Cookson Industrial turns to Renishaw for cost-effective Additive Manufacturing of platinum rhodium
November 22, 2024
Renishaw, based in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, UK, has reportedly helped Cookson Industrial, a division of Cooksongold, based in Birmingham, UK, to significantly reduce the cost of Additive Manufacturing platinum rhodium. Cookson Industrial can now produce platinum rhodium components on Renishaw’s RenAM 500S Flex AM machine with exceptional material efficiency.
Cookson Industrial brings over 30 years of expertise in the design and production of precious metal alloys. The company set out to redefine platinum rhodium’s use in Additive Manufacturing. However, with platinum rhodium prices averaging £80,000 per kilo, minimising material waste is crucial to making production commercially viable.
To meet this challenge, Cookson Industrial selected Renishaw’s RenAM 500S Flex, a Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) machine designed for research and development applications. Renishaw’s AM engineering team worked closely with Cookson Industrial to adapt the system to the specific demands of platinum rhodium production. As standard, the RenAM 500S Flex is capable of achieving powder waste levels as low as 1.5%. However, to align with Cookson Industrial’s requirements, customisations were needed to reduce it to less than 0.5%.
“Achieving near-zero wastage of platinum rhodium powder was a top priority,” said Jason Morgan, Senior Applications Engineer at Renishaw. “We collaborated with Cookson’s engineers to identify and eliminate potential ‘powder traps’ within the system, followed by rapid testing and redesigns to minimise waste while maintaining performance.”
Renishaw’s customisations included modifying internal system components to prevent powder accumulation, such as removing overflow bellows and optimising the rear overflow vent. Additional measures included chamber redesigns and the creation of specialised casings and covers, resulting in a 95% reduction in powder waste. Now, the RenAM 500S Flex allows Cookson Industrial to retrieve nearly all platinum rhodium powder, amounting to significant cost savings.
“Renishaw’s technology and expertise were crucial to this R&D success, enabling us to make platinum rhodium parts on a commercial scale,” commented Nikesh Patel, Head of Cookson Industrial. “The ability to minimise powder loss not only brings down our production costs but also makes large-scale production feasible, saving millions over the machine’s lifetime.”
“This success paves the way for Cookson Industrial to explore new applications for platinum rhodium AM, including catalysts and aerospace engine nozzles,” Renishaw’s Morgan added, “Our collaboration with Cookson Industrial highlights Renishaw’s commitment to supporting customers in every step of their AM journey, especially when working with novel materials.”
