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September 9, 2020

Johan Bäckström new CEO of VBN Components

PRESS RELEASE 9 SEPTEMBER 2020

Johan Bäckström, new CEO of VBN Components

Swedish VBN Components AB, known for its extremely wear and heat resistant Vibenite® materials, has appointed Johan Bäckström as its new CEO. Johan Bäckström has held several positions as head of sales and service in previous companies and has a broad experience from managing international B2B and B2G sales, marketing and export of highly advanced technical systems and services. This includes setting up international consortiums, but also establishing sales channels like agents, distributors, and system integrators globally. He holds a Master of Science degree in Engineering Physics from Uppsala University, Sweden.

“I am very pleased to have been afforded the trust as CEO of VBN Components since I have followed VBN’s successful development for many years. VBN is a business with fantastic people, customers and products, that has been awarded many eminent prizes over the years. I look forward to scaling up VBN’s operations and sales towards profitable success,” says Johan Bäckström.

Vibenite® metals are suited for industrial tools and components in demanding applications, so Johan Bäckström’s experience from high-tech companies where quality, internationalisation, and business development are top priorities is right in line with VBN’s future plans to radically transform the traditional industry.

Filed Under: news, pressrelease

June 29, 2020

VBN Components’ cemented carbide wins Best of Industry Award

PRESS RELEASE 29 JUNE 2020

A hard metal (cemented carbide) produced with new shapes and functions, without sintering or machining. Minimal material waste. A patented alloy that is heat resistant up to at least 750°C. After years of research, VBN Components was the first company to succeed with this innovation, that has just won the German “Best of Industry Award”.

Swedish VBN Components develops new materials with extreme wear and heat resistance, produced with 3D printing. For more than a decade the company has been pioneering the metal industry. The latest innovation, the cemented carbide Vibenite® 480, was awarded on June 25th with the German “Best of Industry Award” in the category of additive manufacturing. The magazine and organiser MM Maschinenmarkt broadcasted an online prize ceremony from Würzburg.

The Vibenite® 480 alloy is extremely heat and wear resistant, and also corrosion resistant. The fact that it is produced by additive manufacturing / 3D printing is absolutely ground-breaking. It enables complex shapes for industrial tools and components and reduces environmental impact to an absolute minimum.

“Germany is a very important market for us, and we are delighted to receive this award in this heavy competition. The company vision is to renew the materials industry in the world by developing materials that offer uniqueness and improved industrial performance, and the Best of Industry Award is a great recognition to our achievement”, says Ulrik Beste, CTO of VBN Components.

Increased productivity and reduced environmental impact

Vibenite® 480 is based on metal powder produced through large scale industrial gas atomisation. This minimises both cost and environmental impact. The new material combines the toughness of powder metallurgy high speed steels (PM-HSS) with the heat resistance of cemented carbides, which is why this new group of materials is named hybrid carbides.

Compressor screw, as printed and ground “diamond” in Vibenite® 480, showing a smooth and pore- free material.

Within 3D printing it was always a wish to produce alloys with high carbide content. VBN Components has proved that they definitely master this technique, as the only company world-wide. Their Vibenite® 480 has a carbide content of ~65% but is still tougher than regular cemented carbides and therefore suitable for more complex details. Typical applications for Vibenite® 480 are cutting tools for milling, drilling and gear cutting, which require good wear resistance at high temperatures combined with good toughness. The 3D printing process opens up completely new possibilities in the design of the tools.

Vibenite® 480 is also suitable for all components that are subject to high wear, such as pump components, nozzles, and baffle plates. – An ideal alternative to hard metals or wear-resistant alloys. Thanks to the 3D printing process, the components can rapidly be produced in near-net-shape. The design options of 3D printing offer new approaches to make components even more wear resistant. 3D printed cutting tools or wear components can be manufactured with very short lead times, which opens for many new approaches to build, test and improve prototypes and finally take the optimised component or cutting tool to serial production.

Click here to watch the video about Vibenite® 480.

Filed Under: news, pressrelease

June 9, 2020

Increasing growth with Swedish Scaleups

Today we made a press release to Swedish press about being selected for the corporate development program Swedish Scaleups, where established companies with large growth potential will benefit from custom made support for maximum growth. VBN is an alumnus from the incubator UIC (Uppsala Innovation Centre), one of the top five incubators in the world according to UBI Global. As a part of Swedish Scaleups, UIC will now be able to support VBN with specialist knowledge within areas such as law, economy, marketing, leadership and technology, while keeping the balance between growth, recruitments and cashflow. Below is the full press release in Swedish.

