Ecken develops a new type of iron silicon powder for 3D printing of motors

Through the SOMA project funded by the European Union, organic silicon material expert Aiken has collaborated with research partners and clients to develop a new specialized iron silicon powder that can more efficiently 3D print motor components.

Yesterday's electric motor was usually made by cutting and shaping parts from a metal plate. 3D printing can fundamentally improve efficiency and reduce material consumption. However, 3D printing of large motor parts has been proven to be difficult because the parts become too brittle and are prone to breakage.

In the SOMA project, Aiken collaborated with project partners VTT, Siemens, Stellantis, and Gemmate Technologies to develop new materials for 3D printing.

This powder is called soft magnetic, which means it is easy to magnetize and demagnetize, which is important in electric motors. It was produced in a small pilot nebulizer located at the Norwegian Catapult Future Materials Center in Christiansan. This powder has been used in 3D printing components to evaluate the quality and manufacturing of demonstration equipment. 3D printing and part identification have been conducted at VTT in Finland and Siemens in Germany.

"This is a project that has the potential to change the manufacturing of motor components. We have successfully created a new type of specialized powder based on silicon steel with good printing adaptability. 3D printed components exhibit enhanced flexibility and competitive magnetism," said Tomi Lindroos of VTT.

The last use case is to produce motors for electric scooters. The modeling conducted by Gemmate Technologies and VTT provides more innovative design opportunities for this use case.

"The powder developed in the SOMA project will now be pushed to the market by Ecken to evaluate the future commercial production of the product. The product is currently being provided through small batch testing," said Jan Ove Odden, Ecken project leader.

As the world shifts towards more sustainable modes of transportation, electrification has become a top priority for car manufacturers, governments, and consumers. Aiken is one of the world's leading suppliers of advanced silicon-based materials and will continue to provide silicon-based products for the mobile and transportation industries.

This three-year project started in January 2021 and received support from EIT Raw Materials. The project is funded by the European Union and has a total budget of slightly over 5.6 million euros.

Source: Laser Net