After acquiring a 30% stake in Italian metal AM service bureau BEAMIT, Swedish company Sandvik and its Italian partner are showcasing a combined metal powder and AM offering at Formnext. At their joint Sandvik-BEAMIT booth, the companies are displaying a range of Sandvik’s Osprey metal powders and customer use-cases, as well as introducing new nickel-based superalloys and titanium powders.

The high-grade metal powders, which meet the requirements of the aerospace, automotive and energy sectors, can be used to print light yet durable components with complex geometries. The addition of the two metal AM powders to its portfolio means Sandvik now has one of the broadest alloy programs on the market for metal AM, which it can tailor to any powder-based metal printing process.

“By co-exhibiting at Formnext, our customers will have the opportunity to experience and discuss the complementary and combined power of Sandvik and BEAMIT,” said Kristian Egeberg, President of Sandvik Additive Manufacturing. “The additive manufacturing sector is developing fast, and there is a need for AM-specialist-partners with the advanced skills and resources required to help industrial customers develop and launch their AM programs. Sandvik and BEAMIT have leading capabilities across the whole AM value-chain and can enable companies to accelerate this development.”

Mauro Antolotti, Chairman and founder of BEAMIT, added: “In Sandvik, we have an excellent owner and strategic partner who can provide us with leading materials expertise, development of high-quality metal powder suited for all AM processes, as well as world-leading post-processing know-how. Our partnership will benefit both current and future AM-customers going forward.”

Sandvik will also take the opportunity to showcase its famous 3D printed smash-proof guitar and its diamond composite 3D printing material at Formnext—both of which are finalists in the 2019 Purmundus Challenge. BEAMIT, for its part, will be displaying the award-winning Lunar motorbike with 3D printed components

BEAMIT acquires additional SLM 500 3D printer

In other related news, BEAMIT has acquired its third SLM Solutions machine of the year: a SLM 500 quad-laser 3D printer. The Italian AM service now operates a total of eight selective laser melting units from SLM Solutions.

The newly installed system will primarily be used for printing aluminum parts for the motorsport and automotive markets. To better address these markets, BEAMIT intends to develop custom, high-speed parameters for Al2024X and Al6061 alloys—which is possible thanks to SLM Solutions’ open parameter access.

“This summer we announced that Sandvik acquired a stake in BEAMIT because of our well-recognized expertise in metal additive manufacturing, and our partnership with SLM Solutions allows us to further leverage that expertise,” said Antolotti. “With the advanced material knowledge of Sandvik and the parameter freedom of the SLM machine, we plan to develop top-quality parameters targeting the specific needs of our high-performance automotive and racing customers.”

“The benefits of SLM Solutions’ machines, including open parameters and multi-laser productivity, will help BEAMIT offer their customers unique solutions,” commented Meddah Hadjar, CEO of SLM Solutions. “They purchased two selective laser systems earlier this year to develop parameters for nickel-based alloys and we are confident that they will have an equal amount of success in advancing aluminum parameters for the industry on their newest SLM 500.”