The 3D printing industry is currently undergoing two significant development trends. The first is that the global supply chain of aluminum alloy materials seems to have "crossed the technology and cost threshold" and become the next generation opportunity to support additive manufacturing technology.
3D printing of aluminum alloys is making a leap, catching up with nickel alloys, stainless steel and titanium alloys.
A few days ago, Honeywell and SLM Solutions have achieved a breakthrough in the aluminum alloy 3D printing process in terms of higher laser energy and thicker layer thickness.
On July 20, 2020, Honeywell (China) and SLM Solutions achieved important success in the development cooperation of 3D printing of aluminum parts with high thickness. Compared with parts produced by die casting, aluminum alloy F357 (without The new version of beryllium AlSi7Mg0,6 (A357)) significantly improves the material properties.
Honeywell has developed a new printing process for aluminum alloy F357 with a layer thickness of 60 μm and a 700 W laser on the four-laser SLM®500 selective laser melting 3D printing equipment, which has reached an important milestone. Compared with traditional die-casting parts, the performance of the material has been greatly improved, and now it has exceeded the recognized aerospace metal performance.
Aluminum alloy F357 is not only light in weight, but also has significantly better corrosion resistance and required mechanical properties than conventional aluminum alloys, such as high strength in a wide temperature range. It has high weldability and is very suitable for post-processing, such as mechanical processing or electrochemistry (such as anodizing). The combination of these characteristics makes F357 very suitable for thin-walled and complex structures in the aerospace or automotive industries.
The cooperation between Honeywell and SLM Solutions was announced in 2019 to reduce the manufacturing time of 3D printed parts, reduce manufacturing costs, and meet the high requirements of the aerospace industry for component performance.
Honeywell Aerospace has found that the open system of SLM®500 has great advantages. With this open access strategy and the strong support of SLM solutions, it has developed industry-proven solutions. Openness has benefited both parties.