GKN
GKN Additive
High capacity water atomisation process at GKN's Buzau plant in Romania.
GKN Additive has announced it is preparing to locally produce metal powders for additive manufacturing in Europe after identifying a high demand.
The company will look to supply metal additive manufacturing powders through its GKN Additive Materials business segment at its Hueckeswagen facility, which already houses a team of GKN Sinter Metals experts. It believes by locating itself closer to its European partners, they will be able to achieve quicker turnaround times.
GKN Additive Materials, which was set up after GKN Additive and GKN Hoeganaes merged their expertise, is warehousing standard additive manufacturing powders, such as 316L, 17-4PH and 20MnCr5, but will also work to develop custom materials specific to customer needs. The Hoeganaes side of the GKN Additive Materials recently completed the first trials of producing water atomised additive manufacturing powders in its high-volume facility in Buzau, Romania. Alloys to be produced during these trials include ANCOR AM 4600 and ANCOR AM DP600, low alloys steels which are both used in automotive and structural applications. Research groups in Europe and customers in North America are currently evaluating these materials.
The primary motivation behind the company’s increasing presence in Europe is to enable its customers using additive technologies to reduce time-to-market. GKN Additive says it hears of customers often struggling to forecast prototyping projects enough to allow for a four to six-week lead time, working off one-week powder requests. By positioning itself closer to these companies, GKN will now be able to deliver powders more efficiently and react to subsequent requests more quickly.
GKN Additive will be exhibiting at Formnext in Hall 12.1 Stand C51 between November 19-22.
Formnext takes place in Frankfurt on 19-22 November. Register for your showfloor ticket here and visit the TCT @ Formnext Conference website to register for your conference pass.
