AZTERLAN PRESENTS METAL POWDER ATOMISATION CAPABILITIES

The AZTERLAN Metalworking Research Centre has presented its new metal powder atomisation capabilities during the presentation of the results of the Basque Government's AZPITEK programme, which was attended by the regional minister for Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment, Arantxa Tapia, the deputy minister for Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation, Estíbaliz Hernáez and the Director of Technology and Innovation, Alberto Fernández, as well as representatives from the Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA) and the Technology Centres and Scientific Research Centres belonging to the alliance. The event was presided over by Dr. Beatriz González Ciordia, General Manager of BETSAIDE S.A.L. and President of the AZTERLAN Foundation.

The research work being developed by AZTERLAN offers significant opportunities geared towards the metal-mechanical transformation industry, which will have an impact on the design and application of metal material and components.

Some key applications include:

• The capacity to contribute advanced coatings that make the components more resistant to corrosion, wear and tear or thermal fatigue.
• Manufacturing multi-material components.
• The opportunity to converge or hybridise manufacturing technologies that enable greater flexibility when manufacturing components with complex geometries or special characteristics (highlighting reducing weight or the possibility of manufacturing pieces with finer walls and small sizes).

In order to improve the capacities relating to this field of research and development, the AZTERLAN Technology Centre has equipped itself with new capacities for manufacturing metal powders by incorporating ultrasound atomisation equipment and other peripheral equipment for manufacturing and handling metal powders.

As Dr. Garikoitz Artola, General Manager of AZTERLAN explained, “with these new capabilities we will be able to create high quality metal powders using thread or bars made from different alloys and/or metals. They are used to develop high performance materials and applications in the basic research field, with low TRLs”. Garikoitz also pointed out that it's a unique piece of equipment in the RVCTI, “completely complementary with the capabilities of other technology centres involved in areas more closely linked to the industrialisation of processes and lower TRLs”.

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AZTERLAN's metal powder atomisation installations are made up of other equipment that is key for handling and characterising metal powders; an ultrasonic sifter, work hood, Hall funnel, scales and moisture meter; as well as peripheral equipment aimed at maintaining them (ultrasonic cleaning chamber and ATEX vacuuming equipment).

Presented alongside AZPITEK programme results

These new capabilities have been presented in the context of the presentation the results of the Basque Government's AZPITEK scheme, the financing framework of this new infrastructure, which was held at the headquarters of the AZTERLAN Metalworking Research Centre.

The presentation was attended by the regional minister for Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment, Arantxa Tapia, the deputy minister for Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation, Estíbaliz Hernáez and the Director of Technology and Innovation, Alberto Fernández, as well as representatives from the BRTA and the Technology Centres attached to the alliance During her speech, the minister recalled that the AZPITEK programme was “created in 2021 to help Technology Centres and Cooperative Research Centres of the Basque Science and Technology Network to upgrade and acquire new science and technology infrastructures in order to continue responding to the socio-economic challenges facing the Basque Country through science and technology” and pointed out that since its beginnings “it has managed to reinforce 51 scientific-technological infrastructures, with a total investment of €26M between the RIS3 strategies; Smart Industry, cleaner energies and health projects”.

Beatriz González, president of the AZTERLAN Foundation and General Manager of the ironworks company BETSAIDE S.A.L., thanked the Basque Government for the “trust shown in making this definitive commitment to an infrastructure that, without a doubt, has bolstered AZTERLAN to develop significant lines of research”, and the importance of this type of supports “to strengthen the Basque Country's R&D&i infrastructures”.

Along these same lines, the General Manager of AZTERLAN has also highlighted the support the centre already received in the AZPITEK 2021 round, which enabled it to incorporate EBSD Technology (Electron Backscatter Diffraction) and a new Axia ChemiSEM Scanning Electron Microscope, which “consolidates the research capabilities of this Technology Centre specialising in metalwork”.