burgmaier decided to invest in developing both innovations (16MnCr5 and hybrid-AM-process).

As far as AM is concerned, the SLM®280 – at the heart of this development – features multi-laser, closed-loop powder handling which enables to build at an 80% faster rate than a single laser. The patented bi-directional powder recoating boosts productivity by reducing overall manufacturing time. Material flexibility makes it the perfect build companion for several industries, from aviation and aerospace to automotive and energy.

We are a partner-like solution provider for complex challenges with a high-quality standard. Curiosity and precision drive us to develop the right solution with and for our customers. We provide the advantages of additive, subtractive and hybrid manufacturing from a single source.” Ken Krauss, Director Additive Manufacturing Burgmaier.

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