L.Zimmer¹*, T.Schwanekamp¹*, M.Reuber¹*, U.Beste²*, J.Bäckström²*

¹ Institute for Tooling and Manufacturing Technology, University of Applied Science Cologne, ² VBN Components AB

*leon.zimmer@rfh-koeln.de, *tobias.schwanekamp@rfh-koeln.de, *reuber@rfh-koeln.de, *ulrik.beste@vbncomponents.com, *johan.backstrom@vbncomponents.com 

This talk presents the cooperative research conducted by the material developer VBN Components AB and the Institute for Tooling and Manufacturing Technology of the University of Applied Science, Cologne for the qualification of the hard composite material system WC-Cr₃C₂-CoCr (Vibenite 480®) for the Laser Based-Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) process. This hybrid carbide material system was developed by VBN Components for Additive Manufacturing and was first launched for Electron Beam Based- Powder Bed Fusion process (PBF-EB). The Vibenite 480® meets high requirements for wear resistance, hardness, high-temperature strength as well as corrosion resistance.

The defect-free processing of such hard material systems requires high preheating temperatures of the powder bed, which are generated in the PBF-EB process by the electron beam itself. In the laser melting process, a high-temperature heater (800°C) in the build platform realizes preheating. With the use of suitable parameters in the PBF-LB process, the material system can be manufactured with a microstructure quality comparable to that of the PBF-EB process and finer, with higher hardness. Due to the high temperature gradients and solidification rates in the manufacturing process, the effects of a post-process sintering HIP are being further investigated.