There are some applications for which the wear resistance of tooling steel or the corrosion resistance of common materials simply is not enough anymore. For these cases, as they often occur during the production of casting molds or cutting systems as well as in the chemical industry, hard metals tend to be the material of choice. The most commonly used of these materials is tungsten carbide. It not only has a high elastic modulus, but is also extremely strong. The machining of these materials is thus very difficult and expensive. In many cases it may even be more cost-efficient to erode the work pieces. With our ExAM systems and through the use of the CEM process, you can turn this common disadvantage into your personal advantage: Print your desired near-net-shaped part and, depending on your preferences, process either the green compact directly before the sintering step or your near-net-shaped part after the sintering step. Hence, you will be able to reduce your tooling costs and machine hours, thus securing your competitive edge.

Applicable hard metals

• Wc0,8Co13,5
•  Wc0,8Co10