GKN validating DP 600 steel on EOS metal 3D printer as IDAM project reaches halfway point

Two pilot production lines are to be installed at GKN and BMW sites in Germany.

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GKN Powder Metallurgy is validating the use of DP 600 steel on the EOS M300-4 3D printing platform as the Industrialisation and Digitalisation of Additive Manufacturing (IDAM) project reaches the halfway stage.

The IDAM project was set up in 2019, with 12 industrial and academic partners looking to address the limitation of powder bed fusion technologies and enhance its suitability for serial production application in markets like automotive. Part funded by The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the €20m initiative aims to build two pilot production lines powered by the Internet of Things and automation technologies and designed for the additively manufacture of automotive components.

GKN Powder Metallurgy is set to host one of these production lines at its Bonn facility, with BMW’s Munich centre home to the other, and has recently begun working with DP 600 steel on its recently required EOS M300-4 metal 3D printer. The material is a dual-phase steel that can be tuned using heat treatment methods. It boasts an elongation rate of 22% with heat treatment, and 13% without, while demonstrating a tensile strength of 700 MPA with heat treatment, and 950 MPA as built. GKN and partners, which include Volkmann GmbH, Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT and Technical University of Munich, believe the material will be suitable for a number of structural applications in the automotive sector and elsewhere, while there is further potential for cost-per-part reductions using water atomised powders. The company is also testing out multi-laser exposure strategies on the M300-4 to in a bid to expand its productivity.

Through this project, the aim is to produce over 10,000 individual and spare parts per year, as well as at least 50,000 mass produced components. In order to achieve those goals, the partners have created a ‘digital architecture’ to enable a connected overview of the entire additive process chain to enhance reliability, while also selecting two industrial heavyweights in GKN and BMW to qualify the production lines.

Between them, GKN and BMW have extensive expertise in series production, powder metallurgy, automotive applications and standards, as well as a wealth of additive manufacturing knowledge. The companies are said to be well-placed to assist the translation of process development concepts from academia to industrial application-focused strategies, digitally connect other additive manufacturing processes like Metal Binder Jetting and Multi Jet Fusion, provide support to the SMEs who are developing the pilot line modules.

Announced last year with work commencing on March 1st, the IDAM project has a completion date set for the end of February 2022.

“We are now halfway through the IDAM roadmap. Currently, we are in the phase of checking the concepts of the pilot line modules. We are preparing to receive the remaining modules by the beginning of 2021, which will give us about a year to test and qualify them,” commented Sebastian Blümer, Technology Manager Laser AM at GKN Powder Metallurgy. “In other words, the digital architecture is almost finished, and we are now looking to the prototype phase. We are eager to get the pilot line modules connected with our internal systems to simulate the IDAM workflow.”

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