Additive manufactured cutting tools
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | VBN Components AB |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 3 304 000 |
| Project duration | December 2013 - March 2016 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | FFI - Sustainable Production |
| Call | 2013-01869-en |
| End-of-project report | 2013-04686sv.pdf(pdf, 845 kB) (In Swedish) |
Important results from the project
In addition to the goals that have been achieved, the major purpose of the project was to establish and industrialize 3D-printing of wear resistant materials. This purpose has been fulfilled by: VBN Components has built an industrial AM production unit of Vibenite® in Uppsala. Primateria has established a new workshop for surface treatment in Köping. Six different commercial tool makers from Sweden, Germany, Italy, England and US have been involved in finishing of additive manufactured tool blanks. Additive manufactured tools have been tested with good performance.
Expected long term effects
The project has got a great interest from tool makers, end users and other companies. These companies are mainly from Europe, but also from US, India, etc. The new material Vibenite®60 has shown to behave similar to traditional materials in hardening, grinding and coating. It has been shown that it is possible to heavily reduce the weight of the gear hobs, by lightweight structure, which reduce handling damages and operator injuries.
Approach and implementation
The project was planned to run four manufacturing loops, where each loop would result in a small number of tools for testing. Due to problems getting manufacturing work, the project approach was changed to a become more linear, where each development step was taken separately. This resulted in a larger amount of tools manufactured in the end of the project, but still the expected technical development has been performed.