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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Innopowder (HIGH QUALITY AND COST-EFFECTIVE METAL AM POWDER FOR MANUFACTURING LOWER WEIGHT COMPONENTS WITH IMPROVED PROPERTIES FOR AIRCRAFT AND AUTOMOBILES)

Teaser

Summary

Metal additive manufacturing (MAM) is a disruptive technology considered the future of automotive and aerospace manufacturing with applications in other sectors such as medical technologies. MAM enables the production of light high strength components, often enabling a weight reduction of about 40-60% or more, as well as forming very complex and functionally graduated geometries. Moreover, for many applications MAM renders the need of forming tools for industrial component production obsolete, which means that component manufacturers are able to reduce their energy and raw material consumption in the manufacture process. The problem is that up to day metal raw materials intended for 3D printers are conventional materials that have been merely adapted to MAM, but still lack the specific properties required for MAM of aircraft and automobile components, while also being very expensive. As a result, the production costs are prohibitively high in comparison to conventional manufacturing methods and hinder the fast, industry wide uptake. INNOMAQ21 has developed and patented a new manufacturing technology that produces high quality, cost-effective metal powders, INNOPOWDER. The feasibility of the developed production method has been already demonstrated and the objectives of this project are to carry out the scale-up of this novel production process technology and to prepare the company structure for marketing and selling INNOPOWDER worldwide from the year 2020 on.

Work performed

The design of an industrial atomizer, composed of two distinct and separated chambers, has been carried out and preliminary versions of the documentation and drawings required for the up-scaling process, construction and commissioning have been elaborated. The designs of the auxiliary operating systems have also been carried out, and some of them have been manufactured and tested using the pilot-scale atomizer. Preliminary morphological and size distribution characterizations have been performed using the powders obtained during the tests carried out for the atomization device feasibility studies. Comprehensive IP management has been carried out to ensure freedom to operate and to continue with the patent prosecution of a total of 6 patent families protecting the INNPOWDER technology. Thanks to the EIC pilot Business Acceleration services, several dissemination events have been attended as part of WP6, which gave the opportunity to meet relevant related stakeholders, gather information with regard to current challenges faced by them, present the company and the project and explore business opportunities. Also, a project website has been put in place, which will be continuously updated.

Final results

Most MAM technologies have stringent requirements on powder morphology. Spherical, satellite-free powder with a narrow particle size distribution is required. The most common methods to produce metal powders encompass mechanical or chemical methods, and include atomization, milling, mechanical alloying and electrolysis. Atomization is possibly the most versatile method to produce metal powders over a wide range of production rates and an extensive variety of powder sizes. Two-fluid atomization methods with gas (including air) or water account for more than 95% of the atomization capacity worldwide. For the atomization of iron alloys or steel powder, gas atomization is almost the exclusive method of production, as it delivers powders which are mostly spherical and with small quantities of satellites. However, production of powders with narrow size distribution often implies the use of sieving or other separation techniques with a consequent negative influence on yield and thus cost. With centrifugal atomization on the other hand, which is more energy efficient than other atomization methodologies and enables narrower particle size distribution, only small feed rates and small-scale batches are so far practicable, especially when fine powders with high melting temperatures are required. The above-mentioned inconveniences of the different State-of-the-Art atomization technologies have been overcome by a new, highly energy efficient manufacturing technology developed and patented by INNOMAQ21. This disruptive technology enables the cost-efficient production of very fine, highly spherical homogeneous metal powders with narrow particle size distribution required for MAM. The developed technology has demonstrated to be able to produce high-quality powders at a reduced cost compared to current commercial MAM powders. The use of INNOPOWDER will have great benefits for component manufacturers, including metal component production cost reductions, higher component quality and hence performance, higher flexibility in component design, enabling the manufacture of complex geometries with 40-60% and more weight reduction. Furthermore, in automotive and aerospace applications, the increased possibility of biomimetic designs enables important fuel consumption and hence climate gas emission reductions through lighter components manufactured by MAM.