GKN Additive is the first to adopt and enhance the DP600 class of materials-a low-alloy dual-phase steel widely used in the automotive industry for additive manufacturing-enabling diverse designs and applications in the automotive and other industries.
The newly developed metal powder materials DPLA (dual phase low alloy) and FSLA (free sintered low alloy) meet the mechanical performance requirements similar to DP600 (HCT600X/C), for example, higher ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and low yield The ratio of strength to UTS can be used for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) and binder injection (FSLA), respectively-the true world firsts of these two additive manufacturing processes. Powder raw materials and parts made with these materials can be supplied immediately.
The target customers of the material are the automotive industry—for example, adjusting the design of automotive sheet metal parts or developing new structural parts—including manufacturers in the industrial field.
The performance of DPLA and FSLA surpasses the traditional automotive material DP600
It is important to understand that DPLA and FSLA are not traditional automotive materials DP600 (HCT600X/C) that are transformed into additives like "old wine in new bottles". The new powder material is specifically used for additive manufacturing, with improvements in spreadability, laser absorption (laser additive manufacturing) and sinterability (binder injection). As Christopher Schaak, GKN Additive's Binder Jetting Technology Manager, explained: "The traditional DP600 achieves specific standard mechanical properties through heat treatment.
On the other hand, the properties of the dual-phase steel additive manufacturing materials developed by GKN Additive are very flexible because their mechanical properties can be widely adjusted by heat treatment after the laser or binder spray process. This material can also realize various use cases in the industrial field, and has become an interesting choice for customers, which has been confirmed in the IDAM project.
"By using subsequent heat treatment processes to obtain the desired material properties (medium to high strength properties), additive manufacturing providers can use mature printing processes without process changes," said Sebastian Bluemer, GKN Additive laser additive manufacturing technology manager . He added: "This can simplify internal processes and speed up product delivery."
Before using DPLA and FSLA, GKN will first obtain the desired characteristics from the customer, and then must develop and verify a new material for the laser powder bed melting or binder injection process to meet these requirements in a targeted manner. This takes too long compared to the newly developed materials (DPLA/FSLA): the newly developed materials have a wide range of predefined properties, and an advanced printing process can be used to obtain different mechanical properties only by changing the subsequent heat treatment. ,
New design possibilities, faster functional verification, potential for weight reduction
Taking manufacturers in the automotive industry as an example, these two materials offer new design freedom and have the potential to reduce weight. "With these additive manufacturing processes, manufacturers in the automotive industry can construct body parts that are different from traditional sheet metal parts. If you look at Tailored Blank, many sheet metal parts and support parts need to be formed. And connect them together to obtain a certain degree of stiffness. On the contrary, using additive manufacturing to print structural parts, you need fewer process steps and materials, thereby optimizing costs and reducing weight," Christopher Schaak explained.
In addition, through the additive manufacturing process, the time it takes for new products to enter functional verification can be greatly reduced. Sebasiti Bluemer said: "Our customers want to know what this new additive manufacturing material can achieve in their respective use cases, and how it can be achieved. Rather than transforming the entire traditional production line and manufacturing parts in a traditional way, use Additive manufacturing is much faster to print parts. This means that for rapid functional verification of materials and parts, and for faster and more effective analysis of whether materials are helpful for specific applications, additive manufacturing is a good solution. "
In addition to optimizing existing designs, binder jetting and laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) using this new material can also be used to develop new designs (additive manufacturing designs), such as bionic structures-this is This is the area where additive manufacturing truly shows its power.