PRESSMEDDELANDE 9 JUNI, 2020

VBN Components ökar takten med Swedish Scaleups

Ulrik Beste, Teknisk chef och Isabelle Bodén, Customer relations på VBN Components.

Uppsala-företaget VBN Components är en pionjär inom 3D-printing i metall som utvecklar nya legeringar med extrem nötnings- och värmetålighet. Nu har VBN antagits till programmet Swedish Scaleups, som hjälper innovativa bolag i östra Mellansverige att växa ännu snabbare.

VBN Components tillverkar extremt nötningståliga och värmetåliga metallkomponenter och verktyg för industriellt bruk. Produkterna tillverkas enligt kundritning och färdigställs genom en patenterad 3D-printingsprocess. Kunderna ser materialbesparingar på upp till 87 %, samtidigt som många produkter kan ges förbättrade egenskaper med integrerade kylkanaler, ökad livslängd och lägre vikt. De färdiga metallegeringarna med varumärket Vibenite®, har exceptionell nötnings- och värmetålighet. Genom åren har det visats att komponenter som tillverkas i Vibenite® har påtagligt längre livslängd än de som görs av traditionellt framställda metaller. VBN är ensamma om att erbjuda 3D-printat stål med högt karbidinnehåll, och 3D-printar även industrikomponenter i hårdmetall, som enda företag i världen.

Företagsinkubatorn UIC (Uppsala Innovation Centre) ingår i Swedish Scaleups, som stöttar innovativa bolag i östra Mellansverige att växa ännu snabbare. Scaleup riktar sig till mogna bolag som är redo att skala upp på allvar och satsa mot en kraftig tillväxt. Programmet är helt branschoberoende och skräddarsys efter företagens behov med fokus på kapitalanskaffning och internationalisering. Tillsammans erbjuder tio företagsinkubatorer och science parks en unik tillgång till skräddarsydd support för att snabbare skala upp företagets verksamhet.

” Vi är otroligt glada att VBN Components ser värdet av att delta i Swedish Scaleups. Det är ett spännande bolag med en hållbar och innovativ affärsidé samt goda förutsättningar till snabb tillväxt. Vi ser fram emot att följa deras framgångsresa”, säger Michael Camitz, projektledare Swedish Scaleups/UIC.

Genom programmet kan VBN Components få tillgång till anpassad specialistkunskap inom områden som juridik, ekonomi, marknadsföring, ledarskap och teknik. Målet är att gå från kunder som är Early Adopters till en massmarknad, samtidigt som man behåller balansen mellan tillväxt, rekryteringar och cashflow.

”Att ha blivit antagna till Swedish Scaleups ligger helt i linje med vår tillväxtplan. Ett företags tillväxt kan beskrivas som en samling geometriska figurer som behöver placeras i marknadens tidigare, olikformade hål. Swedish Scaleups hjälper till med precisionen och hur vi kan ta genvägar”, säger Ulrik Beste, Teknisk chef på VBN Components.

Filed Under: news, pressrelease

February 25, 2020

VBN Components redefines wear resistance at METAV 2020

*** UNFORTUNATELY METAV HAS BEEN POSTPONED BY THE ORGANISER DUE TO THE CORONA VIRUS ***

Press release 25 February 2020

Swedish VBN Components is a pioneer in the metal 3D printing industry. For more than a decade the company has developed new materials with extreme wear and heat resistance. From 10-13 March you can have a closer look at their innovations like cemented carbide, the world’s hardest steel and multi material printing in the Additive Manufacturing Circle at METAV Düsseldorf, Germany.

Metal 3D printing has many advantages. It is far more environmentally friendly than traditional industry, and it makes product development almost as fast as you can come up with a new design. More complex shapes are possible, followed by new functions for industrial components. 3D printing with a high level of carbides was long considered “impossible”, but VBN Components has made it its niche, and thereby redefining the notion of wear resistance for industrial components.

Vibenite® materials are offered with a hardness between 58–72 HRC. Very fine and well-dispersed carbides make them both tougher and multiple times more wear resistant than traditional alloys. Components and tools are printed according to customer designs and may contain up to 65 vol% of carbides, depending on which Vibenite® material the customer has chosen. For multiple properties in the same component, one Vibenite® material can be printed upon another, or upon a traditional material, which is called Vibenite® Combo.

Since December 2018 VBN offers the cemented carbide Vibenite® 480, that combines the toughness of powder metallurgical high-speed steels (PM-HSS) with the heat resistance of cemented carbides. The carbides (65 vol%) are fine and well-dispersed, giving a structure with higher toughness than traditional cemented carbides. Long-term hot hardness has been measured to 750° C for this corrosion resistant material with a hardness of ~66 HRC.

