Osprey
3D printed mold with Osprey HWTS 50
Sandvik has announced it is revising its additive manufacturing strategy to focus primarily on metal powders.
The engineering company, which operates across manufacturing, mining and infrastructure industries, has also said it plans to exit its approximate minority stake in Italian 3D printing service provider BEAMIT. It has also divested the engineer-to-order business of DWFritz Automation, totalling to charges of approximately SEK 390 million, which will be accounted for in the third quarter and reported as items affecting comparability, approximately SEK 140 million of which relates to a write-down of the stake in BEAMIT.
Sandvik has been working to supply metal powder solutions in the AM space for more than two decades, and since 2013, has made sizeable investments into a wide range of AM technologies. In that time, the Swedish company has introduced new materials such as Osprey 2507 super-duplex stainless-steel, and patented processes for 3D printed cemented carbides, and even diamond. The company took a 30% stake in BEAMIT in 2019 to support what it described as a "need for AM-specialist partners with the advanced skills and resources required to help industrial customers develop and launch their AM programmes."
Sandvik later acquired DWFritz in 2021, with the intention to grow its ZeroTouch metrology business. Sandvik confirms ZeroTouch is not part of the divestment plans, and has instead officially launched it as a new business unit focused on advanced automated industrial measurement solutions.
The news of Sandvik's exits comes as a result of the strategic direction of Sandvik Manufacturing Solutions which plans to increase focus on software solutions and ‘software-enabling hardware solutions’ that can automate and optimise manufacturing processes.
Bolstering its focus on materials for additive manufacturing, today Sandvik has launched Osprey HWTS 50, a lean hot-work tool steel powder designed for enhanced printability in laser powder bed fusion, and to alleviate manufacturing challenges for hot-work tooling applications such as hot forming dies, extrusion and injection moulding dies, and high pressure die casting.
Faraz Deirmina, Principal Metallurgist in metal powder at Sandvik, said: “Additive manufacturing is increasingly being used to produce tools and dies with near-surface conformal cooling channels. Besides optimising processing parameters, it is important to develop chemistries specifically tailored for this technology to address fabrication challenges.”
