AP&C to offer aluminium alloy F357 powder from April 2019
November 13, 2018
The final analysis to determine the content of carbon and sulphur within a metallic matrix, F357 (Courtesy GE Additive)
AP&C, a GE Additive company, has announced that it will begin production of aluminium alloy F357 powder in Q1 2019, with customer deliveries expected from April 2019. The alloy is known to have good weldability, with high strength and toughness offering a good corrosion resistance and heat conductivity.
The demand for Aluminum F357 alloy is said to be increasing, particularly from customers in the aerospace and automotive sectors. The alloy powder will be produced using AP&C’s proprietary Advanced Plasma Atomisation (APA™) at its recently expanded facility in Saint-Eustache, Canada. This new, automated plant offers a full production capacity of 1,000 tons.
Aluminium shares similar characteristics with titanium, and aluminium alloy F357 powder is said to have the same quality signature as APATM titanium powders – good processability, high flowability, high packing, low porosity and high purity – which are all required by the Additive Manufacturing industry to enhance performance and reliability of the aluminium printing process.
“It’s great to add aluminium F357 to our portfolio. Our customers have been asking us to provide aluminium solutions to address the challenges they currently experience. We are confident we’ve developed a solution that solves these challenges,” stated Alain Dupont, President & CEO, AP&C.
“The modular cell-based structure of our new plant in Saint-Eustache allows us to respond quickly to the additive industry’s demands as it rapidly evolves,” he added.
GE Additive is at formnext 2018, 13-16 November, Frankfurt Germany, Hall 3, Booth D30.
