Additive manufacturing of soft magnetic materials

博鲁姆能源解决方案公司(BES)从事设计、制造、组装和销售小型风力涡轮机的业务。BES有兴趣改进设计，以确保风力涡轮机在加拿大北部严酷寒冷的环境中可靠地运行。发电机部件的设计复杂性可以通过加法制造(AM)来优化实现。这一未来的产品目标对BES的技术和业务方向非常重要，特别是在提供支持目标市场需求所需的更高千瓦规格、确保具有成本效益的解决方案以及开辟新供应链方面。该项目的目标是与滑铁卢大学的多尺度添加剂制造实验室(MSAM)合作，确定利用粉末床粘结剂喷射(PBBJ)制造发电机部件的适用性和方法、原型设计并测试其性能。感兴趣的材料是一种软磁材料，称为电工钢或硅钢。MSAM的研究小组已经验证了通过AM使用纯铁和低合金钢制造部件的能力；软磁材料将是MSAM通过PBBJ AM探索的补充领域技术方法是通过PBBJ为发电机部件的AM开发工艺流程，其中实验设计将确保高生坯零件密度，而脱粘和烧结研究将确保最终零件密度和尺寸保真度。该项目将在加拿大制造业的背景下展示低风险的AM采用路线图，特别是对中小型企业的影响。通过这个项目，MSAM希望推进软磁材料AM的研究领域，而BES则积极寻求通过多样化产品来增加竞争优势。

Borrum Energy Solutions (BES) is in the business of designing, manufacturing, assembling, and selling small wind turbines. BES is interested in enhancing designs to ensure wind turbines operate reliably in harsh and cold northern Canadian environments. The design complexity of the electrical generator components can be achieved optimally via additive manufacturing (AM). This future product target is very important to the technology and business direction of BES, specifically in terms of delivering higher kW specifications required to support the needs of the target market, ensuring a cost-effective solution, and opening up a new supply chain. The project objective is to determine the applicability and method to fabricate generator components with powder bed binder jetting (PBBJ), prototyping designs, and testing their performance in collaboration with the Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing Laboratory (MSAM) at the University of Waterloo. The material of interest is a soft magnetic material, called electrical steel or silicon steel. The research group at MSAM, have verified the ability to manufacture components using pure iron and low alloy steels via AM; soft magnetic materials would be a complementary area for MSAM to explore via PBBJ AM. The technical approach is to develop a process workflow for AM of electrical generator components via PBBJ, where design of experiments will ensure high green part densities, while de-binding and sintering studies will ensure the final part density and dimensional fidelity. The project will demonstrate a low-risk AM adoption roadmap in the context of the Canadian manufacturing sector, specifically impacting small-to-medium size enterprises. Through this project, MSAM is looking to advance the research field of AM of soft magnetic materials, while BES is actively looking to increase competitive advantage by diversifying product offerings.