Meltio announced their participation in a new European project to develop a new steel alloy.
The SUMMSEED project is a collaboration of several companies and universities that together will develop a new medium manganese alloy specifically designed for casting applications.
What does SUMMSEED stand for? It’s a rather forced acronym for “SUstainable Medium Manganese StEEls for cost-efficient applications in heavy inDustries.” Better than SMMSFCAIHI, I suppose.
They explain the goals:
“The developed alloy is expected to enable more efficient and sustainable applications in heavy industry, such as mining, by offering improved service performance compared to conventional Hadfield steels, particularly in low to medium load conditions. Thus, it will enable more sustainable production by reducing the alloying elements and the reuse of end-of-life parts.”
This means they are considering far more than just the chemistry of the steel itself, and are also focusing on the manufacture, and most importantly, the end-of-life process for this new material.
The driving force behind this project appears to be the European mining and heavy machinery sectors, who, Meltio says, “have long demanded a new type of steel”. They’re seeking a material that is more sustainable than current materials, yet which is also economically feasible.
The steel will not only be recyclable, but will require less CO2 to produce. The project will also attempt to minimize the amount of critically alloying elements, which could also reduce costs.
Meltio is involved because it is thought that the material would be ideal for use in DED laser 3D printing systems, which Meltio happens to produce. Their expertise will greatly assist the development of the new alloy.
Meltio explains:
“SUMMSEED represents the first approach to transferring MMnS metallurgy to industrially relevant conditions using highly applicable near-net shape techniques, with industrial mining equipment as the demonstrator.”
No timeline for the project was stated, but it’s likely we can expect results to start turning up in a year. We may even see this new material appear as an official AM material for Meltio, and perhaps others.
Via Meltio