“Many organisations with great resources are aiming at developing 3D printed cemented carbide that can actually be used for industrial components, but VBN Components is the only one that has actually succeeded”, says Dr.Ulrik Beste, Chief Technical Officer.

Today there are five materials in the Vibenite® portfolio. They are all based on metal powder produced through large scale, industrial gas atomisation, minimising both costs and environmental impact. In 2017 the material Vibenite® 290 attracted great attention. It has a carbide content of 25 vol% and its hardness of ~72 HRC gave it the name “the world’s hardest steel”. The alloy’s unique properties make it suitable for any type of application where wear resistance and hot hardness are important, for instance cutting tools.

Vibenite® 350, a corrosion resistant material with a hardness of ~60 HRC is ideally suited to plastic processing tools as well as pump impellers or valves, where there is a requirement for both complex shapes and high performance. The toughest material of the portfolio, Vibenite® 150, is ideal for tool holders, cold work applications or plastic materials processing tools. Like all Vibenite® materials, it can be used to increase wear resistance in your current applications.

For cutting applications like gear hobs, broaches or shaper cutters, Vibenite® 280 is a suitable choice. It has proven to raise production capacity for industrial tools, for instance in gear box production, where production cost was reduced by 30–40% by changing to Vibenite® gear hobs. Extreme erosive resistance has also been noted in other type of customer applications.

Gear hob in Vibenite® 280 lowers production cost with 30–40%.
Vibenite® 290 3D printed upon Vibenite® 150, in order to combine different properties in a drill bit.
Weight optimised engine piston 3D printed with cemented carbide Vibenite® 480.

Filed Under: news, pressrelease

November 5, 2019

Post processing guidelines to increase adoption of additive manufacturing

Press release 5 November 2019

The market for additively manufactured (AM) components with new metals increase each year. VBN Components in Sweden develops the most wear-resistant metals on the market. These will now be machined and analysed in project MacAM.

To optimise post processing of VBN Components AM-materials, project Machining of AM components – MacAM is about to take off. Financed by Sweden’s innovation agency Vinnova, the project will be executed with partners Swerim, Sandvik Coromant and 3M. VBN’s metal materials increase lifespan and performance of components and may reduce production cost significantly. Now machining techniques are expected to improve by 40%, which will encourage more companies to take the leap towards additive manufacturing.

– New extremely hard and wear-resistant materials can be produced with AM technology and enable more efficient solutions. It has, however, been difficult for industrial players to adopt the new technology, due to lack of experience and understanding of the machining process of the new, super hard materials, says David Franklin, researcher at metals research instituteSwerim. 

The AM process minimises material use and allows new, advanced structures with for instance cooling channels and reduced component weight. However, the surfaces of a 3D printed component need to be machined in order to achieve the required tolerances and smoothness. Samples of VBN’s carbide rich materials with raw surfaces will be analysed and machined in a well-controlled environment. From these results a guideline with recommendations will be created, which has long been requested by the metal industry.

– Today there is a knowledge gap considering grinding and post processing of AM components. We are looking forward to this project which will give new recommendations for tools and knowledge about post processing, which is most important for industrial adoption of AM, says Ulrik Beste, CTO of VBN Components.

Hollow and light piston, 3D printed with cemented carbide Vibenite® 480

Filed Under: news, pressrelease

September 17, 2019

VBN Components winner of MM Maschinenmarkt’s innovation award

PRESS RELEASE 17 SEPTEMBER 2019

The winners of German MM Maschinenmarkt‘s innovation award have been announced at the EMO in Hannover, one of the world’s largest engineering fairs. Swedish VBN Components brought home the award in the category of additive manufacturing.

At the EMO in Hannover, more than 2,100 exhibitors from 47 countries are currently meeting to showcase their innovations and products to the fair’s 130,000 visitors. The official fair magazine is produced by German MM Maschinenmarkt, which also awards its innovation prize at the fair. The nominees compete in the categories machine tools, additive manufacturing, precision tools, software, production and process automation, measurement technology and quality assurance.

The award ceremony was held on September 16th and VBN Components was announced winner of the category of additive manufacturing, with its 3D printed cemented carbide Vibenite® 480. Only products that are ready for sale could participate. Innovations should also have been launched within the last 12 months.

“What a start to the fair! It feels wonderful to get this international recognition for our innovation. Germany is a very interesting market, where we now get a huge exposure through MM Maschinenmarkt”, says Martin Nilsson, CEO of VBN Components.

CEO Martin Nilsson (to the right) and process engineer Kristoffer Cederferm at the EMO, showing the MM Award.

