NEWMAN Project – Sustainable high-performance components: Ni-free powders for PM

The growing awareness of environmental sustainability is increasingly influencing technological development, stimulating research into new materials and processes that reduce significantly the impact on the environment and the related risks. When designing a new mechanical component, therefore, in addition to the performance of the application, environmental sustainability is also an important factor to consider. In this perspective, for applications with a high-production volume and repetitiveness, powder metallurgy (PM) is an excellent alternative to traditional processes, reducing the consumption of materials and energy (no/less machining or melting).

Traditionally, high-performance steels containing critical metals as alloying elements have been used for applications characterized by high stresses (static and fatigue). These include Nickel (Ni), which is not only a carcinogenic element but also environmentally harmful and subject to great price fluctuations. For such reasons, the NEWMAN project has optimized Ni-free powders (NFP) solution while ensuring excellent mechanical properties and reliability. These properties make the material suitable for the manufacturing of high-performance structural components used in the automotive sector such as transmission or engine parts.

During the seminar, the results of the project will be presented, with an in-depth analysis of the characterization and validation activities of the new materials, production processes, and products. In addition, there will be contributions from the end-users in the automotive and automatic industrial machinery sectors (Stellantis – CRF and VICIVISION).