AM 4 AM announces development of high-strength aluminium alloy powder for Additive Manufacturing
September 27, 2022
AM 4 AM, Foetz, Luxembourg, has launched HiPerAl, its new high-mechanical strength aluminium alloy developed specifically for laser-based Additive Manufacturing processes. The alloy is a zirconium derivative of a 7000 series aluminium powder produced by the company’s patented cold plasma treatment, and is said to eradicate issues with cracks and porosities that can occur when processing aluminium.
“After three years of development, we are proud to present our first material, HiPerAl,” stated Maxime Delmée, the company’s CEO and founder. “This alloy has been developed in the frame of a Horizon 2020 European project and will be dedicated to lightweight applications that require high mechanical properties such as aeronautic, space and automotive. This material has been designed thanks to our atmospheric and cold plasma process which we will use to develop tens of new alloys in the forthcoming years.”
Delmée continued, “We consider that the major part of the alloys used in conventional industry are not adapted to Additive Manufacturing and that we have to develop new ones that will be more suitable to these processes in term of element vapourisation, oxidation, reflectivity or cracks formation. HiPerAl has been designed in taking these phenomena into account in order to reach best quality parts for our customers.”
AM 4 AM expects commercial production and delivery of HiPerAl to begin in Q1 2023.