Filed Under: news, pressrelease

September 10, 2019

VBN Components finalist for MM Maschinenmarkt Award

PRESS RELEASE 10 SEPTEMBER, 2019

Among the 2,100 companies exhibiting at EMO metalworking fair in Hannover, German magazine MM Maschinenmarkt has chosen Swedish VBN Components as one of the finalists for its innovation award.

One of the world’s largest engineering fairs, EMO in Hannover, will take place on the 16–21 September 2019. More than 2,100 exhibitors from 47 countries will be showing their innovations and products to the expected 130,000 visitors. The official magazine is produced by German MM Maschinenmarkt, which has also chosen to award its innovation prize at the fair. The nominees are competing in the categories machine tools, additive manufacturing, precision tools, software, manufacturing and process automation, measuring technology and quality assurance.

On September 16th at 3:30 pm the prize ceremony takes place in the Convention centre, Hall 3B. VBN Components and its 3D printed cemented carbide Vibenite® 480 is one out of three finalists in the category additive manufacturing. Participation is only allowed for products that are ready to market. Innovations must also have been launched within the past twelve months.

”It is truly a pleasure to be recognised at a fair where so many innovations are exhibited. We are going there to expand our international network and the MM Maschinenmarkt Award is the perfect platform for this”, says Martin Nilsson, CEO at VBN Components.

The German MM Award will be handed out at the EMO metalworking fair in Hannover on September 16th.

Filed Under: news, pressrelease Tagged With: #3dprinted, #cementedcarbide, additivemanufacturing, mmaward, vibenite

September 2, 2019

VBN Components exhibits 3D printed cemented carbide at EMO Hannover

PRESS RELEASE 2 SEPTEMBER, 2019

VBN Components exhibits 3D printed cemented carbide at EMO Hannover

For Swedish VBN Components, exhibiting at the EMO fair in Hannover will be the great launch for the patented alloy Vibenite® 480. As the only company in the world, VBN 3D prints fully functional components in cemented carbide with EBM technology.

In December 2018, VBN Components declared that it could 3D print cemented carbide containing 65% carbides, which is unparalleled in additive manufacturing and considered “impossible” by some. Since then, the company has received much attention and has more than doubled the number of unique visitors at its website. The next step is to showcase Vibenite® 480 at the EMO fair in Hannover, Germany on 16-21 September, in the Additive Manufacturing Circle, Hall 9. VBN will give two “Expert talks”, on 18 September at 11am and on 20 September at 2pm. The innovation has been highlighted on the EMO website as one of the most important new technologies of the fair.

Vibenite® 480 is based on metal powder produced through large scale, industrial gas atomisation, minimising both costs and environmental impact. The material combines the toughness of powder metallurgical high-speed steels (PM-HSS) with the heat resistance of cemented carbides and has therefore been named hybrid carbide. The carbides are fine and well-dispersed, giving a structure with higher toughness than traditional cemented carbides. Long-term hot hardness has been measured to 750° C for this corrosion resistant material with a hardness of ~66 HRC.

 “EMO Hannover is the perfect event to showcase our technology. We will meet with experts in the metalworking field from different parts of the world to discuss how our 3D printed cemented carbide can improve performance in components and overall production,” states Ulrik Beste, CTO and one of the founders of VBN.

The innovation enables rapid product development of components like gear hobs and rock drills; in a couple of months you can create a product with higher wear resistance, new geometries or reduced weight. Since the production method is not limited by machining, pressing or sintering, your imagination is the limit. The efficiency of 3D printing also makes it far more environmentally friendly than traditional methods.

In the Vibenite®-portfolio there are five materials: three high-speed steels, one martensitic stainless steel and one cemented carbide, with a hardness between 58–72 HRC. Like the other materials, the cemented carbide is patented, the manufacturing process included. It is niched both towards applications where steel is normally used, but where production efficiency can increase by switching to cemented carbide, as well as towards cemented carbide applications with complex geometry.

Practically this means that metal cutting tools which today are manufactured from steel bars, could be replaced with the hybrid carbide, making it possible to run the tools much faster, thanks to higher heat resistance. In addition to complex shapes, it is also possible to produce much larger components in one piece, with Vibenite® 480, than with traditional cemented carbide technique. This increases the number of possible applications and makes it easy to manufacture prototypes; you can print 1, 10 or 1000 components from one or more drawings. The corrosion resistance opens up for components like woodworking tools, paper knives, or usage in the food industry.

Watch the video about Vibenite® 480!

Large drill with cutting fluid channels, made with Vibenite®, Diam=40mm, Length=220mm. Please note that this is a demonstration drill, which is not fully ground in the flute.

