US-based Kennametal has formed a 3-D printing materials and production business unit — Kennametal Additive Manufacturing.

This has already started shipping production parts to customers in the oil and gas and power industries.

Kennametal Inc vice-president Ron Port said (www.kennametal.com): “Kennametal Additive Manufacturing combines our recognised expertise in wear materials, such as tungsten carbide and Kennametal Stellite, with the advantages of 3-D printing — design flexibility, shorter development cycles and reduced lead times.

"We are focused on additive solutions with high-growth potential, and this new business unit is advancing both what we make and how we make it, so we can produce better parts — faster and more efficiently — for our customers.”

Kennametal has been using 3-D printing materials and processes in its existing businesses for some time to make prototype components and cutting tools.

The new business unit builds on these capabilities to offer comprehensive 3-D printing solutions, from raw material to finished part.

It can supply cobalt, nickel and iron powders optimised for specific additive-manufacturing processes.

At its R&D, pilot production and prototyping centre in Pennsylvania, the business uses laser powder-bed and binder-jet printing technologies, combined with post-print processing capabilities — including sintering, hot isostatic pressing and machining — to produce fully finished components.