Fibre Metallurgy

Materials

Example

Laser cut plate made of sintered steel fibres for the use in polyurethane foaming tool
© C. Hafner GmbH
C. Hafner GmbH from Pforzheim produces design jewellery made of gold fibres, which are manufactured at Fraunhofer IFAM Dresden directly from the melt.

During fibre production by melt extraction, there are hardly any restrictions on the material composition due to the rapid solidification. In addition to aluminum, copper and precious metal alloys based on silver, gold, platinum and palladium, the Fraunhofer IFAM also processes particularly high-temperature resistant iron-based and nickel-based alloys into fibers and highly porous, sintered structures. For example, increasing the aluminum content of iron-chromium-aluminum alloys from 5 to 15 % results in a multiplication of the tool life at operating temperatures of 1000 °C or more.

By adding high aluminium concentrations, pure iron, nickel or titanium aluminides can also be produced as fibres. Commercial alloy compositions, such as various high-alloy steel types or nickel-based superalloys, can also be processed into fibers and sintered components. A particular speciality is the production of magnetostrictive fibres, for example from nickel-manganese-gallium alloys. We look forward to receiving your inquiry about your individual metal fibre alloy.