Metal AM Summer 2019 by Inovar Communications

Metal AM Summer 2019

AM wear-resistant carbide components

VBN Components: Additive Manufacturing delivers a new generation of wear-resistant carbide parts Sweden’s VBN Components AB has successfully combined the design freedoms offered by Additive Manufacturing with innovative process and material developments to create a new generation of high-strength, carbide-rich tool materials. These unique, patented alloys are transforming tool and wear component performance across a range of applications, from gear cutting hobs to food processing and the mining sector. Isabelle Bodén reports on the company’s development and the unique properties of its products.

In the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, the foundation was laid for what would become VBN Components AB, based in Uppsala, Sweden. Uncertainty was high at a time when many manufacturing companies had more cancellations than actual orders. However, VBN saw the opportunity to turn the business for wear-resistant high alloy steel products on its head by using Additive Manufacturing to produce high-strength, carbide-rich tool steel materials. Conventional wear-resistant steel materials have a broad range of established industrial uses, from gear cutting to applications in mining, plus a wide range of other industries where exceptional hardness is required, but where shape and material performance are often restricted by the limits of conventional manufacturing technologies. “Our strength at the time was a broad experience of industrial processes, but these were complex and were associated with extended lead times. There was a significant

limitation to what materials a mechanical engineer could choose – all of this we wanted to change,” stated Ulrik Beste, CTO and one of VBN’s founders. As a result of the work undertaken by VBN, a new generation of high alloy materials has

Vibenite® 290 Vibenite® 480

World’s hardest steel

Hybrid carbide metal

Hardness of 68-72 HRC

Vibenite® 280

~25% carbides

~65% carbides

~20% carbides Hardness of 63-70 HRC

Hardness of ~66 HRC

Vibenite® 350 Corrosion resistant ~20% carbides and nitrides Hardness of ~60 HRC

Vibenite® 150 ~7% carbides Hardness of 55-63 HRC

Fig. 1 The current range of Vibenite materials, with their carbide content and hardness values

been developed, along with an innovative Additive Manufacturing process based on Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion (EB-PBF). In the Autumn of 2014, VBN issued new shares and received a large investment which enabled it

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