Chemicals company Elkem and its project partners VTT, Siemens, Stellantis and Gemmate Technologies have developed a 3D printing powder for EV motors.

The development is part of the SOMA project, which aims to develop lightweight solutions for e-mobility by using additive manufacturing for soft magnetic alloys. Elkem has developed a new specialized iron silicon powder  (with additives) for printing. The material  is soft magnetic, making it easy to magnetize and de-magnetize for electrical motors. A small-scale pilot atomizer at the Future Materials Norwegian Catapult Centre in Kristiansand produces it. 

The powder has been used to 3D-print components for evaluation of the quality and manufacturing of demo devices. The 3D printing and part qualification has been done at VTT in Finland and Siemens in Germany. The final use case was to produce a motor for an electric scooter. The use case was supported by modeling carried out by Gemmate-Technologies and VTT.

“The powder developed in the SOMA project will now be introduced to the market by Elkem for evaluating the product for future commercial production,” said Jan Ove Odden, Project Lleader at Elkem. “The product is currently available in small test volumes.” 

Source: Elkem