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Oerlikon Introduces New High Entropy Alloy to Replace Super Duplex Stainless Steels

December 02, 2021 | Categories: Member News

Oerlikon AM presents a new alloy to customers who are interested in being at the forefront in adopting an innovative new material to additively produce structural components, such as centrifugal pump impellers. The additive material is designed to match the strength and corrosion resistance of super duplex stainless steels (DSS). It is a high-entropy alloy with a nanoscale duplex microstructure.

Leveraging an inherent benefit of additive manufacturing, customers can create complex geometries using this new alloy that super duplex steel cannot address with conventional manufacturing. Smoother surfaces for the same structural application can also be realized in the printing process. Additionally, parts printed with the new alloy are crack-free when using a standard Powder Bed Fusion – Laser Beam process without baseplate preheating.

Components made from duplex stainless steel have challenging metallurgy and require complex post processing like heat treatment to avoid the formation of unwanted or detrimental phases in the microstructure. They are also sensitive to embrittlement at elevated temperatures.
The new alloy is the solution to replace DSS as it not only matches the corrosion resistance standards of DSS and provides superior strength properties, but is also less susceptible to changes caused by high temperature operation and requires only a single-step heat treatment.

Oerlikon developed this alloy as part of the NADEA project – a European research initiative on high-entropy alloys and in partnership with several industrial and academic partners. Using its proprietary Scoperta Rapid Alloy Development tool, Oerlikon was able to significantly shorten the process in developing the alloy. You can read more about it here.