Equispheres launches new aluminium powders for AM
January 13, 2021
Equispheres, a materials science company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, has launched a new line of powder products intended to assist customers in achieving optimal results for speciality metal Additive Manufacturing applications.
The company explains that the three new powders are variations on its original high-performance aluminium alloy which was engineered to offer enhanced features for either increased build precision, enhanced additively manufactured part strength, or faster production speed and volume.
In addition to the original atomised AlSi10Mg powder Equispheres produces, the new metal powder products include:
- Equispheres Performance – powder designed to provide enhanced additively manufactured part strength and performance across a wide range of applications and that achieves a 20–30% increase in the a-basis design allowable over traditional powders.
- Equispheres Precision – powder designed to support applications where fine features and precision (as related to CAD design) are of paramount importance. This powder has proven to provide a 50% improvement in dimensional accuracy.
- Equispheres Production – powder designed to reduce the cost per part manufactured, with features designed to facilitate the rapid production of items without compromising mechanical performance. The company is working on parameter sets to increase production speeds by three to four times.
“Equispheres’ unique proprietary atomisation process is carefully controlled and can be managed with precision,” stated Dr Conlon, CTO at Equispheres. “Powder features such as PSD (particle size distribution), morphology, and chemistry can be optimised to achieve specific behaviour in the laser melting process and to meet defined application requirements.”
Evan Butler-Jones, Director of Applications Engineering at Equispheres, commented, “The unique nature of the Equispheres powder requires the use of special printer parameters to achieve the best outcomes. Our research team has been working with our industrial partners in automotive and aerospace to arrive at the optimal methods for the application of our powder.”
“For new customers, that knowledge on how to best use the powder is just as important as having the powder itself, which is why we now offer engineering service to facilitate the implementation of the powder into production,” added Butler-Jones.
Equispheres plans to announce an additional line of products, specifically for sintering and use in binder jet machines, in Q1 of 2021.