Filed Under: news, pressrelease

March 5, 2019

Global Engineering Group signs license agreement with VBN Components

PRESS RELEASE 5 MARCH 2019

A global Engineering Group, head-quartered in Europe, has signed a license agreement with Swedish VBN Components. The agreement implies an exclusive license within a specific niche of high-strength components, which is kept confidential for the time being. Today this customer acquires products, as well as R&D, from VBN in order to adjust this new type of manufacturing to its components. Larger series will later on be produced at customer premises world-wide. VBN will support the customer to set up and install manufacturing cells with VBN’s patented material manufacturing technique AM-HSS™.

-This is an incredibly important verification that our 3D-printed materials Vibenite® are at top level. After considerable technical testing and analysis, the agreement has been signed and we are very much looking forward to collaborating with this global partner, says Martin Nilsson, CEO of VBN Components.

The agreement is a milestone in VBN’s success story. It is a multi-million deal that will grow steadily with expanding business and deliveries. The Engineering Group is one of the actors that started collaborating with VBN at an early stage.

-The license agreement is showing that our initial idea of making better materials with 3D-printing, than what’s possible traditionally, is really working. The customer gets a better material, much larger product flexibility, shorter lead times and considerably lowered machining costs, continues Martin.

10 years of materials development has led to a multi-million license agreement.

Filed Under: news, pressrelease

January 28, 2019

VBN Components wins lengthy patent battle against Uddeholms

PRESS RELEASE 28 JANUARY 2019  

VBN Components wins lengthy patent battle against Uddeholms

Swedish company VBN Components has won a lengthy patent battle against Uddeholms AB. The dispute began in 2013 when Uddeholms contested VBN’s first patent regarding high purity in high carbon content materials and was settled in December 2018 at the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich. The Boards of Appeal ruled in favour of VBN Components and dismissed Uddeholms’ request to revoke the patent.

-We are, of course, very pleased to have confirmed at the highest instance that our material technology is ground-breaking and with full IP protection, says Ulrik Beste, CTO of VBN Components AB.

To protect its IP rights, VBN Components has collaborated with IP law firm Brann AB.

-We have built an incredibly strong team together with Brann AB and we want to thank them for their contribution. Our successful collaboration and Brann’s ability to understand the technology has been crucial to win the case. This feels reassuring for future patents and patent applications, continues Ulrik.

Filed Under: news, pressrelease

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Latest news

Newsletter December 2020

December 22, 2020

Dear Friends, This most unusual year is coming to an end. At VBN Components we have been fortunate enough to carry on with our operations as normally as can be expected. As you will read, we have been active lately through different online happenings and we have even expanded our business in Japan! Webinar in […]

VBN Components and HTL sign strategic partnership

December 1, 2020

Press release 1 December 2020 Swedish VBN Components AB is announcing the cooperation with HTL Co. Japan Ltd. as their distributor for VBN’s state-of-the-art Vibenite materials. VBN Components develops new metal alloys with extreme wear and heat resistance, produced with 3D printing.  The strive has always been to improve material properties of industrial applications, resulting […]

Metal Additive Manufacturing Online Seminar

November 25, 2020

Register now and listen to our CTO Dr. Ulrik Beste on 3 December at 10 am CET, talking about “Multi materials: Additive Manufacturing for Hard Materials”. The European Powder Metallurgy Association is hosting a two-day online seminar on metal AM.

Webinar with GE Additive

November 3, 2020

Join our webinar to learn about the most wear resistant metals on the market. VBN Components AB presents together with GE Additive on Wednesday – November 04, 2020, at 4:00pm CET: “Redefining wear resistance through 3D printing of hard metals with high carbide content.”

Newsletter October

October 21, 2020

Dear friends, We hope you are all doing well. At VBN, we keep adapting to the current situation and would like to share with you how you can interact and stay up to date with us for the time being. We have some interesting webinars coming up and we have also appeared in both research […]

Johan Bäckström new CEO of VBN Components

September 9, 2020

PRESS RELEASE 9 SEPTEMBER 2020 Swedish VBN Components AB, known for its extremely wear and heat resistant Vibenite® materials, has appointed Johan Bäckström as its new CEO. Johan Bäckström has held several positions as head of sales and service in previous companies and has a broad experience from managing international B2B and B2G sales, marketing […]

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COPYRIGHT © 2019
VBN COMPONENTS AB,
LIBRO RINGVÄG 51, SE-752 28
UPPSALA, SWEDEN.
TEL. +46 (0)18 240 760.

Member of EPMA

One project within VBN has been funded by EIT Raw materials

One project within VBN has been funded by EIT Raw materials

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