In-situ Alloying Development for the Laser Additive Manufacturing of Sustainable Wear Resistant Coating

SWRC will use in-situ alloying innovation in laser additive manufacturing (AM) to create sustainable hardfacings on downhole drilling tools to increase productivity and tool life. The technology uses elemental powders to formulate new materials composition. Chemical reaction of the materials take place in the melt-pool created by a laser beam, and form hardfacing coating within fraction of a second.
In this project, sustainable materials will be developed by Powderloop technology (PLT) and University of Hertfordshire (UH), to reduce or remove the use of scrace materials, and support the industries transition into more sustainable materials. Commonly used hardfacing materials, like tungsten and cobalt, are strategic and "at-risk" materials on the British Geological Survey. Using elemental materials in our innovation allows for wider selection of non-strategic materials and ensure better supply chain visibility.
To use in laser AM and to maximise flowability and homogeniety of the elemental materials, the project will use a resource-efficient powder manufacturing process developed by PLT. The game-changing technology agglomerates fine particles of elemental powders into spherical powders, and eliminates multiple high-energy, resource wasteful stages as found in the conventional hardmetal manufacturing process.
The project’s Singaporean partner and end-user, Oilfield Services & Supplies (OSS), is a globally renowned supplier of downhole tools to service companies and drilling contractors, with 8 sites located acoss Asia. Their current tungsten carbide (WC) hardfacing coatings are formed by brazing or thermal spray processes. Recently, they are engaging with Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC), a research institute, to develop laser cladding (a laser AM technique) of hardfacing coating. However, the use of conventional hardmetal powders in laser cladding was challenging, including carbide decomposition, formation of brittle phases that lead to severe cracking in the hard coating.
The project will deposit near-net shape coating, to diminishing subtractive manufacturing which is both costly and slow due to the high hardness of the deposited material. We are estimating a cost saving of ~50% through the reduction of energy and material usage and increase in productivity, when compared with conventional manufacturing process.